European Network Codes

14.07.2022

ACER submits the Network Code on cybersecurity to the European Commission

ACER has submitted a revised Network Code after the preparation of the Network Code by ENTSO-E and the DSO Entity in January 2022, based on the Framework Guidelines established by ACER. This revision was submitted to the European Commission within the allowed limit of six months (EU 2019/943; Article 59, 11). The Commission should now review the Network Code and initiate its adoption as a delegated act. More information on the revised parts of the Network Code can be found here.

02.06.2022

ACER starts the drafting of the Framework Guidelines for the new NC on Demand Response

The EU-COM requested ACER on the 1. June 2022 to submit framework guidelines setting out clear and objective principles for the development of a new Network Code on Demand Response. This NC is supposed to provide a European framework for the integration of new electricity loads in a cost-efficient manner. ACER will submit the framework guidelines to the European Commission by December 2022. Stakeholders have the chance to submit their input for the FG until 2. August 2022.

More information on ACERs Website.

06.05.2022

ACER and CEER publish a consultation paper and opens a public consultation on Electricity Grid Connection Network Codes

The agency and council of European Energy Regulators have published a consultation paper covering the need for amendments in the upcoming revision of the European Grid Connection Network Codes. Access the paper here.

Stakeholders can submit their views on the areas for revision in a public consulation from 6th of May until 10th of June. Follow this link to access the consultation.

ACER and CEER will also hold a public workshop on Wednesday 25 May 2022, from 10.00 to 12.00 CET, to present the consultation paper and to gather further views from stakeholders.

The consulation paper is the first step inn the revision of the CNC and will be published in September this year, likely before the consultation for staeholders to submit their own proposals starts in the same month.

28.03.2022

Final report on the power system separation of Iberia from Continental Europe on 24 July 2021

More details can be found on the complete report from ENTSO-E here.

22.03.2022

VDE FNN participates in the EPRI European Workshop 2022

Mr. Michael Fette presented the main insights of the FNN Guideline "grid-forming and system-supporting behaviour of PGM" during the Session on System Inertia Providers and Grid Forming Inverters during the EPRI European Workshop. More than 100 participants representing different actors in the power sector and from different parts of the world were present at the virtual event.

18.03.2022

Final Report on the local power grid incident in Rogowiec (Poland) substation on 17 May 2021

More details can be found on the complete report from ENTSO-E here.

16.03.2022

Milestone for the Continental Synchronous Area: completion of the synchronisation with Ukraine and Moldova power systems

EThe process for synchronisation of the power systems from Ukraine and Moldova has been accelerated to support our neighbours in exceptional circumstances. More information can be found on ENTSO-E`s website.

03.03.2022

ACER initiates the process to update the Connection Codes

ACER announced at the Meeting of the Grid Connection European Stakeholders Committee (GC ESC) the start of the process for the revision of the NC DCC and NC RfG until 2023. The European Commission will then habe the task to approve ACERs proposal and review the regulation until end of 2024. More information on the process and timeline can be found here.

16.02.2022

German "Grid Codes" updated in all ENTSO-E Libraries

ENTSO-E hosts on its website active libraries with national implemented documents for Emergency & Restoration Code, System Operation Guidelines and Connection Codes (RfG, HVDC, DCC). FNN has worked with ENTSO-E to update all the information and links pertaining the German codes. The Grid Codes See all the active libraries here.

02.02.2022

EU-COM publishes EU Strategy on Standardisation

The new Strategy on Standardisation with the title "Setting global standards in support of a resilient, green and digital EU single market" establishes the main goals for the EU to strengthen the global role of European standardisation and accelerate its pace. This proposal sets an important base to support national standardization bodies such as DKE. More Information on DKE´s website.

21.01.2022

ACER organizes a Stakeholder Workshop on the assessment of the EU electricity market design

ACER was tasked in October 2021 by the EU-COM with carrying out an assessment of the current EU wholesale electricity market design by April 2022. A preliminary assessment was submitted in November 2021. Stakeholders have the chance to provide feedback on this assessment. Here you can find the agenda and register for the workshop untill 8th of February.

14.01.2022

Proposal for the new Network Code on Cybersecurity submitted for ACER review

The joint proposal from ENTSO-E and the DSO Entity for a new Network Code on Cybersecurity (NC CS) was submitted on 14.01.2022 to ACER for review. This is the first milestone for the cooperation between ENTSO-E and the DSO Entity, as established in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) from January 2022. ACER has now 3 months to review the proposal according to the Framework Guideline. ENTSO-E and the DSO Entity would have the opportunity to update the proposal and submit it again to ACER if changes are necessary. ACER would then submit the proposal for a new NC to the EU-COM with a recommended timeline for its implementation.

