A merger of the Slovak and Czech electricity transmission networks, which was under consideration in the past, is currently unrealistic. A board member of the Slovak national electricity transmission network operator Slovenska Elektrizacna a Prenosova Sustava (SEPS), Rudolf Kvetan, said that it is absolutely impossible to merge the Slovak and Czech transmission network chiefly due to valid legislation. "The sovereignty of each country applies also to the power network and its safety," added Mr. Kvetan.
Nevertheless, a merger of the two transmission networks could be theoretically considered from a long-term viewpoint, said Mr. Kvetan. "But only under the condition of power network reorganization throughout the European Union (EU) and centralization of activities related to power sector management," said Mr. Kvetan.
The company CEPS, a.s., which operates the national transmission network in the Czech Republic, also finds a merger of the two networks of the former Czechoslovakia unrealistic at the moment. "A merger of the two companies is currently not under consideration. However, we are developing close cooperation with SEPS. I can give the example of the Intraday Project, which has been working between the two companies since 2006," CEPS spokeswoman Jana Jaburkova told SITA. The Intraday Project is an intraday trade in electricity, which enables market entities to flexibly react to their trade positions and the situation on the electric energy market. "In the event of an imbalanced position of a market participant caused by a predictable event or a stoppage of a production source, the participant can purchase or sell electricity during the day and thus contribute to the safer operation of the transmission network, and reduce the risk of penalties for deviation it may have caused," explained Ms. Jaburkova.
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