Corporate Positions

  • ČEPS’s position - Power line construction projects - authorisation procedure
    Power line construction takes 1-2 years whilst the authorisation procedure often takes 8 - 10 years. This leads to a discrepancy between the required date of the commissioning of new power plants and their connection to the grid. ČEPS therefore supports the acceleration of the process and the harmonisation of power line and plant construction as well as proposals contained in the draft amendment to the State Energy Policy of October 2009.
  • ČEPS position document to TSC
    Transmission System Operators (TSOs) in Central Europe face complex operating conditions within their transmission systems, primarily the massive expansion of wind and solar plants with variable power generation. Therefore ČEPS is actively involved in the TSO Security Cooperation1 (TSC) initiative the aim of which is to intensify mutual cooperation and coordination between the TSOs concerned. ČEPS and a further 10 TSOs in the CEE region, the Netherlands and Switzerland committed themselves in 2008 to establishing a common platform for data exchange, harmonised calculations for operational situations and the coordination of potential remedial action. The first achievement of this cooperation initiative was the launch of an expanded Real-time Awareness & Alarming System2 (RAAS) in 2009.
  • ČEPS position document to ENTSO-E
    ENTSO-E was established at the instigation of the European Commission (EC) by the publication in the autumn of 2007 of a draft of the so-called 3rd Energy Package which defined the establishment process, responsibilities and obligations of a new association of European Transmission System Operators (TSOs). Following a period of intensive preparation, during which ČEPS was one of the most active members, representatives of 34 countries officially established, on 10 December 2008 in Brussels, an association called the “European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity” (ENTSO-E). The Association was later transformed so as to be compatible with Regulation No. 714/2009 EC effective from 3 March 2011. ENTSO-E currently comprises 41 TSOs which serve more than half a billion people throughout Europe. ENTSO-E’s key mission is to ensure the safe operation of the various interconnected power systems, the integration of renewable energy sources and a well-functioning European internal electricity market (IEM).
  • ČEPS position document to expansion of the continental power system
    Synchronously interconnected power systems in continental Europe cover the whole of Western and Central Europe from Portugal to Poland and from Denmark to Greece. Four possible projects for the expansion of this system eastward are currently under consideration: 1. Interconnection with the IPS/UPS (countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States + the Baltic countries) system; 2. interconnection with the Baltic countries system; 3. interconnection with the Ukrainian and Moldovan systems; and interconnection with the Turkish system. ČEPS supports the expansion of the continental system provided that the safety and reliability of system operation is maintained. In view of this condition, an alternative type of interconnection with Eastern European systems via DC lines is seen as preferable since it will prevent the spread of potential power system outages.

  • ČEPS position document to Super grid
    The ambition of the European Union and individual member states to meet criteria concerning the proportion of renewable energy sources in the energy mix by 2020 and to achieve a CO2-neutral power supply by 2050 will entail a huge increase in renewable energy source (RES) installed capacity. It is clear that RES should be built in locations with optimum natural conditions, i.e. wind, sunshine and a sufficient head for pumpedstorage hydro power plants. Such locations are often remote from electricity consumption centres and, moreover, RES plant output is variable since it depends on natural conditions which can be predicted with only a certain degree of probability. The safe and successful integration of large wind, solar and hydro plants into any power system is thus directly dependent on the existence of a transmission system capable of carrying tens of GWs over thousands of kilometres, i.e. a “SUPER GRID” with “ELECTRICITY HIGHWAY”.