22.12.2021

ACER 1st Monitoring Report on the Emergency and Restoration Network Code

ACER published at the end of 2021 the first Implementation Report which analyzes the national implementation of the E&R NC and presents key findings as well as recommendations for improvement. Outside of the scope of the report is the pending provisions to be implemented by December 2022, as established in Article 55, NC ER Regulation. The report can be found on ACER Website.

10.12.2021

Deadline for the Public Consultation on Drafting of the NC Cybersecurity (NC CS)

VDE FNN is organizing a consultation response with experts in the relevant gremiums. Please get in touch if you are interested in participating in the joint response until 03.12.2021.

A response for the consultation can be submitted through this form online by any natural or juridical person.

08.12.2021

2nd Workshop on Drafting of the NC Cybersecurity (NC CS)

Another workshop has been planned by ENTSO-E as the last opportunity for a wider audience to have a say on the development of the NC CS. ENTSO-E will finalize the NC from the 13th of December until the 14th of January 2022.

You would like to attend? Then simply save the Outlook meeting file from ENTSO-E Website and you can follow the link on the 8th of December.

19.11.2021

1st Workshop on Drafting of the NC Cybersecurity (NC CS)

The ground was laid by ACER in July 2021 with the Framework Guidelines. ENTSO-E has since then worked on developing the NC CS with a Drafting Committee involving stakeholders such as ACER, DG ENERGY, DSO Entity and various European associations. This 1st workshop offers the wider industry actors to consult on the NC CS.

You would like to attend? Then simply save the Outlook meeting file from ENTSO-E Website and you can follow the link on the 19th of November. There you can also find more information about the development of the NC CS.

15.11.2021

ACER organizes the 1st Workshop on Demand Side Flexibility Framework Guidelines

In response to a request from the European Commission according to Article 59 (Regulation for an internal market for electricity 2019/943) , ACER is organizing the first Workshop to collect Input from Stakeholders on a Framework Guideline for the new Network Code on Demand Side Flexibility. This NC will include rules on aggregation, energy storage and demand curtailment. The European Commission proposed already some potential topics on its request to ACER (see here). Follow the link on the title to register for the virtual event until the 11th of November.

11.11.2021

How compliant are EU Countries with the Connection Network Codes? ACER releases analysis on national implementation

ACER has released a new report as a follow up to the last Implementation Monitoring Reports from December 2020. This new analysis provides an update based on feedback from NRAs following requests from ACER for more Information on their national implementation. The result of the analysis: confirms the implementation status as satisfactory (as established in previous reports) although shows non-compliances still not being addressed where necessary.

10.11.2021

DA/RE Platform for Redispatch 2.0 - ENTSO-E identifies main Flexibility Platforms from EU Member States

ENTSO-E and Frontier Economics investigate in this report eight local flexibility platforms, their use cases as well as challenges that impede their development.

22.10.2021

First Meeting of the Expert Panel investigating the short outage of the French-Spanish interconnection

An expert Panel formed by ACER and relevant NRAs is meeting in October 2021 to propose recommendations to Prevent incidents such as the French-Spanish System Separation in July 2021 based on the Interim Report from ENTSO-E (in development).

For more information, see the press conference from ACER here.

The Interim Report for the disconnection event of January 2021 can be found on ENTSO-E website here.

21.10.2021

4th Cybersecurity Workshop organized by E.DSO, ENCS and ENTSO-E

The European organizations got together to discuss the challenges faced by the EU synchronous grid and the role that the new Network Code on Cybersecurity has to ensure the grid is resilient against cyberattacks. The main take-away from the discussion was: all relevant stakeholders must collaborate to be able to fence off these attacks.

The presentation slides from the event can be found here.

20.10.2021

2nd paper on unsupported Renewable Energy Sources (RES) from the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER)

This paper investigates the dimension of RES plants close to or beyond their end of support in various European countries, the challenges in terms of regulation and recommendations for viable business streams for these RES plants. The report can be found on CEER´s website here. 

23.09.2021

First Meeting of the German Coordination Group of German DSOs

The associations BDEW, VKU and GEODE Germany organise the coordination Group "VEKO" which serves as a network to inform the German DSOs in the DSO Entity about current work, to exchange information with active members of the DSO Entity committees and to contribute to the European regulatory process. By coordinating similar interests, the voice of German DSOs in Europe is to be strengthened. VDE FNN will follow the work of the VEKO closely and support the DSOs with expertise from FNN Committees and experts.

