IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2015 - 54
2020 by almost 9%, which, as the European Commission
(EC) said in its 2010 communication Energy Infrastructure
Priorities for 2020 and Beyond, is equivalent to 148 TWh
of electricity or savings reaching almost €7.5 billion per
year (based on average 2010 prices).
The EU will have to invest considerably in its networks in
the immediate future if it is to cope with the coming destabilizing changes to generation and demand. The EC estimated this
necessary investment to be around €600 billion for transmission
system operator (TSO) and distribution system operator (DSO)
electricity networks in the decade 2010-2020. An important
part of the immediate financing needs is for R&D, which will
open the door to more cost-efficient and stable electricity grids
in the longer term. Where new technologies and models have
already been developed, large-scale demonstrations in real-life
situations will be crucial to test the applicability of such solutions across Europe-a must for European R&D.
R&D: A Common Denominator
for TSO-DSO Cooperation
TSOs and DSOs are responsible for the security of supply and
the quality of service on their respective networks. As we make
clear throughout this article, it is EU policy that is driving the
need for a reengineering of our electricity networks. New system challenges, including challenges at the distribution level,
induce new network challenges for the pan-European transmission network. Each DSO and TSO in the EU will therefore have
to evolve progressively from a "business as usual" approach to
a "proactive" approach to avoid becoming a bottleneck in the
future European electricity system.
It is perhaps surprising that solutions to the new network
challenges are for the most part not where R&D efforts are
most needed. Overall, such inevitable evolution will also
require the adaptation of existing regulatory regimes and business models more than technologies. Regulated companies
must play a market facilitation role if the EU is to achieve a
real IEM. TSOs, DSOs, regulators, power generators, retailers,
traders, industrial consumers, and renewable energy source
(RES) project developers are all playing key roles in delivering an efficient electricity market. To reach the right setup,
however, will involve a multidisciplinary approach to research
activities, whereby network operators, manufacturers, and
economists must cooperate closely in addressing the many
barriers that have been identified-with regulatory barriers as
an important hurdle to jump.
The national regulation still in operation continues to be
based on the former design of electricity systems: predictable,
controllable, and centralized energy generation delivering power
in one direction through transmission and then distribution
lines, with network charges calculated according to this split.
Now, more and less predictable sources of energy like wind
and solar are being generated locally and connected directly
to distribution and sometimes to transmission networks (larger
plants). This means less controllable generation of energy, the
need for bidirectional power flows, and the transformation of
54
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ordinary consumers into "prosumers." One of the key objectives
of network operators, therefore, is to be able to use innovative
approaches applicable in multivendor environments.
Expanding on this last point, the extension and reinforcement of networks in the volume and rate required in the lead-up
to 2020, 2030, and 2050 will be a costly endeavor. As a result,
the TSO-DSO community has identified a number of grid users
(demand-side response, electricity storage modules, large consumers, and even aggregated household consumers/generators)
that can offer system flexibility services that could in conjunction with smart technologies reduce the need for investment in
traditional assets. It is not, however, so easy to make use of such
flexibility services under the liberalization regime enacted in the
Third Energy Package, which imposed a separation of all market activities (generation and retail) and energy networks (transmission and distribution). If one considers this in the context of
developing a real market for such services, the need for R&D
to address the possible setups and business models becomes
ever more apparent. Then there are subsequent questions surrounding the funding of R&D and demonstrations of innovative
developments under the national regulatory frameworks, the
details of which will be taken up in what follows.
The research, development, and innovation strategies
of TSOs and DSOs in the electricity system should reflect
an enhanced cooperation with other actors. The challenges
related to the generation of electricity, the response from the
demand side, the entrance into the market of new services
such as storage at various time scales and various capacities, and the extensive use of ICT technologies require
new approaches to developing and operating the European
power system.
TSOs and DSOs are, therefore, very much aligned when it
comes to R&D needs, the evolution of regulatory frameworks,
and financing. They have been working closely together on such
questions at the European level through their respective European associations, ENTSO-E and European DSOs for Smart
Grids (EDSO), which coordinate the two sectors' activities under
a special initiative set up to guide European R&D spending on
electricity grids, the European Electricity Grid Initiative (EEGI).
The EEGI has been directly supported by mapping and R&D
road-mapping exercises carried out under a Seventh Framework
Program (FP7) coordination action, the so-called GRID+ project,
in which the two network associations also participate. The resulting road map from the EEGI, covering the period 2013-2022,
forms the basis for dialogue among European network operators,
European regulatory authorities, EU member states, and the EC.
The road map, as an overall and integrated view of existing R&D
and future needs is a valuable tool not only for EU institutions
but also for the individual TSOs and DSOs and for national R&D
programmers, who can avoid duplication of efforts and gain from
knowledge sharing across European projects.
TSO R&D Priorities
The R&D activities undertaken by TSOs are not related to
technological developments per se but to system design and
january/february 2015
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