Luxembourgian TSO welcomed as new client

16.10.2017

TSCNET Services has signed a service-level agreement (SLA) with Creos Luxembourg (www.creos-net.lu), the national electricity and gas grid operator. Creos manages 585km of power transmission lines within the country. The service package consists mainly of security sssessment services for forecasting electricity flows and potential congestions within Luxembourg and at the main connection line to neighbouring electricity networks.

A recent interconnection project at Creos using the existing 220kV grid infrastructure and a new 400MW phase shifting transformer (PST) to interconnect the Belgian grid (Elia) with the Luxembourgish grid (Creos) and thus interconnecting the German and the Belgian control block makes cross-border coordination even more necessary. TSCNET Services supports Creos in maintaining the operational security of the electricity system.

“Treat a new client like the most important one” – that’s what many business consultants recommend. For TSCNET Services, this is not the point. For us, it is about guiding a new client successfully through the same security-relevant processes as any other client. With Creos, everything went flawlessly! On the 11th of October, the new client participated in the joint security assessment processes for the first time.

The other TSCNET customers will also profit from the agreement: The representation of the Luxembourgian transmission grid in the increasingly harmonised European data models will be more precise and reliable.

> Open TSCNET Services press release (pdf, 217kb)

Image on the right: Creos Luxembourg S. A.

Impressions from the successful Creos go-live training and preparatory meetings

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Member of the European Parliament visits TSCNET

08.09.2017

Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Latvia and former Minister for Economics of Latvia, has visited TSCNET Services. Kariņš is a part of the conservative European People’s Party parliamentary group. The American-born entrepreneur and politician is a member of the EP’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and was accompanied by his advisor Edijs Ostrovskis, also coming from Latvia.

Alexander Küster, Head of TSCNET’s Operations Team, and Emanuel Kofler, Organisational Development Manager at TSCNET, welcomed the guests at the company’s premises in Munich, Germany, where they talked about the growth of the company and its range of services for transmission system operators (TSOs). They outlined how Regional Security Coordinators (RSCs) such as TSCNET have established a higher standard of security of supply in Europe and significantly improved the cooperation between TSOs over the last years. In this context, they also debated on ElSeC 2017, the first European Conference on Electricity Security Coordination hosted by TSCNET and co-organised by ENTSO-E, the European Network of TSOs for Electricity, on the 17th of October. This visit was a great honour and a valuable opportunity to debate on Europe’s power grid at present and future developments.

> See Krišjānis Kariņš MEP page (html)

Picture: TSCNET Services / Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš (second from left) / Edijs Ostrovskis (on the left side)

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Coreso and TSCNET Services sign agreement

12.06.2017

According to a joint press release issued today, the two European Regional Security Coordinators (RSCs) Coreso and TSCNET Services have concluded a Cooperation Framework Agreement aimed at strengthening their cooperation in assisting transmission system operators (TSOs) in their task of maintaining the operational security of the electricity system. Under this arrangement following the “System Operations Guideline” proposed by the European Commission and approved by the Member States, Coreso and TSCNET agree to set up an efficient cooperation structure and to work out initiatives to mainly

share existing tools, methods, and procedures of either Coreso or TSCNET
operate services alternately or cooperatively
jointly optimise services and tools for TSOs and to develop new ones.

The agreement paves the way for the two service companies representing 19 TSOs from 16 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) to further enhance coordination at a regional level.

“TSCNET has already worked closely with Coreso, and I’m delighted to further strengthen our partnership,” said Siem Bruijns, Managing Director at TSCNET Services. “The agreement greatly increases our potential for positive outcomes for security and efficiency of the power system in Europe. It is essential to make the best use of generation facilities, and to establish a framework through which we can more easily collaborate and share information.”

The CEO of Coreso, Jean-François Gahungu, explained: “The role of Regional Security Coordinators is to provide coordination services to Transmission System Operators. Therefore, the establishment of this partnership is an important milestone. Indeed, it will enable an efficient cooperation between our two companies and will contribute to enhance the services we provide to TSOs to help them maintaining the operational security of the electricity system. As our on-going commitment is to always improve our coordination services, I am convinced this partnership will constitute a good way to foster efficiency.”

Europe’s RSC model
The European energy system is characterised by a steadily growing share of renewable energies. The situation necessitates a deep coordination between operators facilitated by RSCs. As an essential feature of the European power system, RSCs enable TSOs to better identify threats to secure system operations and to adjust measures to mitigate these risks. Coreso and TSCNET Services were the first RSCs set up. By the end of 2017, the whole European grid should be covered by a total of six RSCs.

RSCs perform services for the TSOs, such as operational planning security analysis, outage planning coordination, coordinated capacity calculation, short-term and very short-term adequacy forecasts, and a common grid model with hourly updates. The RSCs’ work increases efficiency in system operation, minimises risks of wide area events, such as brownouts or blackouts, and lower costs through maximised availability of transmission capacity to market participants.

> Open Coreso and TSCNET Services press release (pdf, 185 kb)

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New shareholders

27.02.2015

TSCNET Services GmbH welcomes three new shareholders: The Danish transmission system operator (TSO) Energinet.dk, the Hungarian TSO MAVIR, and the Polish TSO PSE have been registered as shareholders, following an increase in share capital. Now all thirteen member TSOs of the TSO Security Cooperation (TSC) hold an equal share of ownership.

> Open TSCNET Services press release (pdf, 212 kb)

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Services company founded

19.11.2014

TSC today announced the founding of TSCNET Services GmbH, a services company for the tailor-made coordination services for TSOs’ control centres. The new company is the future setup for the services performed by the experts at the TSC TSOs – Joint Office in Munich, Germany. The formation of the new firm is a part of a significant reorganisation to raise efficiency and to further improve performance.

The picture above shows representatives of TSC TSOs after the decision to found TSCNET Services was made. It was taken in autumn 2014 in Switzerland.

> Open TSC press release (pdf)

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