Providing customers with simple and straightforward energy consumption data is key to promoting energy efficiency practices. Green Button Alliance was created with this objective in mind: an industry-led, not-for-profit effort to respond to a White House call-to-action on the issue. The Enel Group is the first European utility to join the alliance, with Livio Gallo, Enel’s Head of Global Infrastructure and Networks, appointed as one of the members of the board.
Customers involved in Green Button testing will have real-time access to their energy consumption by simply clicking on the Green Button Download My Data icon (available online within Enel’s Energy Management application) and will be able to process the data via different software and apps. Through the Green Button Connect My Data option, users can authorise other companies to collect their data without having to share login information. This means that the collection and analysis of consumption data will be improved and simplified, while protecting customer privacy. Enel and other companies in the sector will be able to use this data in order to develop applications for energy efficiency and home automation.
The implementation of the Green Button standard will also promote the international spread of Enel’s Energy Management System (EMS). ‘Our objective in joining the Green Button Alliance is to bring the company closer to its end customers, paving the way for the compatibility of our metering systems with an innovative ecosystem and globally developed apps,’ declared Ernesto Ciorra, Head of Enel’s Innovation and Sustainability Division. ‘Once the development and implementation phases are complete, the Enel Group will have a competitive advantage by expanding its range of value-added services to customers.’
Enel will test the Green Button standard with its Italian customers, especially those equipped with the Smart Info device (a tool that allows users to access their energy consumption data in real-time) and those who are involved in the Smart City L'Aquila, Puglia Active Network and H2020 Flexiciency projects.
Smart City L'Aquila is the result of an ongoing cooperation between Enel Distribuzione and local authorities, in order to provide citizens and the administration with new services by enhancing electric grid management and automation, improving grid integration of renewables, implementing a network with 80 electric vehicle charging points and distributing 43,000 Smart Info kits.
Puglia Active Network is an Enel Distribuzione project launched within the framework of the European Union’s NER300 second call for proposals for innovative low-carbon energy demonstration projects. Enel Distribuzione is launching a series of works on distribution networks in remote areas of the Apulia region in order to enhance the integration of power generated by renewable energy plants, which are widespread across those areas. Enel is also installing a network of 258 electric vehicle charging points across the Apulia region, as well as distributing around 30,000 Smart Info devices.
The H2020 Flexiciency project was launched in February 2015 within the framework of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research programme. The project aims to combine the flexibility of the European energy market with efficiency by leveraging the full potential of smart metres. H2020 Flexiciency’s pilot projects, which will involve 5,000 customers, includes the Active Energy Management system developed by Enel for Expo Milano 2015. The demo projects will demonstrate how access to consumer data through smart metres can promote the development of innovative services for customers, such as advanced energy consumption monitoring.