For instance, Germany is a key electricity hub in Europe, as is E.ON Netz within Germany. Capacity at points of interconnection to foreign countries has become tight owing to the marked rise in the cost of wind energy fed into the grid and the steady increase in trading business. UCTE transmission network operators work together on a daily basis to determine available capacity and agree on measures to take to ensure uninterrupted operation.

In addition, however, the networks have to be expanded because the increase in the amount of electricity fed into the grid cannot be handled through sophisticated network management alone. Since stand-alone, uncoordinated measures are hardly ever crowned by success, network expansion activities must be planned and coordinated for entire regions or Europe as a whole—a task that can only be fulfilled by joining forces with partners beyond one’s borders. Joint work done by UCTE task forces is a tried and tested platform for such endeavors, as it pools expertise from all member states to create common solutions.