New ENTSO-E leadership team elected

28.06.2019

The Assembly of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) has elected a new leadership team for the next two years, taking office today. The new President is Hervé Laffaye, Deputy CEO of RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Electricité), the French transmission system operator (TSO). Vice President is Zbyněk Boldiš, member of the Board of Directors of our shareholder and customer ČEPS, the Czech TSO. The Board is chaired by Joachim Vanzetta, Director of System Control at Amprion, one of the four German TSOs. Of our shareholders and customers, also Tahir Kapetanovic (APG), SØren Dupont Kristensen (Energinet), Konrad Purchała and Robert Paprocki (both PSE), Frank-Peter Hansen (TenneT), Michael Jesberger (TransnetBW), and Yves Zumwald (Swissgrid) belong to the ENTSO-E team.

“ENTSO-E’s agenda comprises several strategic targets to support the TSO community in preparing the power system of 2020, 2030 and beyond, in ensuring transparent implementation of existing and new legislation while keeping an excellent level of system security,” explains Joachim Vanzetta. The background is shaped by the implementation of the Clean Energy Package and the design of the future European electricity market design. Particular attention will be paid to the issue of system security in times of energy system transformation and European climate targets.

The ENTSO-E Assembly has elected a new leadership team – on the left the new ENTSO-E President Hervé Laffaye (RTE), on the right Chair of the Board Joachim Vanzetta (Amprion)

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> Open ENTSO-E press release (html)

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Second go-live wave of XBID

13.06.2019

The successful go-live of XBID, the European cross-border Single Intraday Coupling (SIDC) solution, on 12/13 June 2018 was a significant step towards a single integrated continent-wide intraday market. Such an integrated market increases the overall efficiency of intraday trade through effective competition, increased liquidity and more efficient utilisation of generation resources across Europe. Today the first anniversary of XBID is celebrated and over 16 million trades have been executed since its launch.

The SIDC partners look back on a successful first year of operation with a stable and robust system performance as well as a high and growing number of trades across Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. The integration of seven additional countries into the SIDC region is expected in the fourth quarter of 2019. A pre-launch event for the second wave is planned for the beginning of October 2019 and a trial period will also be arranged with the market parties. The countries for this second go-live wave are Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia.

The TSOs already cooperating in XBID include the TSCNET shareholders 50Hertz, Amprion, APG, TenneT, and TransnetBW as well as the TSCNET client Creos from Luxembourg. Further shareholders are to follow with the second wave, namely ČEPS, ELES, HOPS, MAVIR, PSE, and Transelectrica.

XBID, the SIDC solution for a single integrated European intraday market, celebrates its first anniversary

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> See ENTSO-E press release (html)

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Agreement on synchronous interconnection

01.06.2019

There are five synchronous electricity areas in Europe: Continental Europe (CE), Nordic, Baltic, British and finally the area of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The CE area with the synchronised transmission grids of 26 countries is not only the largest in Europe, but also one of the largest interconnected power systems worldwide. The synchronisation of the Baltic area with CE is of strategic importance for the European Energy Union, one of the political priorities of the European Commission. Currently, the Baltic system is only asynchronously linked to CE between Lithuania and Poland through the “LitPol Link” and at two points to the Nordic region.

An application for a future synchronisation of the Baltic and CE systems was made by the three Baltic transmission system operators (TSOs) Elering, AST and Litgrid with support from TSCNET shareholder PSE, the Polish TSO. The European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) has now announced the first landmark for the project: An agreement on the conditions for a synchronous interconnection became effective on 27 May 2019. Synchronisation will enable the Baltic TSOs to operate their systems in the future at the same frequency as the CE system and in compliance with EU rules.

An agreement on the conditions for synchronous interconnection of the Baltic and CE energy systems has entered into force (picture of Riga by Aleksejs Bergmanis / Pixabay)

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Core CCR project meeting hosted by HOPS

20.05.2019

Sixteen transmission system operators (TSOs) from the heart of Europe are participating in the Core Capacity Calculation Region (CCR) project in order to implement a decision taken by the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) in November 2016 to merge the existing regional initiatives of Central Eastern and Central Western Europe into the European core region. These TSOs – including the twelve TSCNET shareholders 50Hertz, Amprion, APG, ČEPS, ELES, HOPS, MAVIR, PSE, SEPS, TenneT, Transelectrica, and TransnetBW – are strongly committed to implementing all CCR-related obligations in accordance with the respective network codes and guidelines of the European Commission.

