The establishment of a working group on the sharing of energy-related data, the creation of a digital twin of the European electricity network and the adoption of a delegated act on the cybersecurity of cross-border electricity flows are some of the initiatives envisaged by the European Commission as part of its forthcoming communication on the digitalisation of the European Union’s energy system, according to a provisional document obtained by EUROPE on Thursday 22 September.
Expected in the coming weeks, this initiative will take the form of an action plan to promote connectivity, interoperability and the transparent exchange of data between the various players, as well as to stimulate investment in the electricity grid and cyber security.
The Commission believes that “decarbonisation, electrification, sectoral integration and decentralisation of the energy system all require a tremendous effort in digitalisation”.
In its view, the EU “needs to build an energy system that is much smarter and more interactive than it is today” in order to integrate “ever-higher shares of variable renewables while ensuring energy supply is affordable and resilient, and to ensure that what could be competing uses of the electricity grid become complementary in the most efficient way”.
Creating a European Data Space
Firstly, the Commission wants to start rolling out a “common European energy data space” by 2024 at the latest to “facilitate the participation on the wholesale markets of more than 580 GW of flexible energy resources that make full use of digital solutions by 2050”.
To this end, it intends to formally re-establish the current Smart Grids Task Force (SGTF) by expanding its responsibilities and membership.
This task force will reportedly be renamed the “Smart Energy Expert Group” and will include a new permanent working group bringing together the Commission, Member States and public and private stakeholders.
Entitled ‘Data for Energy’ (D4E), this group will be responsible for defining the guiding principles of the European framework for sharing energy-related data and ensuring coherence between different data sharing priorities and initiatives. The Commission plans to set it up by March 2023 at the latest, the draft says.
Creating a digital twin of the European network
In order to make the European electricity network more efficient and intelligent, the Commission intends to help the EU’s Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and Distribution System Operators (DSOs) to create a digital twin of the network, i.e. a sophisticated virtual model of the network.
However, this requires the widespread deployment of smart electricity meters to provide real-time data updates, which “is still not the case in many Member States”.
“The electricity grid needs to interact with many actors or devices based on a detailed level of observability, and hence availability of data”, the document points out in this regard.
The institution therefore plans to adopt an implementing act on interoperability requirements and non-discriminatory and transparent procedures for access to metering and consumption data.
The Commission also intends to support the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) in their work to define common indicators for smart grids and targets for these indicators.
This would allow the NRAs to monitor smart and digital investments in the electricity network every year from 2023 onwards and to measure progress towards the creation of the digital twin, the draft document says.
Environmental impact of ICT and data centres
Another part of the action plan concerns energy consumption and the environmental impact of information and communication technologies (ICT).
In this respect, the draft states that the Commission intends, by 2023, to: - improve the sustainability of ICT devices through the EU Ecodesign Regulation for sustainable products; - develop an energy labelling scheme for computers.
Regarding data centres, the institution would consider revising the Ecodesign Regulation’s requirements for the operating conditions of servers and data storage products and would like to introduce an environmental labelling scheme for data centres by 2025.
It also plans to launch a study on optimising the integration of data centres into energy and water systems by the end of the year.
A coordinated approach at EU level
Before the end of the year, the Commission wants to create a platform bringing together energy and digital innovators from across the EU. The platform would cooperate closely with cities, for example in the framework of the cooperation of smart cities and communities.
The Commission also wants to develop, between 2023 and 2024, an experimental platform to test and simulate energy communities in combination with innovative activities such as energy trading based on blockchain technology.
Strengthening cyber security
To increase resilience to cyber security risks in the electricity system, the Commission intends to propose a delegated act in the form of a network code for the cyber security aspects of cross-border electricity flows (in the first quarter of 2023) as well as another delegated act on the cyber security of gas and hydrogen networks. The latter would consist of an amendment to the EU regulation on security of gas supply.
These two initiatives would be complemented by a recommendation to provide guidelines for improving the resilience of critical energy infrastructure against possible physical, cyber or hybrid attacks.
According to our information, the communication could be officially presented by the end of the month.
See the draft: https://aeur.eu/f/393 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)