A group of eight European Transmission System Operators (TSO), one Power Producer, one Distribution System Operator (DSO) and several Research Centres, at the initiative of Tractebel Engineering (SUEZ) has gathered and shared a common understanding on the needs to resume Research and Technology Development (RTD) on power system issues in Europe.

They agree on a common analysis summarized as follows:

• The liberalization of the power market through Europe leads to power exchanges that were not foreseen at the time of the design of the European Transmission networks;
• The capture of wind energy at large scale as part of the supply diversification, as it is already implemented and its huge further development as already decided lead to major risks: power imbalance and unpredicted load flows;
• The expected growing of distributed generation in line with the Kyoto protocol orientations, will impact the development of the European Transmission Network as well as the control and the stability of the whole system.

To face these challenges, an effort of all stakeholders coordinated by the TSO’s is needed. This effort will consist in the creation of new knowledge, implementation of new methods and development of new facilities, hardware and software.

The deployment of the requested level of RTD is today made impossible by several detrimental side effects of the liberalization of the power markets that must be compensated:

• the unbundling of the former historical monopoly has disbanded most of the in house research teams;
• the competition between generating companies leads to shorter term decision criteria;
• the today priorities of the TSO’s are their business engineering;
• the same TSO’s are put under pressure by the regulators to cut their costs.

The Coordination Action entitled “CooRdination perspectives of the European transmission network research activities to optimise the reLIAbility of power supply, usiNg a systemiC approach, involving growing distributed generation and renewable energy markEts” in short RELIANCE is funded by the European Commission Sixth Research and Technological Development Framework Programme.