France and Belgium to strengthen electricity interconnection

A move by national electricity operators to set up a joint coordination centre to develop daily grid availability forecasts was applauded by the European Commission, which hopes similar collaboration will be repeated elsewhere in Europe.

The announcement was made on Friday (5 September) by RTE and Elia, the power grid operators in France and Belgium respectively.

Starting operations in February 2009, the centre “will develop grid forecasts and support real-time monitoring of electricity flows on the grids of the Central Western European region in preparation for market coupling,” the two organisations said in a statement. It will be located in Brussels and will supply electricity traders in the region with crucial information.

The German transmission system operator (TSO) Vattenfall Europe Transmission has already expressed its interest in this initiative, according to RTE and Elia.

Andris Piebalgs, the EU energy commissioner, applauded the initiative. “I see this agreement as a concrete, important example of close cooperation between TSOs,” Piebalgs said in a statement. “As you know, one of the key points in the third internal energy market package concerns reinforced cooperation between national TSOs. I am also convinced that today’s step will contribute to more energy security in this region and in the EU as a whole. I hope this cooperation agreement will be followed by others in the rest of Europe.”

The move to establish the joint centre follows the launch in June 2006 of an initiative to develop seven regional electricity markets within Europe as a first step towards creating an integrated, single EU market for electricity (EURACTIV 28/02/06). One of the regions is composed of Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with Belgium appointed as the lead regulator. A coupling of the electricity markets of France, Belgium and the Netherlands was announced about a year later (EURACTIV 16/02/07).

The need for increased cooperation between national grid operators was highlighted in November 2006, when about 10 million people were left without electricity for up to two hours after a power failure in Germany led to supply disruptions across most of Western Europe. A total blackout throughout Europe was narrowly avoided, according to RTE, as the brutal imbalance was automatically compensated by a European solidarity mechanism (EURACTIV 6/11/06).

According to RTE and Elia, the centre will guarantee smooth management of cross-border electricity flows, which are increasing sharply with the development of intraday markets. It should also allow better regional integration of renewable energy generation, the two organisations said.

The centre will offer grid security forecasts to national control centres every afternoon for the next day, seven days a week. In a second phase, which is scheduled to begin in July 2009, the centre will become operational around the clock, providing continuous monitoring and analysis of grid security.

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