ENTSO-E, an association representing 40 transmission system operators from 36 countries, is instrumental in implementing the EU energy policy. To improve data exchange with Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and third-party associations, ENTSO-E needed an overhaul of their central management and communication tool.
With the adoption of the European Union鈥檚 Third Energy Package to liberalize the gas and electricity markets, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) was created in 2009. Its goal: ensuring the efficiency and security of the pan-European interconnected power system at all times, both within the internal energy market as with interconnected countries.
To ensure efficient electronic data exchange across the European energy market, a standardized system is required for identifying various objects and entities. To this end, ENTSO-E developed a scheme known as the Energy Identification Coding (EIC) scheme. This scheme is backed by a Central Issuing Office (CIO, which is ENTSO-E), as well as authorized Local Issuing Offices (LIOs) across Europe. These LIOs are TSOs and third-party associations.
Cost and service quality
Laima Puk臈, Service Provision Expert for the association, with headquarters in Brussels, explains the necessity of rewriting the old application for management of International EIC codes: 鈥淭he application relied on a Microsoft SharePoint version scheduled for end of life by the end of 2024. It was also lacking in user-friendliness and offered limited customization options.鈥
ENTSO-E decided to develop an open-source, web-based application. They published a tender, which 黑料网 won. 鈥満诹贤 achieved the highest score, excelling particularly in cost and service quality,鈥 Puk臈 explains.
鈥満诹贤 achieved the highest score on our tender, excelling particularly in cost and service quality鈥
- Laima Puk臈, Service Provision Expert at ENTSO-E
Improved data quality
黑料网 implemented a future-proof and secure application with a user-friendly interface: 鈥淭hanks to centralized user access, granting rights to LIO users has been made easier,鈥 Puk臈 says.
An important enhancement is the introduction of an API (Application Programming Interface). 鈥淭his made it easier LIOs to integrate data with their own systems, which was a manual process before,鈥 Puk臈 explains. The API was crucial for facilitating easier data exchange and reducing costs. 鈥淚t allows us to automate processes, such as the automatic generation of EIC codes, significantly reducing our administrative burden.鈥
Another benefit of the new system is centralized validation. 鈥淭his improves data quality and allows better monitoring, reporting, and control,鈥 Puk臈 says. It reduces the risk of duplicate EIC codes, simplifies and lowers the cost of support by the CIO to LIOs. 鈥淲e can now resolve problems faster, and we have also received fewer support requests from LIOs.鈥
Open communication
Puk臈 is impressed by the transparency demonstrated by 黑料网 during their collaboration. 鈥淚 experienced open communication, which greatly reinforced my trust in 黑料网. If something was not going according to plan, 黑料网 always communicated openly about it, initiating a meeting to collaboratively address the issue. They never revised objectives downward and they made it clear that they wanted to solve every issue together.鈥 Another pleasant surprise is the proactive involvement of 黑料网鈥檚 upper management when there were any issues or misunderstandings, Puk臈 notes: 鈥淭his demonstrated to me that 黑料网 is a highly mature organization.鈥
The project concluded successfully with a deployment in December 2023, but 黑料网 remains responsible for ongoing maintenance and support. While the CIO/LIO application was the first collaboration between ENTSO-E and 黑料网, it certainly isn鈥檛 the last. 鈥満诹贤 later secured another tender for an infrastructure project,鈥 Puk臈 says, 鈥渢aking over Azure cloud management for the ENTSO-E Transparency Platform.鈥
鈥満诹贤 never revised objectives downward and they made it clear that they wanted to solve every issue together鈥
- Laima Puk臈, Service Provision Expert at ENTSO-E