International environment

In the other EU countries, there are markets that function similar to the Austrian market but there are, however, still differences in terms of the degree of liberalization that has been achieved. Austria is clearly a trailblazer in this respect. The duties of the grid operator differ from country to country. Although these differences are not of a fundamental nature, the regulatory framework does, at least in part, deviate from the framework that is employed in Austria. Efforts are, however, being made to harmonize the essential framework conditions so that incompatibilities in the individual market models and the associated market distortions can be eliminated.

Verbund is Austria’s representative in the executive committees of the European transmission system operators UCTE and ETSO. UCTE (Union for the Coordination of Electricity Transmission) has been responsible for the safe operation of the European grid for more than 50 years already. In order to guarantee security of supply for no less than 450 million Europeans, UCTE is currently preparing – on behalf of the European Commission – a comprehensive Operating Handbook that gathers all relevant technical regulations and reliability standards. This set of regulations is to become binding by the end of 2004. This is of enormous significance, particularly against the backdrop of the expansion of the EU and the technical integration of other Eastern European countries.

At the same time, the attempt to interconnect the grid of the successor states of the Soviet Union into the UCTE synchronous area is probably one of the greatest challenges ever faced by the UCTE [External Link ]. On completion of the first preliminary studies, a feasibility study on the interconnection of two synchronous areas of this size is likely to commence towards the end of 2004.

The ETSO (European Transmission System Operators), which, in addition to the UCTE member states, also embraces the Scandinavian countries as well as Great Britain and Ireland, also took a further significant step towards establishing a single European electricity market by halving the export fee in the Cross Border Trade Agreement (CBT) to 0.5 €/MWh. Plans are already in place to fully eliminate the export fee for cross-border electricity trading in 2004.

The rebuilding of the infrastructure for electricity and the harmonization of the market rules in line with the European Single Market is a central focus within the framework of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. All South-East European grid operators are members of a task force, SETSO, which was set up by ETSO. This task force aims to create an electricity market that adheres to the regulations of the European single market. Verbund plays a leading role in SETSO.

GRID AREAS