A new transmission and distribution organisation, the TSO Innovation Alliance, was launched on 2 July. Its purpose is to bring together leading European Transmission System Operators to drive innovation in the electricity sector.
Eight European TSOs have come together to accelerate the development of solutions that can improve the resilience and efficiency of the European electricity grid.
The underlying belief is that Europe must lead in energy innovation to shape global standards, reduce dependency on third countries, and strive for global competitiveness as a technology frontrunner.
The Alliance puts that commitment into practice, through actions fostering the innovation ecosystem, together with joint research and development on solutions that will boost the resilience, efficiency, and technological advancement of the continent’s electric infrastructure.
The TSO Innovation Alliance was officially established with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by major Europen TSOs, the founding members of the organisation: they are Terna (Italy); RTE (France); Swissgrid (Switzerland); the Elia Group (which includes Elia in Belgium and 50 Hertz in Germany); TenneT Holding (Netherlands); Red Eléctrica (Spain); and Amprion (Germany).
The Alliance has been established in response to the growing desire for leading European TSOs to assume a more active role in shaping the future of the electricity sector. Manon van Beek, CEO and Chair of TenneT, commented: “The pace of the energy transition demands that we go beyond business-as-usual. Linear development is no longer an option – we need to leapfrog to match the speed and scale required on our path to energy independence. Innovation is essential to use our grids more efficiently, accelerate the integration of renewables, strengthen Europe’s competitiveness, and secure our position as a global frontrunner in green technology. With the Innovation Alliance, TSOs are joining forces to tackle shared challenges and co-develop solutions that will deliver a cost-effective, resilient, and future-proof electricity system – one that underpins Europe’s strategic autonomy.”
Aims and goals
The Alliance has set itself the goal of pooling knowledge and resources in order to overcome shared technical and operational challenges, accelerate the implementation of innovative solutions to guarantee greater resilience and reliability for electricity grids across Europe, and to achieve greater stability in the electricity transmission service.
The Alliance therefore takes the form of a shared platform to promote open innovation initiatives: each year, the it will launch an innovation programme focused on scouting new technological solutions for shared challenges, exchanging metrics and good practices, and fostering collaboration across TSOs.
Europe is facing an increase in extreme weather events and power systems are shifting towards weather-dependent energy sources. Innovative solutions to overcome the risks posed to the grid by increasingly extreme climate events will be needed. That is why the Alliance has identified “Weather and Grid Resilience” as its first innovation challenge. Reflecting this focus, the challenge will invite start-ups to address the operational and infrastructural risks posed by increasingly unpredictable weather events. The results anticipated from this initiative shall give the Alliance’s European TSOs the chance to explore and test innovative solutions: data pooling tools, and probabilistic models for real-time data analysis and the programming of maintenance operations, including predictive maintenance, on transmission lines which cross national borders.
