European Transmission Network Collaboration

Through the ENTSO-E, the European NetworkOf Transmission System Operators, 43 Transmission system operators are represented in a single organisation. ENTSO-E is tasked and given legal mandates by the EU’s Third Legislative Package for the Internal Energy Market to further liberalise the electricity markets in Europe to allow for greater competition and better use of the scale of networks to deliver reliable supplies to European consumers of Electricity.

The direct objectives of ENTSO-E comprise of setting up the internal energy market, and implementing the EU’s ambitious goals of greenhouse gas reductions in which electricity generation plays a major part. Allowing for renewables to be integrated into the grid requires a lot of planning and coordination, and is most efficient in large-scale networks.

The 43 current members of ENTSO-E paint the picture of how fragmented electricity transmission in Europe is, despite the common goal of creating the world’s largest electricity market. ENTSO-E was set up to facilitate the dialogue and to work together towards common standards and objectives.

Transparancy is a key pillar within the association, and members are required by law to provide ENTSO-E with information related to generation, load, transmission, and outages through a common platform. Not only does this knowledge help with the functioning of the network; it allows for collaboration between parties outside of their networks and presents learning opportunities for all stakeholders.

As there is no true direct competition among TSOs, and each is tasked with the management of a fixed network, this collaborative space and the cooperation with one another has led to one of the most reliable and well connected grid systems in the world.

As Europe’s interconnectedness continues to grow, so too will the tasks of ENTSO-E relaying feedback and ensuring oversight of the world’s largest transmission networks.