Enel leads the smart grids project

“The G8 summit of L'Aquila has awarded Italy the leadership in drawing up the roadmap for smart grids that will be presented at the next UN climate conference in Copenhagen and Enel leads the European group of distributors of demonstration projects on smart grids”, explains Livio Gallo, Director of Infrastructures and Networks

The emergence and continued growth of new energy sources, especially renewables, highlight the need for a new model of power grid, and smart grids may be the answer to this innovative course. This is what emerged at the recent G8 summit of L'Aquila, where many parts pointed out smart grids as the new model of power grid needed to encourage more strongly the efficient use of renewable energy.

With interactive electricity grids, consumers become active parts in the supply of energy, because taking advantage of the digital age means accessing a generation which is distributed in the vicinity of end users, allowing delocalized control, integration with large power plants and other types of energy supply, services with highly increased value, flexibility in managing supply and demand and expansion of the networks.

Livio Gallo, director of the Infrastructures and Networks Division of Enel, explains that “The intelligent network is not currently implemented in any European country. There are, however, several ongoing projects on the subject, partly funded by the EU, where in addition to the ones that are more oriented towards technical aspects, there are others that aim to the consumer and to the management of energy demand. Among the latter, the most important is Address, a project co-financed by the European Union, which involves a consortium of 25 companies of the sector, research centres and universities, of which Enel Distribuzione is the first in line”.

“The G8 summit of L'Aquila has awarded Italy the leadership in drawing up the roadmap for smart grids that will be presented at the next UN climate conference in Copenhagen and Enel leads the European group of distributors of demonstration projects on smart grids”, says Livio Gallo, adding that “this is a 1.2 billion Euros program that will, over 20 years, be worth 110 billion. Above all it is a game in which Italy can play a leading role: we are at the forefront of a race for the technology of the future. Enel has already activated in Italian homes 32 million electronic meters, the interface needed for smart grids. Another 13 million will be installed through Endesa in Spain. And we, as a company, are the leaders of the pioneer countries, namely France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic and Malta”.

But in the practice, how will the relationship between consumers and energy change, with the introduction of the smart grids? Absolute protagonist of this interaction will be the digital meter, that will provide, at every moment, the picture of incoming and outgoing energy from every home. In fact, Italy is the only country in the world to have provided all users, through Enel, with devices of this type. When the digital counter warns that consumers are approaching the peak, it triggers the process for improving the distribution in the course of time of the various energy consumptions. In the homes of consumers who have accepted the proposal to make the use of household appliances flexible, some of them are disabled, so as to reduce the demand for electricity. This as long as the peak of the system is exceed. But once it’s balance is restored, it restarts all suspended operations.

"One of the main obstacles to the implementation of smart grids - continues Livio Gallo - is the current structure of the power network, designed to accommodate the energy from large power plants connected in high voltage and lead it, in a one-way flow, to the customers at lower voltage levels. For the implementation of smart grids, technological innovations are needed for the adaptation of existing electrical infrastructures, innovations that require significant investments". As for the cost of "conversion" of existing networks to smart grids, one of the goals of the Address project is assessing the potential economic impact of smart grids on both electric operators and the whole system: customers, sales companies and other entities”.

(September 2009)