The Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity coordinated the operation and development of the electricity transmission grid for the Continental European synchronously operated transmission grid, thus providing a reliable platform to all participants of the Internal Electricity Market and beyond.

Since 1951, the Union for the Coordination of Production and Transmission of Electricity (UCPTE) had coordinated synchronous operations through meetings of experts and managers from at first a small number of interconnected companies at the interface of Switzerland, France and Germany, and over various stages from a growing number of companies and countries. The UCPTE's operational and planning recommendations helped ensure reliable supply of electricity in Continental Europe.

In 1999, UCTE re-defined itself as an association of TSOs in the context of the Internal Energy Market. Building on its experience with recommendations, UCTE turned to make its technical standards more binding through the Operation Handbook and the Multi-Lateral Agreement between its members. These standards became indispensable for the reliable international operation of the high voltage grids which are all working at one "heart beat": the 50 Hz UCTE frequency related to the nominal balance between generation and the electricity demand of some 500 million people in one of the biggest electrical synchronous interconnections worldwide.

In its final year of existence, UCTE represented 29 transmission system operators of 24 countries in continental Europe.

On 1 July 2009 UCTE was wound up. All operational tasks were transferred to ENTSO-E.

Within this area you find assembled the publications that have been produced under the label of UCTE. Please select the publication you are interested in from the navigation on the right.

UCPTE/UCTE The 50 Year Success Story – Evolution of a European Interconnected Grid gives a chronological account on the development of the interconnected electricity grid of Continental Europe and provides facts and figures on the work of UCPTE and UCTE until their transition into ENTSO-E, in July 2009.