​​The integration of renewable energy sources (RES), which is a major target of the EU’s energy and climate policy objectives for 2020 and beyond, will affect existing electricity grid infrastructure, operations and the functioning of the electricity market itself. The integration of renewables into the power system requires for their intermittency to be balanced. This can be tackled by electricity grids operating smartly and cost-efficiently. To do this, a seamless and efficient information exchange is necessary at various stages, between an increasing number of companies – TSOs, DSOs, generators etc.

Such information exchanges have become indispensable in network planning (HVDC network development, interconnection development to tackle congestions, etc); power system operation (real-time information on the generation output, balancing control, etc.); market (generation schedules, trades, balancing resource management, etc.).

Data exchanges for studies such as the Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) and Regional Investment Plans demand a high degree of coordination and consistency. Various types of data are also required for other common TSO studies and the network codes’ common grid models exchanges.

All these require for TSOs, third parties and service providers to use commonly agreed and compatible data exchange formats, in our case specifications based on the IEC Common Information Model (CIM).

Developing CIM Standards

To ensure that the International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) CIM standards are developed in line with TSO requirements, ENTSO-E established liaisons with IEC TC 57/WG13 (the working group dealing with CIM for transmission) and IEC TC57/WG16 (the working group responsible for CIM for energy markets).

In addition, ENTSO-E is actively cooperating with the CIM User’s Group and UCAI User’s Group to exchange information within the CIM community.

The CIM standards are continuously evolving to meet the changing requirements for data exchange, which are increasing in both frequency and type, with higher RES integration and the introduction of smart grids. Specific ENTSO-E CIM specifications have been defined to ensure the suitability of the CIM for ENTSO-E and to reflect the complexity of TSO data exchanges.

ENTSO-E runs interoperability tests ​to demonstrate the interoperability of its CIM specifications and the IEC standards, and to support CIM development for both grid models and market exchanges. The experience gained from developing and implementing the standard directly contributes to future network code development as data exchange processes are part of several network codes.

For any further questions on ENTSO-E CIM related issues, please contact the ENTSO-E Secretariat at cim.iop@entsoe.eu