European Commission
JRC Smart Electricity Systems

Distribution System Operator (DSO)

Actor description

According to the Article 2.6 of the Directive: "a natural or legal person responsible for operating, ensuring the maintenance of and, if necessary, developing the distribution system in a given area and, where applicable, its interconnections with other systems and for ensuring the long-term ability of the system to meet reasonable demands for the distribution of electricity". Moreover, the DSO is responsible for regional grid access and grid stability, integration of renewables at the distribution level and regional load balancing.

Actor type

Role