The 3-year investigation was inaugurated in April 2005 by the signing of a Cooperation Agreement between both parties. The project is of significant importance in furthering progress on electricity issues. The European Commission, whose policy is to promote the creation of an open electricity market in Europe, is displaying considerable interest in the results of the study. The work of the UCTE consortium is co-financed by the Trans European Network (DG-TREN) programme run by the European Commission.
The Terms of Reference (ToR) included a detailed description of the scope of work and the study procedure was prepared before the actual start of the project. The project work was generally divided into three phases:
