The long-awaited joint report of CEDEC, EDSO for smart grids, ENTSO-E, EURELECTRIC & GEODE is published
In the energy transition process, the customer moves centre stage: active customers are getting increase, the penetration of decentralised renewables & new actors like aggregators accelerates, the need for flexibility and the development of demand response are growing. And Europe is only at the beginning of the transition: By 2020, 36% of power generation is expected to come mostly from variable renewables, many of them distributed, and by 2030, this number is anticipated to reach 46%. At the same time, an increasing number of European consumers (households and Small and Medium Enterprises) will have smart meters in the coming years, thus preparing the digitalisation of the energy system of the future. In the light of this fundamental change, the rules for data management & information have to be defined, respectively – the system should be reconsidered. Effective coordination between TSOs and DSOs becomes increasingly important to ensure cost efficient, sustainable and reliable system operation and to facilitate markets throughout Europe. Operating the electricity system closer to its limits translates necessarily into the need for smarter grids, the precondition for which is the efficient exchange of information and data.
Flexibility, which is the prime tool-response to variable renewables, can only be used efficiently for balancing and congestion management purposes if the appropriate data and information are exchanged between TSOs, DSOs and market players.
What information is needed by whom to unleash the flexibility potential? It is indeed necessary to have a clear understanding of the information and data needs of all concerned parties, particularly TSOs and DSOs, to efficiently fulfil their missions.
Roles and responsibilities have to be defined on a European level, while national implementation can take different shapes, taking stock of national differences, but indeed respecting the overall EU framework which is yet emerging. Agreement should also emerge on the requirements on processes and data management in European countries.
This report provides input to the European Commission in their work on identifying an appropriate TSO–DSO framework, which will be a part of the forthcoming “Market design and Renewables package”. Its concrete aim in particular is to share recommendations on common European principles and criteria for data and information exchanges. This report lays the ground for further work yet to be undertaken by TSOs and DSOs, which are united by their commitment to close collaboration with respect to the TSO–DSO interface and data management: Thus, work on criteria for the data management models has yet to be undertaken.
The cooperation process between TSOs and DSOs, supported by the European Commission, which led to this joint work on the report is described in Appendix 2.
The Project team on “TSO-DSO data management” consists of experts from CEDEC, EDSO for smart grids, ENTSO-E, EURELECTRIC and GEODE, who are also authors of the report, currently approved by those associations and presented to the European Commission.
See the whole report here.
