DSO Entity just concluded an intense week of work between the 4th PCI Energy Days in Brussels and Enlit Europe in Paris.
PCI Energy Days, Brussels
During the 4th PCI Energy Days, the European Commission presented its Communication on “Grids, the missing link – An EU Action Plan for grids”, non-legislative communication that describes seven challenges and 14 Action Points that should support the implementation of existing energy legislation in the next 18 months. The objective of the plan is to make Europe’s electricity grids stronger, more interconnected, more digitalised and cyber-resilient.
DSO Entity President, Vincenzo Ranieri, welcomed the timely initiative of the European Commission that came as a first important step after the Conference "Future of the Grids", held last 7 September. “Delivering the green transition is a matter of cooperation, dialogue, and team effort. The Pact of engagement in the Action Plan is a very good instrument for a constructive dialogue between decision-makers, DSOs, TSOs, regulators, institutions, and citizens. DSO Entity looks forward to contributing to a fruitful exchange to smoothen the way for Europe’s decarbonized energy future”.
As part of the Grid Action Plan DSO Entity Secretary General Peter Vermaat signed with other stakeholders in the presence of Energy Director-General Ditte Juul Jørgensen the Pact for Engagement to ensure early, regular and meaningful stakeholder engagement in grid development.
Enlit Europe, Paris
During Enlit Europe, several Board members, experts, and stakeholders met in Paris to discuss core topics relevant for the energy community.
Our President Vincenzo Ranieri joined the closed-door roundtable organised by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to share experiences and perspectives about the future of electricity grids along with peers from Iberdrola, Enel Grids & Innovability and, RTE to name a few. It was an occasion to discuss key policy recommendations to boost grid capacity developments and elaborate on our mission, to ensure a diverse and balanced representation of electricity DSOs in Europe is present.
“Creating cooperation among EU Member States to share best practices and create mutual understanding”. Vincenzo Ranieri
Our experts present highlighted key messages aligned with the workstream they are following within the expert groups, such as the need to decentralise the grids and the importance of Smart Grid Indicators (SGIs) to be flexible and futureproof, as well as creating an efficient Digital Twin of the European Electricity Grid.
“For an efficient decarbonisation effort, we need to realise the potential of decentralised flexibility that is connected to the distribution grid”. Torsten Knop
Unlocking demand side flexibility within the growing energy society was another key topic of discussion, stressing on the need to decentralise, digitalise, harmonise, regulate, and coordinate markets and system operators. Similarly echoing the need for decentralisation, the work of EG DI in drafting an Implementing Act on Interoperability for access to metering and consumption data while also underscoring the need of distinction between regulated meters and dedicated metering devices to ensure energy reliability was under the spotlight in the Digitalisation Hub.
“DSOs and data are a winning combination” - Flore Patrat-Delon
Furthermore, skills arose as a common theme, recalling the ongoing Year of Skills campaign promoted by the European Commission. The necessity for skills development to take place within the energy sectors workforce was at the centre of the debate. Calling for training, up-skilling, and investments in education remains the main challenges to face.
During ENLIT, our Secretary General Peter Vermaat recorded the video interview: EU Grid Action Plan: What are the priorities? to discuss the release of the awaited EU Grid Action Plan and the priorities for Member States on developing grid infrastructure and monitoring systems. The interview is available here.
To conclude, thanks to Enedis support, we mingled together during the co-organised cocktail reception in the presence of our President Vincenzo Ranieri and Enedis Board member Christian Buchel. It was a nice moment to wrap-up the day after the intense and diverse discussions of the day.
We want to sincerely thank all our members who were present at Enlit and that represented DSO Entity in panels or showed up at the booth for a catch up on our priorities:
From the Board: Vincenzo Ranieri (E-Distribuzione), Luis Vale Cunha (E-Redes), Remy Garaude Verdier (Enedis).
From the Expert Groups: Paul de Wit (Alliander), Torsten Knop (E.ON SE), Georg Hartner (Austrian Energy Association (NM)), Helga Coenen (Enexis), Flore Patrat-Delon (E.ON), Yvonne Ruwaida (Vattenfall), and Nicolas Back (Creos Luxembourg).