A technical vision for Europe’s DSOs
Image: DOS Entity
The DSO Entity has launched its technical vision identifying core development areas for European DSOs to reach net zero and serve customers.
The aim of the technical vision is “to establish a unified framework and common language among DSOs” with which to support the DSO Entity’s initiatives and raise awareness of the essential role DSOs play in empowering customers and driving the energy transition, the document states.
The vision identifies four core areas that DSOs are working on, with digitalisation and data supporting and acting as a stepping stone for the other areas to deliver value to customers.
These are distribution network development planning and investment, market facilitation and prosumers engagement, operations and maintenance and resilience and sustainability.
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Efficient and timely investments are necessary to expand and smarten grid infrastructure to enable a reliable energy transition while ensuring uninterrupted service, enhanced flexibility and smart technology integration.
Consumer value is enhanced by facilitating system flexibility, enabling market access and ensuring secure, equitable energy supply through regulatory and infrastructure improvements.
DSOs are taking decisive steps to upgrade their system management capabilities to address the growing demands of renewable energies and distributed energy resources in order to secure the future bi-directional power system and its operational efficiency.
They also are adapting their grids and operations to climate change, ensuring resilience during extreme weather events, accommodating evolving energy consumption patterns and protecting customer data and system integrity with robust cybersecurity and risk management.
Digitalisation is the foundation of these, enabling DSOs to deliver value across these core areas by managing and analysing vast data streams, implementing new digital technologies and tools and collaborating with cybersecurity experts and government agencies.
The technical vision document also highlights the role of the DSO data space, the building of which the DSO Entity is supporting, as a critical component of the future decentralised and customer-driven energy system enabling data interoperability and accessibility.
The document adds that the vision also is a call to cooperation for European stakeholders to work together towards serving European customers.
This includes increased cooperation with ENTSO-E and close collaboration with the European Commission and ACER as well as with all system players.
