After several months of successful pilot testing, the “intraday process” part of the common IT platform for daily operational planning, involving data exchange, data quality checks, improvements and common security assessments (the so-called CTDS), which is used for the planning of the operation of the interconnected power transmission systems in the heart of Europe, has been put into regular use. As part of this operational startup, a joint office (TSC TSOs – Joint Office), has been set up in Munich by the members of the Transmission system operator Security Cooperation (TSC) as a working place and information hub that supports closer cooperation of the members and helps the TSOs to perform their job more efficiently.

Unlike earlier procedures used for day ahead planning purposes, this newly installed Intraday process allows grid operators to perform continuous intraday updating of network demand forecasts and to evaluate the ability of the grid to safely deliver the need power an hour in advance.

For example, with respect to the new energy sources (such as wind and solar), which have been added into the system as sources of power generation, there has been a considerable increase in the likelihood of unanticipated electricity supply and demand imbalances occurring. These are based on the variable nature of such new sources of power supply, which can vary significantly different from original predictions and can compromise the integrity of the entire system.

The CTDS system makes it possible to have the data being supplied by the different system operators automatically consolidated in close to real-time. This makes it possible to continually refine the forecasts of grid network supply and demand and to evaluate the impact of these changes on each participating operating entity. In this way, the new process allows operators to immediately respond to the then current conditions on the network and it gives them information to help them actively prevent the risk of the occurrence of a power blackout.

The new TSC TSOs – Joint Office in Munich has been established to more effectively and efficiently coordinate and carry out the work of the group and to handle new tasks and challenges. It is the place of work for 15 experts from the participating TSOs to perform back-to-back advanced 24/7 tasks to manage TSC TSOs’ expanding operations and to ensure the high level of electricity system security in Europe day and night. Their key tasks are to call attention to data quality, to maintain stable operation of the TSC TSOs’ IT-tools and to provide input for the development of new processes for the operational planning and security analyses per-formed by the TSC TSOs. The software applications have been developed by Unicorn Systems. These centralized services include the monitoring and operation of common “Day-Ahead” and “Intraday” processes, the design of optimization processes and algorithms and related IT services. The ultimate goal of all of these efforts is to increase the safety and reliability of the European power transmission system, while maintaining the existing decentralized responsibility of the individual TSO.

About TSO Security Cooperation Group (TSC)

The Transmission System Operator Security Cooperation (TSC) was launched in December 2008 as an initiative of equal partners with a decentralized approach to foster regional European cooperation for system security in the countries concerned and in the whole of Europe. Its members are 50Hertz, Amprion (both Germany), APG (Austria), ČEPS (Czech Republic), ELES (Slovenia), Energinet.dk (Denmark), HOPS (Croatia), PSE (Poland), swissgrid (Switzerland), TenneT TSO (Germany), TenneT TSO (The Netherlands), TransnetBW (Germany) and one observer, MAVIR (Hungary). The involved TSOs set up a permanent TSO Security Panel (group of security experts), new cooperation tools for control centres and a common IT platform CTDS for data exchange and performing common n-1 security assessments. TSC TSOs’ main goal is to further enhance operational cooperation amongst TSOs in order to ensure keeping a high level of overall system security in the European electricity grid. TSC TSOs are open to the participation of other TSOs.

About Unicorn Systems

Unicorn Systems is a renowned European company providing the largest information systems and solutions in the area of information and communication technologies. We have focused on providing high added value and a competitive edge to our clients for many years. We have been operating on the market since 1990 and since then we have created a series of high-end large-scale solutions that are extended and used among the most important companies in a variety of sectors. We have the best references from the banking, insurance, telecommunications, energy, industry, commerce and public sectors. Our customers are not only the largest companies but also market leaders. We have detailed knowledge of the entire spectrum of all business sectors. We understand the principles of their operation as well as comprehend the specific needs of our customers.

Our extensive team of systematically educated experts perfectly masters all current product lines, components, technology, and therefore we have essentially no technological restrictions. Even though we enforce a lot of revolutionary ideas in our work, the overall delivery of proven solutions are subject to fundamental criteria – quality, scope, term and budget.

About ELEKTROSYSTEM

ELEKTROSYSTEM is a leading supplier of the control and information systems required to serve the diverse demands of the energy sector in Central Europe. Its main activities are the development, production, installation and servicing of control systems. These control systems are developed and installed in close cooperation with their future users to meet, to the maximum extent possible, their need to fully control the transmission and distribution of electrical energy. The company was founded in 1990 and has successfully installed more than 20 power control systems (at all voltage levels). ELEKTROSYSTEM has two divisions, one based in Brno, Czech Republic and the other located in Žilina, Slovakia.