European Standards Organisations drive International Cooperation on Smart Grids

The European Standards Organisations (France) – CEN, CENELEC and ETSI – are engaged in an ongoing dialogue with partners around the world, in order to share knowledge and coordinate the development of standards that are needed to accelerate the deployment of the next generation of electricity networks, known as ‘Smart Grids’. The three organisations hosted an international meeting in Brussels on 18 and 19 June, with the participation of high-level delegations from Brazil, China, Japan, Korea and the USA.

The three European Standards Organisations (ESOs) – CEN (European Committee for Standardisation), CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) – have set up a Smart Grid Coordination Group (SG-CG), which is working to develop standards for the next generation of electricity networks, known as ‘Smart Grids’. This work is being carried out in the framework of a mandate issued by the European Commission, and with the active involvement of experts from the energy and ICT industries.

Wishing to share knowledge and coordinate their efforts with those responsible for relevant standards in major markets around the world, the ESOs took the initiative to convene a high-level meeting at the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre in Brussels in June. The CEN-CENELEC-ETSI Smart Grid International Plenary was attended by delegations from Brazil, China, Japan, Korea and the USA, as well as representatives of the European Commission (DG Energy) and international organisations including the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Smart Grids Action Network (ISGAN), the International Telecommunication Union Standardization Sector (ITU-T), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Smart Grid specialists from national standards organisations and representatives of key European industry associations and federations also took part in the two-day meeting.