European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E)
Damian Cortinas has worked twenty-five years in the French and European power sector, first in research at EDF, and since 2001 at RTE, the French transmission system operator. For nearly a decade Damian held regional management responsibilities: transmission and grid management in the North-East of France, with 670 people on 16 sites, then power system operation based in Toulouse, including the interconnection with the Iberian Peninsula. Since 2019 his scope has been European: RTE European coordination, then the ENTSO-E Board, of which he has been a member since 2021 and Chair since 2023.
The Board is the executive governing body of ENTSO-E, the association uniting forty European transmission system operators. As Chair, Damian steers its strategy and governance, the preparation of Assembly decisions and the association’s dialogue with the European institutions and regulatory bodies.
Four questions take most of his time, and most of what Damian says in public: the security of the power system in all its dimensions (supply, physical and cyber), the integration of the physical reality of the system into market rules and policy, the contribution of the power system to European competitiveness, and the financing of the grid infrastructure the transition requires. PhD in power engineering (CentraleSupélec). Engineering degrees from the Universitat Politècnica de Valencia and CentraleSupélec. INSEAD Young Managers Programme.
About ENTSO-E: ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, is the association for the cooperation of the European transmission system operators (TSOs). The 40 member TSOs, representing 36 countries, are responsible for the secure and coordinated operation of Europe’s electricity system, the largest interconnected electrical grid in the world. In addition to its core, historical role in technical cooperation, ENTSO-E is also the common voice of TSOs.
