Creos Luxembourg S.A.

Creos Luxembourg S.A. owns and manages electricity networks and natural gas pipelines in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

History 
Creos was formed as a result of a deal to unite Cegedel S.A. – the Grand-Ducal electricity company of Luxembourg, which was founded in 1928 and at the time distributed 70% of the electricity in the country - , Soteg S.A. – Luxembourg's primary gas supplier - and Saar Ferngas AG – a distribution company created in 1929 in Saarland. On 23 January 2009, all the unites of ownership from Cegedel S.A. and Saar Ferngas AG were transferred to Soteg S.A., which  made restructuring with retrospective effect on 1 January 2009, giving birth to a new energy group. Named Enovos, it included the parent company Enovos International S.A. and the two main subsidiaries: Creos (formerly Cegedel S.A.) in charge of network activities, and Enovos Luxembourg S.A. in charge of production, sales and marketing. Enovos and Creos each have a subsidiary for the German market: Enovos Deutschland and Creos Deutschland.

Over the next two years, Creos consolidated its position on the Luxembourg market. In 2010, it acquired the natural gas networks from Luxgaz Distribution S.A. On 1 January 2011, the City of Luxembourg transferred its electricity and natural gas networks and its teams to Creos in exchange for owning units of property in Creos. The publicly owned units of property thus increased from 5.71% to 24.57%,. Creos also owns units of property in the following companies: Luxmetering (the Interest Economic Group which pilots the smart metering network) since 2012 , Balansys (joint-venture between Creos and Fluxys Belgium) and Ampacimon since 2015 and NEXXTLAB since 2018.

In order to make a difference between the parent company and its subsidiaries – energy provider Enovos and grid operator Creos –, Enovos International is now called Encevo. End July, private equity firm Ardian sold its stake up to 24.92 percent in Encevo to China Southern Power Grid International, the second grid operator in China and in the world.

Following a reorganization of the Encevo Group in Germany at the end of October 2021, Creos Luxembourg sold its stake in Creos Deutschland Holding GmbH  .

Business sector 
Creos Luxembourg S.A. plans, constructs and maintains the electricity and natural gas transmission and distribution networks in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

In Luxembourg, following the liberalisation of the energy markets, an independent organisation – the Luxembourg Institute of Regulation (ILR) – organises and supervises access to the networks. The tariffs are subject to its approval. The energy suppliers are thus guaranteed transparent access to Creos's networks.

Infrastructure

Electricity network 
The majority of the electric current in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg comes from Germany via two double high-voltage 220,000 volt (220 kV) lines that are connected to the German network. Interconnection with Belgium has become operational with the commissioning of a phase shifting transformer (PST) at the Schifflange Centre in October 2017, and around 15% of the energy is produced locally (biogas, cogeneration, wind turbines, hydroelectricity and photovoltaics). The electricity is transmitted to the six transformer stations (Flebour, Roost, Itzig/Blooren, Heisdorf, Bertange and Schifflange) where the voltage is reduced from 220 to 65 kV and is distributed to industries and large municipal distribution networks. The voltage is then reduced from 65 kV to 20 kV in more than 60 transformer stations in the whole country. The electric energy obtained is distributed to SMEs, towns and villages where the transformers reduce the current voltage to 0.4 kV before distributing it to the final consumer. A control centre, known as Electricity Dispatching, controls and manages these high and medium-voltage networks.

The total length of the Luxembourg electricity network managed by Creos is 10,123 kilometres, including 593 kilometres of high-voltage lines, 3,702 kilometres of medium-tension lines and 5,828 kilometres of low tension lines.

Natural gas network 
Thanks to its connections with Germany, Belgium and France, Luxembourg is linked to the interconnected gas networks throughout Europe. Monitored by Dispatching Gas, the high and medium-pressure pipelines distribute the gas to 60 communes that are connected to the national gas network. Pressure-reducing stations that supply the local networks then reduce the gas pressure. Creos distributes natural gas in 45 communes,.

Since 1 October 2015, Creos and Fluxys Belgium, in collaboration with their respective regulators ILR and CREG, have united the national markets of Luxembourg and Belgium into one Belux market. This integration, the first between two European Union member states, reflects the will of the European Union to create an European gas market without borders,,,. Balansys, the joint venture between Creos and its Belgian counterpart Fluxys, is the balancing operator in the Belux zone from 1 June 2020. In other words, it is responsible for ensuring that the gas market is well supplied, without one of the two suppliers having to pay an entry fee for its gas on the other's market.

Operations centres 
Creos has four regional centres. They build, operate, maintain and repair the electricity and natural gas networks.

The Roost Centre covers the central and northern regions. It covers the high, medium and low-voltage electricity services and the medium and low-pressure natural gas services, the central store and the mechanical and electrical workshops,.

The Schifflange Centre covers the southern part of the country.

The Luxembourg City Centre, which covers the capital and the communes of Strassen and Hesperange, moved together with the Strassen headquarters to a new site in Merl at the end of 2021.

The Contern Centre manages and adjusts the meters, in particular smart meters.

Dispatching for electricity and natural gas together with the monitoring rooms for remote network control and management are installed in Bettembourg since 2020.

Smart grids, electromobility and energy management 
Creos is involved in two national projects; smart grids, electromobility and energy management.

In accordance with the law of 7 August 2012 that transposes the European Energy Efficiency Directive into Luxembourg legislation, all the gas and electricity meters must be changed in the country, independently of the network operator. Creos has installed 300,000 smart meters that record detailed information on the consumption and production of energy in the entire territory of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, including 250,000 electricity meters and 50,000 gas meters. The installation of these new electricity and gas meters – called Smarty – in Luxembourg homes will allow the creation of networks with real intelligence: smart grids. These smart grids are capable of monitoring decentralised electricity production (like wind turbines and photovoltaic panels), regulating the variations of the feeds into the distribution networks with greater precision and managing the demand peaks linked with the charging of electric vehicles more effectively. The law from 7 August 2012 also demands that the metering system must be able to receive water and heating,,,,.

Creos will install 800 public charging stations for electric cars and hybrid plug-in cars across the country. Each charging station will incorporate two charging points, and the network – called Chargy – will include 1,600 parking spaces for electric vehicles. Creos will be responsible for the deployment, operation and maintenance of the public charging infrastructure on its distribution network, representing a total of 749 stations out of the 800 that are to be installed. In January 2021, Creos inaugurated the first two Superchargy ultra-fast charging terminals at Kirchberg, a district of Luxembourg City. By 2023, 88 SuperChargy direct current (DC) terminals will be extended along the country's main roads and motorways, as well in some Park & Ride (P&R) car parks, i.e. 19 locations in all.

Creos is also preparing the Third Industrial Revolution of the country. This convergence of IT, renewable energy and means of transport will have an impact on how the power grids are managed. To anticipate this evolution, the grid operator joined forces with Powerdale S.A. to create NEXXTLAB, an entity that aims to develop innovative solutions in the field of energy management in coordination with the widespread introduction of electro-mobility.

References

Other websites 
Commons: Creos Luxembourg 
 Official site
 creosnews (blog)

Energy companies of Luxembourg