Last week, the Croatian TSO HOPS organised a two-day project team meeting with representatives of all 16 Core CCR TSOs to calculate long-term cross-border transmission capacities compliant with the specifications on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management (CACM). As one of the two Regional Security Coordinators (RSCs) for Core CCR TSOs, TSCNET Services was also part of the meeting. The concrete objective of the meeting in the Croatian capital of Zagreb was to prepare a proposal for an appropriate calculation methodology. This proposal will be open for public consultation from 10 June 2019. During the meeting participants also visited the HOPS control centre.

HOPS hosted a Core CCR project meeting in Zagreb (picture: HOPS)

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> See HOPS press release, in Croatian (html)

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Flow-based market coupling ready for Core CCR

18.04.2019

The European Commission Regulation on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management (CACM) specifies the implementation of Flow-Based Market Coupling (FBMC) for day-ahead electricity trading in the Core Capacity Calculation Region (CCR) comprising Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The Core CCR transmission system operators (TSOs) include twelve TSCNET shareholders: 50Hertz, Amprion, APG, ČEPS, ELES, HOPS, MAVIR, PSE, SEPS, TenneT, Transelectrica, and TransnetBW.

The partners of the Core FBMC project are to establish the coupling of all Core CCR borders by means of a Flow-Based Capacity Calculation Methodology (CCM) developed in accordance with the CACM Regulation. The market design for the FBMC implementation has now been finalised and FBMC is currently applied within the Single Day-Ahead Coupling (SDAC) in Central Western Europe (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands). The rest of the Core CCR is to follow.

Flow-Based Market Coupling in the Core CCR is ready for implementation

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> See Amprion press release (html)
> See APG market news release (html)
> See PSE press release (html)
> See TransnetBW news release (html)

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ACER consultation on Core Capacity Calculation methodology

04.12.2018

Complex issues require precise phrasing. Therefore the new public consultation of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) is called: “Public Consultation on the amendments of the proposal for common capacity calculation methodology for the Core region”. The consultation has opened on 4 December and will be accessible until midnight on Christmas Eve. Invited to participate are all interested stakeholders, including regulatory authorities, nominated electricity market operators (NEMOs) and transmission system operators (TSOs).

What exactly is the objective of the survey? The Capacity Calculation Methodology (CCM) quantifies the electrical capacity that can be offered across borders to the day-ahead and intraday markets. The Core CCM is valid within the Core Capacity Calculation Region (CCR), which comprises Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The TSOs from the Core CCR – among them are the twelve TSCNET shareholders 50Hertz, Amprion, APG, ČEPS, ELES, HOPS, MAVIR, PSE, SEPS, TenneT, Transelectrica and TransnetBW – have conceived and proposed amendments to the Core CCM.

The competent regulatory authorities of the Core CCR have not yet approved the TSO proposal and asked ACER to decide on whether the modified Core CCM complies with the European Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management (CACM) Regulation. Interested parties are invited to provide feedback on the consultation questions concerning the relevant aspects of the Core CCM.

ACER launches public consultation on the compliance of the Core CCM proposed by the Core TSOs with the European CACM Regulation

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> See ACER press release (html)
> Direct access to consultation (html)

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Acer decision on fallback procedures for Core CCR

09.10.2018

In March 2018, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) was asked by the competent regulatory authorities to decide on the amended proposal of the transmission system operators (TSOs) from the Core Capacity Calculation Region (CCR) regarding the Core CCR fallback procedures. In the following August, ACER invited all interested stakeholders to share their views on the issue in a public consultation. After evaluating the survey, ACER has now published its decision on revisions to the methodology for fallback procedures.

The Core CCR consists of sixteen Central European TSOs, twelve of which are TSCNET shareholders: APG (Austria), ČEPS (Czechia), ELES (Slovenia), HOPS (Croatia), MAVIR (Hungary), PSE (Poland), SEPS (Slovakia), Transelectrica (Romania), the Dutch-German TSO TenneT, and the three further TSOs from Germany 50Hertz, Amprion, and TransnetBW. ACER’s decision introduces minimal changes to fallback procedures in order to improve legal clarity and enforceability. Most importantly, instead of five different shadow allocation rules, only a single set of rules is adopted by the Agency, which specifies in its decision to which bidding zone borders these rules apply.

