To prepare and oversee a secure operation of the grid, Elia uses forecasted or scheduled information of assets (i.e., generation units, demand facilities and storage). One information set in particular deals with planned and forced unavailability. Having this information to hand at asset level allows Elia to:
-
Efficiently plan maintenance of the grid itself;
-
Conduct analyses and take any necessary measures to ensure sufficient availability of flexibility offered for the various
system services
;
-
Support system
adequacy
.
Elia currently primarily coordinates the
outage planning of generation units with an installed capacity of at least 25 MW
that are connected to the Elia grid. Other generation units may also be included in the contract with a view to being coordinated by Elia (units liable to seriously affect the Elia grid) or offering specific system services (if an unavailability coordination contract is a prerequisite for provision of the service).