swissgrid ag and EnBW Transportnetze AG to form a coordination company for the central European transmission network

Karlsruhe. swissgrid ag and EnBW Transportnetze AG to form a coordination company for the central European transmission network with a view to improving supply reliability and network operation.

swissgrid ag and EnBW Transportnetze AG have agreed to form a joint coordination company, Central European System Operation Coordinator AG (CESOC) with its registered office at Laufenburg, Switzerland. swissgrid ag and EnBW Transportnetze AG hold equal shareholdings in the new coordination company. The formation of this company will further boost the efficiency of the two companies’ existing joint network operations on the German-Swiss border. The coordination company CESOC will play a particularly important role in monitoring network safety. swissgrid and EnBW Transportnetze AG are also planning to bundle their lobbying activities in the wake of the restructuring of the European transmission network.

swissgrid ag and EnBW Transportnetze AG anticipate that this new coordination company CESOC will have a positive impact on coordination between transmission network operators active on the European electricity market. This will only work if European transmission networks are seen from a perspective beyond national borders. The operational reliability of swissgrid ag's and EnBW Transportnetze AG's networks is of key importance for the European electricity market due to their geographical location. Both companies are aware of this special responsibility. For this reason, there are plans to build up a cross-border network safety centre at the CESOC coordination company for the transmission networks in the central European region of Switzerland/Baden Württemberg. This network region will be the sixth biggest in the Union for the Coordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE). The coordination company CESOC will be able to coordinate network safety with other regions at a European level.

The tasks of swissgrid ag as the national network company for Switzerland and EnBW Transportnetze AG as Baden-Württemberg’s transmission network operator are not affected by the formation of the joint coordination company, CESOC.

swissgrid ag is the national network company ensuring safe, reliable and economical operation of the Swiss extra-high voltage network in its role as transmission network operator. swissgrid ag employs around 200 qualified staff at its sites at Laufenburg and Frick. As a member of the European association system UCTE and the organisation of European transmission network operators ETSO it additionally performs tasks in the area of coordination and network utilization for the exchange of electricity in Europe. Together, the eight integrated groups in Switzerland, Atel, BKW, CKW, EGL, EOS, EWZ, NOK and RE hold all the share capital of swissgrid.

EnBW Transportnetze AG, with its registered office in Stuttgart, operates the transmission network in Baden-Württemberg and, being the neutral body on the electricity market, is responsible for managing the system within EnBW’s balancing zone. EnBW’s transmission network in Baden-Württemberg consists of 3,650 kilometres of 380,000 and 220,000 volt extra-high voltage lines. This extra-high voltage grid is connected to the regional distribution networks by 81 transformers. EnBW’s transmission network is integrated into the national and European network system with more than 36 points of connection.