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Ref. Ares(2021)4296942 - 01/07/2021
COVID-19 Pandemic 
  
Bulk System Demand and 
Operations Impacts and Practices 
ENTSO-E 
Electricity Coordination Group, 5 June 2020  
 


TSOs Business Continuity - Status 
 System Operation remains safe in Europe: all power systems are in normal state  
 Extraordinary measures taken by MS’s Governments have led to a decrease of electricity 
consumption and robust generation unit availability. For the moment, there are no adequacy issues 
expected in short or medium term 
 Control Centres of all TSOs report challenges and measures to maintain safe and healthy staff 
 In all countries, the electricity market is functioning normally. Currently there are no conditions to 
initiate market suspension as long as adequacy and security of supply are ensured 
 In most countries, regular teleconferences of National Authorities with TSOs and other 
stakeholders of energy sector are in place, to verify continued capability of core activities and 
services. Coordination of measures works well thus far. 
 In accordance with procedures of TSOs, teleconferences have been arranged with relevant 
stakeholders (DSOs, generation units, market players, IT and Telecommunication providers) to ensure 
continuity of services and alignment where needed. 

Status of Measures and 
Mitigations 



TSOs Core Activities to ensure Safety of the Grid 

Grid 
Asset 
TSOs have implemented, 
Congestion 
monitoring 
management 
management 
where needed, a doubling up 
(operations 
of staff in terms of staffing the 
and market) 
National main Control Center 
Incident 
Load-
and National backup Control 
management 
frequency 
Center and the Regional 
control 
TSOs core 
Control Centers 
activities 
operational 
 
Voltage 
planning 
 In some cases, grid 
control 
maintenance works is being 
National / 
postponed or cancelled, due 
international 
to travel restrictions without 
Balancing 
coordination 
risking system operation in 
Switching 
with operators 
and authorities 
short or medium terms 


COVID-19 Measures implemented by TSOs 
Hygiene and sanitary measures, especially for operational staff: intensified cleaning, scan 
temperature, no hand-shake, keep distance. 
Travel restriction or cancellation of arrangements, inside or outside the countries, to prevent 
virus contamination.  
Organisational measures, that could be expanded depending how the situation is evolving: 
o Restricted access to control rooms to people strictly needed for continuity of operation. 
o Partial confinement of operational staff in control room: people are required to stay at 
home when they are not in shift, with contacts limited to their families, and not to use 
public transportation. 
o Total confinement of operational staff in control room: for period of 7 days, operational 
staff (at least 3 teams for a 24 hours shift) stay inside the control room, without any contact 
outside. 
o Parallel work of 2 Control Rooms (main and back-up) + support/back-up offices (planning & 
balancing and IT support) + support/back-up from regional centres.  
o Operational staff  is divided into separate teams with no mixing between the teams. 
o Clear and direct instruction to personnel on how to respect the new rules. 
o Teleworking for non-core activities. 
 
 

Covid-19 Ongoing Measures for TSOs  
 This is an unprecedented situation and a major challenge which is been managed in accordance 
with TSOs planning, business continuity procedures, processes and systems 
 
 Continuous share and alignment (when possible) of measures amongst TSOs; weekly status 
report at ENTSO-E level 
 
 TSOs evaluate the experience in handling of such an unprecedented situation, especially in 
context of the development of regional scenarios for risk preparedness 
 

Exiting Lock down and 
Transition Plans 

COVID-19 Consequences 
 Maintenance programs have been adapted due to restrictions on personnel / material 
 
 Concerns for winter period should the restrictions persist 
 
 New Connection/Development projects are expected to be delayed into 2021 and future years 
– this is essential to enhance availability (reduce planned outages) and stability of the grid 
 

COVID-19 Planning Deconfinement  
Major points of taken measures: home office as much as possible, shift staff is secured against any 
contact with external workers and internal colleagues but not isolated, house restaurants have limited 
menus, chairs with distance, one-way-movement, regular COVID test for critical staff (shift engineer and 
maintenance staff), grid projects are still running as much as possible, obligation to wear mask when 
distance can not be guarantee. Still no physical meetings allowed. Advised not to use public transport. 
 
Possible steps back to normal: reduced home office and max. 1 person in one small office, allow more 
external workers in buildings (repairing staff, work on technical equipment for buildings…), shift engineers 
are still working under secured conditions. Physical meetings allowed with no external persons, later also 
with external persons  
 
More steps in a later stage: all staff back in office but still with distance rules/washing hands etc., house 
restaurant increases the amount of chairs, shift engineers are still working under secured conditions, 
travelling for meetings  
 
Last step: back to normal operation 

 
Thank you for your attention!