Black Sea Transmission Planning U.S. Energy Association (USEA)

The Black Sea Regional Transmission System Planning Project (BSTP) was established in 2004 by the United States Agency for International Development, the United States Energy Association and the transmission system operators of the Black Sea region to build institutional capacity to develop and analyze the region’s first common transmission planning model.  Members of the project working group represent the transmission system operators (TSO) of Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and Turkey.The goals and objectives contained in the MOU are to:

• Promote regional cooperation on transmission planning among Black Sea TSOs
• Identify priority investments in transmission systems and interconnections to improve reliability of the regional power system
• Propose possibilities to enhance electric power trade in the Black Sea Region
• Harmonize transmission planning principles, methods and perhaps methodologies
• Create a working group with experts trained in transmission planning issues and well informed about the characteristics of participating power systems
• Develop a common platform (common database, common software and consistent principles) for transmission system analysis among the TSOs in the Black Sea Region
• Provide training in the use of transmission planning software (PSS/E)
• Promote the results of the analysis to a wide audience of policy and regulatory authorities  
• The Project Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) provides the basis for the project organization and coordination, details the Project methodology, timelines, schedules and deliverables, the rights and responsibilities of the TSOs, the role of Transelectrica as the Technical Coordinator, the role of EKC as regional model integrator and the support provided by USAID and USEA.