ACER and ENTSO-E investigate the 24 July 2021 electricity system separation in Spain, Portugal and parts of France
ACER and ENTSO-E investigate the 24 July 2021 electricity system separation in Spain, Portugal and parts of France
What is it about?
On 24 July 2021 at 16:36 CET, due to a major incident in France, the transmission systems of Portugal and Spain, together with a small part of the French transmission system, were disconnected from the synchronous area Continental Europe for just over 30 minutes.
Based on preliminary data of transmission system operators (TSOs), the system separation is classified as a scale 2 or “extensive” incident as per ENTSO-E’s Incident Classification Scale (ICS).
According to the ICS Methodology, for scale 2 incidents, a final report shall be prepared by an Expert Panel, where relevant National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) may be involved upon their request.
ENTSO-E has therefore set up an Expert Panel and has invited ACER and relevant NRAs to join it. The Expert Panel will first meet today, on 22 October.
The investigation of the Expert Panel will be based on the Interim Report that ENTSO-E is currently finalizing. This Interim Report, which will be published on 12 November 2021, will contain the data, initial findings on the sequence of events and timeframes related to the incident.
Expert Panel’s Final Report will have recommendations
The Expert Panel will prepare a Final Report, which shall describe the sequence of events and details of the transmission outages. It will also explain the causes and contain recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future. The Expert Panel’s Final Report shall be published in first quarter of 2022.
ACER and ENTSO-E are committed to fulfilling their legal obligations specified in the System Operations Guideline and ICS Methodology. In line with the provisions of those documents, the Expert Panel will be chaired by a representative of a TSO not affected by the incident whilst all the members will contribute to the deliverables assigned on equal basis in order to ensure high quality and consistency of the final report.
ACER and ENTSO-E will continue together to provide timely information about the incident.