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
1
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!