Smart Grids: Infrastructure and New Business Models
[24 February 2010 9:00-12:30 - room Alcide De Gasperi, 2nd floor]
>Infrastructural and regulatory challenges
[9:00-10:30]
The need to meet the 2020 targets, and to increasing amounts of renewable sources used in the production of electricity, the aging of infrastructures, and the need to guarantee adequate levels of the security of supply imply a drastic transformation of electricity networks in Europe.
The European grids have to migrate from being passive networks with mono-directional flows of energy into “active and intelligent networks” allowing bi-directional flows of power and information among all users (Producers, suppliers, TSOs, DSOs, ESCOs and consumers).
This implies profound architectural and technical changes and the need to increase the research of innovative technologies. This huge transformation and effort is especially complex at the level of the distribution networks due to their size, structural complexity and to the need to integrate distributed generation.
This session will focus on identifying and quantifying specific engineering challenges sector but also regulatory challenges namely:
- How to improve the flexibility and robustness of the ageing electric systems?
- How to improve interoperability and monitoring of the distribution networks and manage outage issues?
- Which modern control technologies are needed at distribution system level to improve network stability? What are the main challenges at decentralised level?
- Which regulatory frameworks need to be harmonised and which standards are needed for better integration of devices?
- What efforts are needed to improve coordination between transmission and distribution systems and reduce network losses?
Chair: Miguel Ángel Sánchez Fornié,
Director of Control Systems and Telecommunications,
Iberdrola
Speakers:
•
Jorge Esteves
Director of the Infrastructures and Networks Division
ERSE- Portuguese energy regulatory authority
•
Jean Philippe Faure
CEO
Progilon
•
Tamara Schenk
Head of Special ICT Innovation Projects
T-Systems International GmbH
•
Mathias Uslar
Official at R&D Division Energy
Representative FuE Bereich Energie (OFFIS)
•
Gisele Widdershoven
Senior Consultant Smart metering
KEMA Consulting
Rapporteur:
Francesco Niglia, Coordinator of GENESYS Project,
INNOVA SPA
Organiser: Manuel Monteiro, DG INFSO, European Commission
>New Business Models
[11:00-12:30]
The purpose of this session is to show and make the case for new business models and new energy services that the smart grids of the future will enable, such as:
- Virtual power plants which are a combination of small, distributed power stations, like CHP, photovoltaic systems, wind farms, small hydropower plants and biogas units. Those power stations maybe be owned by final customers who bring together their assets and will more and more actively intervene in wholesale markets.
- Micro grids which are medium-low voltage networks with DG sources, together with local storage devices and controllable loads (e.g. water heaters and air-conditioning). The main feature of microgrids is that, although they operate mostly connected to the distribution network, they can be automatically transferred to islanded mode in case of faults in the upstream network. Micro grids have sufficient generation and storage resources and therefore they can also actively participate in the energy markets by selling electricity or by entering into demand management agreements.
- New energy services. The implementation of smart grids and the availability of more and more accurate information to all market participants will open new business opportunities for energy services companies (ESCOs) not only in terms of traditional energy efficient services, but also innovative ones related to demand management. Clients will be offered the possibility of signing flexible supply contracts for lower prices, e.g. giving the ESCO company the possibility of partially cutting their consumption at peak periods. The ESCO will aggregate those individual contracts and become an active player in the wholesale market.
For all these different business models and services to be wide spread some challenges still have to be tackled namely at technological and regulatory level, such as: the improvement of communications, grid integration, improvement of monitoring, network planning and management and incentives to aggregation.
Chair: Klaus-Dieter Axt, Operations Director, European Smart Metering
Industry
Speakers:
•
Roberta Bigliani
Director
IDC Energy Insights
•
Alberto Ariza Lasarte
Director
INDRA
• Josè Maria Cavanillas
Director R&D&I
Atos Origin Spain
•
Philip Lewis
CEO
VassaEtt
Rapporteur:
Francesco Niglia, Coordinator of GENESYS Project,
INNOVA SPA
Organiser: Manuel Monteiro, DG INFSO, European Commission