About PSE

We are the only electricity transmission system operator within the territory of Poland. We play a key role in efficient functioning of the Polish economy. We care about the reliability of electricity supply to all regions of the country.

We also ensure the secure and cost-effective operation of the Polish power system as part of the common European system.

About PSE

PSE as transmission system operator

Electric power transmission systems are territorially extensive and technologically complicated engineering systems managed by transmission system operators.

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We are the only transmission system operator ( TSO ) in Poland, as pursuant to the Energy Law one TSO is appointed within the territory of the Republic of Poland. Our company was appointed by the President of the Energy Regulatory Office ( ERO ) to serve this function until 31 December 2020.

We provide electricity transmission and power system access services while maintaining the required criteria for the operational security of the Polish power system ( PPS ). As a TSO, our company is expected to conduct effective activities to ensure the required quality and security of electricity supply and cost-effective operation of the system. The operator's activities are determined by technological development of power transmission systems and the regulatory framework of the power sector. All this makes us an enterprise of special significance to public order and security, and of particular importance for the Polish economy.

Operating rules of the transmission system operator in Poland

Our core duties are prescribed by the Energy Law and regulations issued under it by the minister in charge of energy. The acts define both our tasks and the way of financing them, and the applicable technical standards and reliability criteria.

The costs of the tasks we perform are regulated costs, covered by transmission charges paid by users of the transmission system in accordance with a tariff approved by the President of ERO. As an operator, we perform our tasks using technical facilities of transmission-connected parties – the parties are required to provide access to them under the applicable laws or relevant civil-law contracts.

PSE's tasks as transmission system operator

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Tasks performed by PSE as transmission system operator can be classified into four basic categories:

Quality and current security of electricity supply.
Adequacy of the national transmission network.
Operation of the national central commercial balancing mechanism.
International cooperation within interconnected power systems and the single European electricity market.

Tasks related to the quality and current security of supply

The regulatory framework applicable to the transmission system operator defines the technical standards for the transmission system operation and technical measures that should be available to it to meet the requirements in this area. The tasks performed by PSE in this area:

Balancing, i.e. striking a balance between the generation of electricity and actual demand

Balancing concerns both very short periods (seconds) and very long ones (hours), and it is performed by using capacity reserve maintained especially for this purpose. The TSO is required to maintain specific amounts of second, minute and hourly reserves. The first two types of reserves are acquired by PSE by entering into relevant contracts with generators for so-called regulation ancillary services – this action is preceded by a tendering procedure. The source of the hourly reserve is the balancing market (commercial bids). Depending on type and location, reserves are activated automatically or remotely, from the central load controller, based on an order communicated by telephone or in another previously agreed way.

Ensuring compliance with network operation security criteria

The TSO is required to plan network operation and generation distribution in its nodes so that a criterion distortion does not cause a system failure and constraints in energy supply to consumers. For this purpose, coordination plans are prepared spanning periods from three years to one day. They include both maintenance schedules for network elements and repair schedules for generating units. In the planning process, constraints in the operation of generating units are identified for individual network nodes. The operator manages those constraints by using the balancing market mechanism or by entering into relevant agreements with generators.

Using automation systems, especially those of a preventive and recovery nature, and preparation of the PPS defence and restoration plans.

The TSO prepares measures to prevent the occurrence of states that pose a risk to the stable operation of the PPS, in particular the propagation of a failure in the transmission system. These are different kinds of automatic protection systems that support quick changes of the network operation configuration and the production level of generation units, plans of consumer outage or reduction of electricity supply and consumption, e.g. based on power rationing levels communicated by radio. In the event of failure in the transmission system, the TSO has restoration scenarios prepared, which provide, in an extreme case, for the need to restore the entire national system. In order to enable such scenarios to be executed, the system operator enters into contracts with generators capable of starting up without external power supply (ancillary service).

Tasks related to the adequacy of the national transmission network

As transmission system operator, PSE is responsible for the expansion and maintenance of the national transmission network and its interconnections with the neighbouring countries' systems. To ensure network adequacy, PSE performs the tasks mentioned below.

Planning the expansion of the transmission network, taking into account the expected changes in the value and geographical distribution of domestic demand, location of new generating sources and network expansion plans of the operators of neighbouring countries and distribution system operators.
Maintenance of the physical condition of network resources so as to ensure their high availability.

Tasks related to the operation of the national central commercial balancing mechanism

Due to the special nature of electricity as a product, there must be a central balancing mechanism and a balance responsible party. The balancing mechanism is to ensure the commercial balancing of electricity market participants in real time and settlement of balancing energy. In Poland, this role is played by the balancing market mechanism through which current balancing of energy market participants is performed on the basis of bids submitted by parties actively participating in the market. The balancing market mechanism has a very strong impact on other segments of the energy market as well as decisions on how generating resources should be used.

The balancing market operation rules should ensure:

equal treatment of all participants,
transparency of the calculation of clearing prices,
the possibility of consumer participation (consumption reduction bids),
creation of price signals conducive to the improvement of the operational performance of the entire sector.

International cooperation tasks

We are a member of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity – ( ENTSO-E ). ENTSO-E groups together 43 transmission system operators from 36 countries.
The task of ENTSO-E is to promote reliable operation, optimal management and sustainable development of the pan-European electric power transmission system to ensure the security of supply and satisfy the needs of the internal energy market.

More than 90 employees of PSE are engaged in the work of ENTSO-E, actively participating at different levels of the organisation in all key tasks.

Our employees participate, among other things, in the process of preparing European network codes, issued as regulations of the European Commission, and guidelines to them. Network codes are specific tools for the implementation of the single electricity market in the EU – they contain common rules for the operation and management of power systems, and they are aimed to eliminate technical barriers for further integration of the market.