More information about VEKO can be found here.

22.09.2021

The Grid Codes European Stakeholders Committee (GC ESC) meets in September 22th

The GC ESC continues to work on the development of the Connection Codes and meets again in September to discuss changes to NC RfG as well as the work from the Expert Groups. The group will discuss the final reports of the last Expert Groups and decide on the topics for the 3 new Expert Groups.

The agenda and documents for the meeting can be found on the ENTSO-E Website: https://www.entsoe.eu/network_codes/esc/#gesc

13.09.2021

DSO Entity Appoints a new Secretary General

The EU DSO Entity has appointed Peter Vermaat as Secretary General. Peter is already performing work for the EU DSO Entity and will officially start his mandate as of 1 October. The President thanked Hans Craen, who acted as Interim Secretary General, for his work over the past months. Peter Vermaat will focus, in a first phase, on the operational side of the organization while also ensuring that the Entity’s voice is heard in the on-going processes for developing network codes on, among other topics, demand side flexibility, data interoperability and cybersecurity.

28.07.2021

DSO-TSO Roadmap on the Evolution of the Regulatory Framework for Distributed Flexibility

The recommendations of the report are the outcome of 5 months of analysis and discussion between TSO and DSO experts involved in a Joint Task Force on Distributed Flexibility, which was set up in the framework of the Distribution & Transmission Cooperation Platform. Two diverging perspectives appeared regarding the necessary evolution of the regulatory framework, whereby TSOs advocated for amendments to existing NCs and guidelines (GLs) and DSOs favoured the development of a new NC. The proposed roadmap lays out the necessary changes in regulation but the implementation as a separate NC is still not decided. 

27.07.2021

ACER publishes its Framework Guideline to establish a Network Code on Cybersecurity

The next step towards the development of a Network Code is the publication of a Framework Guideline which provides hihg-level principles for the development of the NC on Cybersecurity. The document was consulted with stakeholders in April 2021 and updated according to the comments received. FNN Experts from the Expert Network on EU NC submitted their opinions putting emphasis on the importance of standardization as the basis for the NC. The Framework Guideline was then submitted to the EU COM, who will request ENTSO-E a drafting of the NC within 12 months. This will be done together with the DSO-Entity, particularly through ist Expert Group dedicated to the NC on Cybersecurity.

26.07.2021

Call for Experts: Expert Group for Demand Side Flexibility by ACER

According to the scope for the Expert Group:  "the group may also be called on to provide advice for amendments to existing network codes and guidelines, as well as for developing new framework guidelines, or to submit opinions on any other issue related to ACER’s tasks in the demand side flexibility Domain."

19.07.2021

The Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) analyses the actions from Energy Regulators on the first half of 2021

This is a good overview of the regulatory actions in the energy industry across Europe so far this year.

10.06.2021

GC ESC 22. Meeting

The EG CSM presented its final report. EG ISSM and EG BtfA reported their developments. All final reports are expected to be released by the end of June. VGB presented comments on the VDE FNN study on temporary overvoltage (Spannungsfestigkeit).

08.06.2021

DSO Entity's first General Assembly

The DSO Entity celebrated its first General Assembly with all DSO members and the elected Board from April this year. Johan Mörnstam (E.ON Group) was elected one of the Vice President for the category representing the DSOs over 1 million connected customers of the EU DSO Entity. According to Eurelectric "The activities of the body have since officially started, centered around three expert groups on cybersecurity, data access and interoperability, and distributed flexibility. This work will enable the Entity to set up a constructive collaboration with, among others, the European Commission, ACER and ENTSO-E."

• We announce the creation of Application Rules and make the procedure transparent.
• We publish drafts, discuss the incoming proposed modifications and inform the objectors about the result.
• We make controversial topics (hotspots) and overarching specifications transparent in good time.
• We involve interest groups to reflect and involve a wide range of opinions
• Our procedure is proven, tested and transparent. It follows the principles of developing VDE-Application Rules in the FNN (VDE-AR-N 100).

The challenges of expanding renewable energies, particularly in the underlying grids, need to be tackled jointly by all stakeholders of all network levels. For this reason, some topics will need to be addressed and regulated across voltage levels, for example:

• Classification in performance categories
• Notification of the VDE code of practice through the EU Commission
• Static voltage stability
• Dynamic network support
• Black start capacity
• Active power supply for over or under frequency
• Balancing energy
• Verification procedures

The rules need to pass through a notification procedure at the EU commission upon completion by VDE|FNN.