Brussels, 24/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European electricity network resisted the solar eclipse well on Friday 20 March despite the abrupt variations in photovoltaic production in Germany and Italy which caused one-off cuts in supply for a few German industries, said ENTSO-E, the European network of transmission system operators for electricity.
“European citizens and businesses could rely on a secure supply of electricity this morning. The fast variations in solar generation and difficult to anticipate impact on demand were successfully managed by transmission system operators (TSOs) thanks to meticulous planning, and strong regional and European cooperation”, said ENTSO-E the same day.
In the end, the loss of photovoltaic production between the start and end of the eclipse (which began at 8.00am GMT and finished at 11.00am GMT) was 17,000 megawatts. ENTSO-E had predicted a maximum loss of 34,000 MW had the morning been very sunny. It was in Southern Germany and Northern Italy, where the concentration of photovoltaics is the greatest, that the situation was the most challenging. However, the regional coordination initiatives between the TSOs that were mobilised - RTE from France, REE from Spain, Amprion from Germany, Swissgrid from Switzerland and TERNA from Italy - with the help of Brussels-based Coreso, the coordination centre for the exploitation of networks in Western Europe, paid off.
“The solar eclipse is an example of the success of European and regional cooperation organised by ENSTO-E”, the latter announced. “Many other aspects of European electricity market integration are solved in the network codes delivered by ENTSO-E to regulators and the European Commission. It is urgent that we see a swift adoption of the network codes. With the network codes in place, when the next solar eclipse takes place in 2026, the management of such a challenging event will be much easier”, ENTSO-E concluded. (Emmanuel Hagry)