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Eight European Transmission System Operators (TSO) have joined forces to foster innovation in Europe’s electricity grids. «Weather and Grid Resilience» will be the first area chosen by the Alliance to work on: an innovation challenge will be launched to find startups with innovative solutions to overcome the risks posed to the grid by extreme climate events and facilitate the integration of weather-dependent energy sources.
Today marks the launch of the TSO Innovation Alliance, bringing together leading European Transmission System Operators to drive innovation in the electricity sector. Grids are the backbone not only of the energy transition but also of economic prosperity, by providing access to affordable, reliable, and decarbonized electricity.
The Alliance puts a common commitment of the TSOs 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 between major European Transmission System Operators which become the founding members of the organisation: Terna (Italy); RTE (France); Swissgrid (Switzerland); the Elia Group (which includes Elia in Belgium and 50Hertz in Germany); TenneT (Netherlands); Red Eléctrica (Spain); and Amprion (Germany). The members share common challenges and priorities and aim to coordinate their innovation efforts more closely, leveraging expertise and resources.
«Decarbonization, digitalization, and decentralization present significant challenges for stable grid operations. We rely on innovative solutions to meet these challenges,» says Swissgrid CEO Yves Zumwald. «Through the TSO Innovation Alliance, we strengthen innovation, joint research and collaboration – to enhance the resilience and efficiency of the electricity grid in Switzerland and all over continental Europe.»
Each year, the Alliance will launch an innovation program focused on scouting new technological solutions for shared challenges, exchanging metrics and good practices, and fostering collaboration across TSOs. The most promising ideas will be selected through an open call to the European startup ecosystem, to find the best available solutions and test them through joint proof-of-concepts.
The first area in which the Alliance will demonstrate its added value is «Weather and Grid Resilience», a field where climate impacts, operational security, and technological innovation converge.
Europe is facing an increase in extreme weather events and power systems are shifting towards weather-dependent energy sources. These two factors underscore the urgent need for innovative solutions to ensure grid resilience across Europe. That is why the Alliance has identified «Weather and Grid Resilience» as its first innovation challenge. Reflecting this focus, the challenge will invite startups 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 of two main types: data pooling tools, in order to share meteorological scenarios and data on extreme climate events at European level; and probabilistic models for real-time data analysis and the programming of maintenance operations, including predictive maintenance, on transmission lines which straddle national borders.
The TSO Innovation Alliance is therefore the optimal platform from which to tackle a challenge that knows no boundaries. One that affects the management and operation of all energy infrastructure and literally crosses national boundaries due to Europe’s increasingly interconnected electricity systems.