Facilitating interoperability of energy services in Europe

Interoperability: (what) can we learn from the existing experiences?”

Reaching and maintaining the interoperability of energy services in Europe is a complex challenge. However, previous experiences with interoperability exist in the electricity and the healthcare sector that we could draw inspiration from.

In this online debate, we focus on existing experiences with interoperability: namely, the North American Green Button initiative for utility customer data; the ENTSO-E approach to support data exchange requirements related to European electricity market and system operation; and the long-standing experience with interoperability in the healthcare and eHealth sector. We will hear about the views of European DSOs and discuss the steps they are taking to reach interoperability.

Read the highlights

Watch the recording:

Background

The recast of the Electricity Directive (EU) 2019/944 in the Clean Energy Package entitles the European Commission in Article 24(2) to adopt implementing acts specifying interoperability requirements and non-discriminatory and transparent procedures for access to data. According to Article 23(1) of the same directive, “data” is understood to include metering and consumption data as well as data required for customer switching, demand response and other services. Ultimately, this shall serve to facilitate the full interoperability of energy services within the Union (Art. 24(1)).

At the latest European Electricity Regulatory Forum (“Florence Forum”) in June 2019, the European Commission presented interoperability as one of three legislative priorities based on the empowerments in the Clean Energy Package

In our FSR Policy Brief on the topic, we argue that the acts should be ambitious in addressing the multiple dimensions of interoperability for electricity and gas customer data, we refer to relevant experiences with interoperability, and we identify governance as a key issue to achieve interoperability of energy services.

About the online debate

The debate will depart from the question: (what) can we learn from these existing experiences to facilitate the interoperability of energy services in Europe? Together with our expert panelists, we will explore the relevant use cases per initiative, look at the methods, standards and tools that are used and assess whether these can be (partially) applied to the challenge that lies ahead of us.

Panelists:

• Luís Vale Cunha (EDPD)
• tbc (ENTSO-E)
• Jeremy J. Roberts (Green Button Alliance)
• Stefan Sauermann (University of Applied Sciences Technikum Vienna – Medical Engineering and eHealth)
• Valerie Reif (FSR) – also delivers the academic introduction

Moderator: Leonardo Meeus (FSR)

Give your input to the discussion!

Comment on the background paper. You can leave comments addressing specific paragraphs. For example, you believe some points need to be highlighted more, a point is not raised, or you have an opinion you want to voice. You can also make a general comment and point to other aspects of interoperability that you think should be addressed in this or future work on the topic.

• Your feedback and the inputs from the online debate will be the basis for our future work on the topic of interoperability. Your contribution will be acknowledged in the publications to come.

Learn more:

Interoperability of energy services in Europe – what’s behind it?

#Interoperability of energy services in Europe – what’s behind it? In this #researchbite we talk about the articles 23 and 24 of the recast of the Electricity Directive (EU) 2019/944 & the next steps of the European interoperability agenda in #energy 👇https://t.co/HYZ3tADKOJ pic.twitter.com/S4ktjf1fB3

— FSR Energy & Climate (@FSR_Energy) June 15, 2020

Dig in deeper

Interested in knowing more about our distinguished speakers, their projects and initiatives, or the topic of interoperability more generally? Check this out:

• North American Green Button – the standardized way to get your energy usage information
• Schittekatte, T., Reif, V., & Meeus, L. (2020). The EU electricity network codes. FSR Technical report. June 2020 (coming soon)
• “A new deal for energy consumers: consumer data management”, FSR Topic of the Month November 2019 by Valerie Reif

We acknowledge the financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 project INTERRFACE (grant agreement No 824330).