In July 2011 the the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) published, at the request of the European Commission, a draft of Framework Guidelines on System Operation pursuant to the EU conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity. The draft guidelines were issued for a public consultation that is to last until 11 September 2011.
The draft Framework Guidelines affect all electric power transmission networks in the European Union. As all actions of European operators of electricity transmission systems bear cross-border character, the lack of a general rulebook for these actions is becoming ever more problematic and can affect the whole of the EU. An example of this would be the cascading line trippings initiated in Germany that had, in 2006, caused an interruption of electrical energy supply for more than 15 million European households.
The draft guidelines therefore address the need to implement a coherent pan-Europan framework and aim at setting out clear and objective principles for the development of network codes used in EU transmission networks.
To provide the interested public with an opportunity to get clarifications about the drat guidelines in public consultation, in August ACER held a presentation of the guidelines. The event, taking place at the ACER headquarters in Ljubljana, also featured a presentation by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity on the on-going activities on the development of network codes.
