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News

2014-06-05

Meeting in Brussels with the TSO body : ENTSO-E

Developing our contacts with European transmission system operators (TSO) of electricity to develop partnerships with our LIFE ELIA project partly financed by the EU Commission, it became obvious that we had to meet ENTSO-E, the body of TSOs at European level. The meeting was held early June in Brussels.

4 missions for ENTSO-E, and a clear vision

ENTSO-E sets up four mission that guides actions on energy policies led at European level : security of the network, adequacy in terms of development and investment in the network, framing the market, ensure sustainability for the integration of new energy sources.

Its vision is to become and remain the focal point for all European, technical, market and policy issues related to TSOs.

LIFE ELIA, vegetation management, and actual challenges

ENTSO-E supervises lots of working groups dealing with economical aspects, codes or electrical magnetic fields among other subjects. But none of them is directly tackling the issue of vegetation management under high-tension line. In this field, the LIFE ELIA project can now rely on 2,5 years of practical experiments in Belgium (with ELIA) and France (with RTE).

Society's evolution and recent meetings in Europe reinforces our perception that biodiversity has certainly become a key issue in the core-business of a TSO. Although hard to estimate in terms of economic data, managing nature on the network according to electrical safety and biodiversity may reveal outputs that will go further many expectations.

Working together

This first meeting was a good opportunity to exchange information, to make out a list of common topics, and to seek for mutual enrichment.

Among other missions, the LIFE ELIA project will produce two documents of upmost importance for European TSO :

  • a cost/benefit analysis - objectivize the economic impact of vegetation management meeting both electrical safety and biodiversity
  • a best practices manual on vegetation management biodiversity

There are a lot to gain in working hand in hand with ENTSO-E on these missions.