ACER has published its decision on the improvement of the fallback procedures proposed by the TSOs of the Core CCR

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> See ACER press release (html, with access to decision and consultation results)

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Phase-shifting transformers stand the test

29.08.2018

In Röhrsdorf in Saxony, Germany, the international conference “Controlling load flows. Strengthening European electricity trading”, organised by the German power transmission system operator (TSO) 50Hertz, a shareholder of TSCNET Services, brought together more than 40 experts to discuss the first experiences with the coordinated use of so-called phase-shifting transformers (PSTs) in Poland, Czechia and Germany. The PSTs put into operation in the past two years allow load flows in the alternating current grid to be better controlled, even between neighbouring countries. In the past, in connection with the German energy transition and electricity trading to southern Europe, there had been an increase in “unplanned loop flows” via Poland and Czechia, some of which had led to a high load on their grids and which practically brought cross-border electricity trade to a standstill.

The coordinated use of PSTs with the Czech TSO ČEPS and the Polish TSO PSE enabled a significant reduction in “unplanned loop flows”, said Dr. Dirk Biermann, Chief Markets & System Operations Officer at 50Hertz. “This is a very pleasing development, because it has relieved the load on the networks of our Polish and Czech neighbours and we can also provide more capacity at the border coupling points for European electricity trading in the future,” explains Biermann. Load flow control with PSTs had very positive effects on the efficient use of the existing power grid. This will be even more important in the future in order to successfully advance the energy transition with an ever increasing share of renewable energies while maintaining a high system stability.

TSCNET shareholders 50Hertz, ČEPS, and PSE draw a positive interim balance on the use of phase-shifting transformers (illustration using pictures of 50Hertz / Jan Pauls and www.siemens.com/press)

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> See 50Hertz press release (html)

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ACER consultation on fallback procedures

02.08.2018

The relevant regulatory authorities have asked the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) to review the fallback procedures in the Core Capacity Calculation Region (CCR) with regard to the European Regulation on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management (CACM). The Core CCR consists of sixteen central European transmission system operators (TSOs), eleven of which are TSCNET shareholders: APG (Austria), ČEPS (Czechia), ELES (Slovenia), HOPS (Croatia), MAVIR (Hungary), PSE (Poland), SEPS (Slovakia), the Dutch-German TSO TenneT, and the three further TSOs from Germany, 50Hertz, Amprion, and TransnetBW.

The Core TSOs prepared an amended proposal for the CCR fallback procedures. ACER now has been given the task of verifying that this proposal complies with the respective guideline on CACM Regulation of the European Union. Since ACER has to adopt a profound decision on this matter, the Agency takes interest in the comments from different parties on some elements of the amended proposal in order to substantiate this decision. The related public consultation is open til 24 August and all interested stakeholders, including regulatory authorities, nominated electricity market operators and TSOs, are invited to submit their comments.

ACER opens public consultation on the compliance of the fallback procedures proposed by the TSOs of the Core CCR with the CACM Regulation.

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> See ACER press release (html, with access to consultation document)

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PSE presents diagnosis of energy market

29.06.2018

As a European transmission system operator (TSO), the Polish TSCNET shareholder PSE is well aware of its responsibility for the continental electricity market in its entirety and for transnational supply and system security. That is whay PSE is thoroughly monitoring market developments and how regulatory specifications affect them. The company identifies several main challenges that force the European TSOs to reconsider the fundamentals of the European energy market, first of all the increase of decentralised generation due to the growing role of the renewables or consumer production.

Eryk Kłossowski, President of the PSE Management Board, clearly expresses PSE’s attitude to the current setting of the course, and especially the debate on market design: “It is the most important dispute concerning the electricity industry”. In order to assume an important role within this discussion, PSE publishes from now on a series of position papers concerning the European electricity market. The first of these, “The European Electricity Market ‒ diagnosis”, soundly deals with such important aspects as the sizing of bidding zones and cross-zonal exchange.

The Polish transmission system operator PSE has published a position paper on the European energy market design.

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> See PSE press release (html)
> Open “Diagnosis” (pdf, 2,28MB)

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