Amprion in Europe
The extra-high-voltage line between Cologne and Bludenz in Austria built in the 1920s anticipated today’s idea of a highly integrated European power network: the tighter you interconnect supra-regional networks, the more secure and efficient the power supply becomes. Today, Amprion’s grid is interconnected with other transmission grids within Germany and also with the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland and Austria by means of interconnectors. In a sense, then, regional cooperation is in our DNA.
As a physical platform, it is our grid that makes the European internal energy market possible in the first place. Within this framework, we make it available to all market participants – without any discrimination and at fair market prices. We work closely with other transmission system operators and our European partners to further develop Europe’s internal electricity market, to operate the grid safely and securely and to make it fit for Europe’s ongoing energy transition. This is a task and responsibility that is increasingly growing in importance as conventional means of power generation are cut back and the use of renewable energy sources continues to expand in many European countries. The following aspects are the focus of our European operations:
- We are working together with our partners on the European grid of the future.
- We coordinate the interconnected grid and therefore the electricity flows between national grids in the northern section of Europe’s extra-high-voltage grid.
- We make sure that the electricity traded through the European exchanges is reliably transported across national borders.
Europe’s electricity system
Europe’s national power grids are interconnected by cross-border lines, what are known as “interconnectors”. This creates the fundamental physical structure that enables electricity to be traded across borders and will lead to prices converging across Europe. Experts talk about the European internal energy market. Non-discriminatory and cross-border access to our electricity grids is subject to the condition that system security is guaranteed at all times.
Europe’s internal energy market
The implementation and advancement of Europe’s internal energy market has been at the heart of the European Union’s energy policy for years. That’s because it is regarded as the way to a secure, sustainable and affordable energy supply in the long term.
The starting point was the first EU Directive on the liberalisation of the internal electricity market passed on 19 December 1996, which was transposed into German law in 1998. The idea behind this was to promote cross-border electricity trading and competition and in doing so create a European internal market for energy. This marked the beginning of a new era in the history of electricity supply. The EU succeeded in convincing the member states that electricity should be recognised as a commodity that from now on should be traded freely. The defined areas in which vertically integrated power utilities had previously been responsible for generation, the grids and distribution were dissolved.
The second European internal power market package of 26 June 2003 placed transmission system operators (TSOs) at the centre of the EU’s liberalisation efforts. The first provisions regarding “unbundling” have been implemented. The term “unbundling” was used by EU legislators to outline new regulations designed to separate generation, grid and sales operations and assign them to standalone but integrated power utilities. This gave rise to independent TSOs. These companies continued to enjoy a “natural monopoly” but were now subject to a new regulatory system. The function of national regulatory authority in Germany was assumed by the Federal Network Agency in 2005.
On 13 July 2009, the third liberalisation package finally marked the beginning of the TSO’s institutional independence from their parent companies. At the same time, ACER was set up – a European authority tasked with coordinating cooperation between the national regulatory authorities. It is also involved in the development of European network regulations – what are known as the “network codes” –, which regulate cross-border cooperation between TSOs, lay down connection rules and specify the European market design. Also in 2009, ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, was founded to act as an interface between European regulators, stakeholder groups and TSOs.
European Cooperations
Amprion’s transmission grid lies at the heart of Europe and is connected to the grids in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Austria and Switzerland by cross-border interconnecting feeders. Amprion is party to numerous cooperation agreements with European TSOs with whom we are working closely to make our grids even safer, even more reliable and even more capable. The focus is on system reliability and grid planning, the transnational electricity market and further development of transmission technologies.