Tallinn/Riga/Budapest, May 21, 2019 –Estonian transmission system operator (TSO) – Elering – and Latvian natural gas TSO – Conexus Baltic Grid – through a public procurement procedure have selected IP Systems - Navitasoft's strategic partner - to develop a common transmission and balancing services platform for the Baltic markets, unique in its nature in the European Union gas markets. First modules will be delivered already in 2019, the framework contract is valid for 24 months.
IP Systems has been appointed to develop the platform components for the common gas balancing zone in the Baltic states. The initial balancing zone is planned to be established between the TSOs of Latvia and Estonia in 2020, with the possibility of TSOs from Finland and Lithuania joining in the subsequent years. The approach East Baltic TSOs opted for is unique, no attempt has been made in Europe to merge more than two national balancing zones (and regulatory regimes) in a single one before. The common transmission and balancing platform should be capable to communicate with two different TSOs’ back end solutions and should be extendable to smoothly operate with Finnish and Lithuanian operators later on. The shippers in the East Baltic region should benefit from a single point of contact through this platform, that will enable their communication activities towards the TSOs. Thus, reducing the number of communication channels, applicable message forms, last but not least lowering operational costs and market entrance barriers.
The new platform will include a highest standard authentication and security features, will enable nomination, allocation, capacity management and balancing operations in a single integrated way. IP Systems will rely in its decade long experience in developing, maintaining a supporting its commercial dispatching platform solutions (TSO-OS), its award-winning balancing and trading platform (BAL NC-OS), as well as its capacity booking platform (Gas Capacity-OS) operated in six European countries previously.
“IP Systems has met our selection expectations excellently. They demonstrated the required experience and proposed an agile, scrum-based development management approach very much in line with our Framework Agreement and Public Contract Agreement cooperation vision”. said Veiko Aunapuu, Project Manager, Elering.
“IP Systems not only offered a competitive price with a sound technical realisation plan, but also a very clear project management approach. It was straight forward in their offer how they will get us to a functioning common platform. It is exciting to work with a such experienced team.” said Jānis Vilims, Head of the IT Department, Conexus Baltic Grid.
“This project demonstrates our efficient and innovative approach in dedicated platform developments for transmission system operators. This appointment puts us clearly among the leading IT providers for gas TSOs in Europe, no other IT provider has such a large client group in so many countries, under such diversified regulatory environments. This project strengthens our presence in the Baltic region and beyond in Nordics, which is our target region to expand our business services,” said Ákos Füzi, CEO of IP Systems.
This is the second appointment of IP Systems in the Baltic region in 2019. Elering and Conexus Baltic Grid are the 5th and 6th transmission system operators who entrusted IP Systems for direct platform development and are joining the pool of 13 system operators who are using IP System solutions.
About Elering (Estonia)
Elering is an electricity and gas transmission system operator in Estonia with the task of connecting the producers, various network operators and consumers who make up the system into a unified whole. An operating integral system is important also for end consumers, as it enables ensuring to consumers a high-quality energy supply with reasonable costs.
The electricity transmission network comprises approximately 5,500 kilometres of transmission lines and 150 substations., while the gas transmission network is made up of an almost 900-kilometre-long gas pipeline, three gas metering stations and almost 40 gas distribution stations. The Estonian gas network is currently connected to the Latvian and Russian gas systems. In the next few years, the Estonia-Finland gas interconnection Balticconnector will be completed, which will unify the gas networks and markets of the three Baltic states and Finland.
Elering manages the transmission network, through which large energy volumes move, the network connections of end consumers are ensured by nearly 60 electricity and gas distribution network operators.
About Conexus Baltic Grid (Latvia)
JSC "Conexus Baltic Grid” is a unified natural gas transmission and storage operator in Latvia. The company cooperates with legal entities - natural gas traders - in accordance with the tariffs for natural gas transmission system and storage services set by the Public Utilities Commission. JSC „Conexus Baltic Grid” manages one of the most modern natural gas storage facilities in Europe – Inčukalns underground gas storage, which is an important strategic object in the whole Baltic Sea region. The largest capacity Inčukalns UGS had was 4.47 billion cubic meters, from which 2.32 billion cubic meters were active or constantly pumped natural gas.
In case of rising consumption of natural gas in the region, Inčukalns UGS capacity can be increased up to 3.2 billion cubic meters of active natural gas, which will fully ensure Latvia’s and the nearby region needs for fuel. In the future it will be possible to store natural gas for the needs of Finland.
JSC „Conexus Baltic Grid” manages an 1188 km long gas pipe line connection system, straddling the regions of Latvia and carrying the natural gas through 40 gas regulation stations to a local distribution system, as well as ensuring transit capacities and services between Estonia and Lithuania.
About IP Systems (Hungary)
IP Systems is an IT developer and consultancy company specialized on the liberalized energy markets. The company provides platform and software solutions for systems operators to market and manage their transmission or storage capacity products and services. Traders can choose from various software tools that support their wholesale and retail activities. Other solutions provide platforms for auctions, trading and exchange operations. Since 2008 IP Systems’ products have been used in: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and Ukraine. IP Systems is a company limited by shares (Zrt.) 100% owned by its employees. Headquarter is located in Budapest and representative offices in Düsseldorf, Germany; Kiev, Ukraine; Sofia, Bulgaria; Subotica, Serbia; Zagreb, Croatia.
