The hub is being touted by the partners as the most advanced future energy transition hub of its kind in Australia.

Located at the University’s Hawthorn campus in Melbourne, the hub will feature advanced digital energy technology from Siemens and the technical, Research and Development (R&D) and teaching expertise of Swinburne.

The AU$5.2 million (US$3.6 million) hub aims to build a future energy grid laboratory accessible to students and industry to work on solutions for greener, more efficient future energy systems through Siemens Xcelerator, their open digital business platform and marketplace.

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The hub’s offerings

The hub will enable users to leverage digital twins of energy grids, map scenarios, research new findings, develop original and creative hypotheses and test results.

It will be home to a digital twin of Australia’s energy grid that commercial research teams can use to run simulations of new, innovative solutions and software.

In addition to microgrid and planning stations, the hub will also feature Siemens’ Microgrid Management System (MGMS) and Decentralised Energy Optimization Platform (DEOP) software.

The microgrid technologies include Sicam A8000 and Siprotec 5 devices for control and protection. The planning stations feature Siemens PSS software which is used by over 70% of utilities and independent system operators including AEMO and grid operators.

Deputy vice-chancellor, research, professor Karen Hapgood, stated, “Australia’s ambitious carbon reduction targets need a multi-pronged approach by industry, research and government.

“The new Siemens Swinburne Energy Transition Hub will be working on new technologies to improve energy efficiency, supply, integration, storage, transport and use, as well as how we can improve existing technologies and frameworks.”

Jose Moreira, country business unit head – grid software, Siemens Australia and New Zealand, added: “Tackling the speed and change in the energy landscape to create solutions that help achieve net zero requires a collaborative and co-creative approach…

“The Hub features some of the latest and best technology used by organisations across the world and will hopefully spark new Australian innovations for future energy challenges.”

In addition to R&D and commercialisation projects, the hub will deliver short courses for industry professionals. It will also give back to Swinburne students, with Siemens software and the company’s real-world industry experience integrated into engineering technology courses.

The post Siemens Swinburne Energy Transition Hub to launch in Australia appeared first on Power Engineering International.

San Francisco renewable energy technology company Zola Electric has hired former Google chief information officer Ben Fried as a senior advisor and board member.   

Previously, he spent 13 years at financial services company Morgan Stanley where he designed and built the firm’s e-commerce and intranet architecture and infrastructure.

Founded in 2011, Zola provides solar and storage solutions to communities with little or no access to electricity.

The company started by providing solar home solutions to off-grid rural communities in Tanzania.

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Zola chief executive Bill Lenihan said Fried’s “technological achievements are significant – from overseeing the creation and launch of Google Meet, to deploying one of the first and largest zero-trust network architectures, BeyondCorp”.

“His exceptional skills and experience in bringing enterprise technology solutions to market, digital transformation, and building and leading highly innovative technology organizations will be hugely valuable to Zola and for our mission.

He added that ZOLA “aims to fill the ‘white space’ in the energy access industry landscape, by the development of our Enterprise energy technology platform, which is purpose-built to bring reliable, affordable and clean power to three billion people and hundreds of millions of schools, clinics, farms and business that lack it”.

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Fried said he was “particularly impressed by the sophisticated architecture of ZOLA’s unique energy technology platform and the innovative technology solutions it is deploying to drive away energy inequality across the globe”.

Fried’s appointment follows Zola’s launch of a distributed mini-grid in Rwanda, in partnership with META (formerly Facebook) and the Shell Foundation.

The breaking project powers over 1000 homes and businesses in two villages in rural Gakagati via a decentralised, modular and scalable energy and storage system.

Meanwhile, over on our sister site enlit.world: GridVerse – Enel Grids’ approach to the metaverse

The post Renewable tech firm Zola hires former Google CIO to boost offgrid solutions appeared first on Power Engineering International.

And the electricity system operator has also given more than a million homes the chance to cut their energy use in return for a discount on their bills.

It is the first time National Grid ESO has initiated its Demand Flexibility Service and comes as plunging temperatures in Britain are predicted to bite on electricity demand.

For an hour this evening, customers with a smart meter will be asked to use less power in return for a cut in their bills.

National Grid ESO said: “Our forecasts show electricity supply margins are expected to be tighter than normal on Monday evening.

“We have instructed coal-fired power units to be available to increase electricity supplies should it be needed tomorrow evening.

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“These are precautionary measures to maintain the buffer of spare capacity we need.”

However, Kelly Becker, President of Schneider Electric in the UK and Ireland, believes the Demand Flexibility Service is an insufficient quick-fix. 

“Short-term incentives to reduce consumer demand for energy may be useful as a precaution against power outages, however, they are a sticking plaster on an even bigger issue.

“Over 60% of all the energy that is produced globally is lost or wasted before it is consumed.

“If we were to approach the crisis differently and tackle just a fraction of this shocking level of waste, then we could easily reduce consumption, and keep the lights on and thermostats up. 

She said that according to figures from the Office of National Statistics, homes across England and Wales have a median EPC energy efficiency rating in band D.

“Meanwhile only around a third of owner-occupied and privately rented properties are rated C or above, which is the minimum level for new build homes.

“Most of our housing stock needs retrofitting to meet the target, bring down costs, reduce waste and go a long way to easing the energy crisis.” 

Becker said that “the digital tools and technologies already exist to give consumers unprecedented visibility over their energy habits at home and adjust their energy usage without sacrificing health and comfort”. 

“These can make a difference in a matter of days or weeks, not months and years. If we adopt them now, we can boost the resilience and stop paying the heavy price of an inherently inefficient energy system.” 

Meanwhile, Jon Hiscock, chief executive of British engineering company Fundamentals, said: “We need to remind ourselves that modern energy grids are some of the most complex man-made systems on the planet.

“And the UK’s grid is one of the most reliable. Load and demand are balanced continuously on our grid, every second of every day.”  

Hiscock said that while “action may be required on the deepest, darkest evenings when excessive demand can spike quickly, the grid is advanced enough to apply granular command and control”.

“Understanding the nuances in demand from different areas means we can predict when overloads are a danger and take steps to balance the load long before they happen.

“We may not need to turn the lights off, just to dim them. For example, we can lower the voltage being supplied to each household to help manage supply and demand.  

He added that the focus needs to be on “how we reconfigure the grid for a low-carbon future”.

“Decarbonisation will spark unprecedented changes in the way that electricity is consumed. Handling the peaks and troughs that come with a more dynamic system means that power from intermittent renewable sources, such as wind or solar, need to be carefully balanced.

“Capacity will need to be increased to ensure resilience. Technologies that increase network flexibility will be key alongside targeted reinforcement of the UK grid.

“Ultimately, we need to take practical steps to ensure our resilient grid can continue to evolve and remain a well-oiled and well-controlled machine.” 

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The €2m project will be delivered via Iberdrola’s Brazilian subsidiary Neoenergia and will be located on water at the Xaréu dam on Fernando de Noronha island.

Recognised by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site, the island is being used by Iberdrola as a testbed for several sustainable energy solutions, including electric mobility and clean energy generation.

With 630 kW installed capacity, the floating plant comprising 940 panels will generate around 1240 MWh of energy per year, which Iberdrola says will be enough to cover more than half of the energy needs of the island’s water and sewage distribution network.

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This plant joins other sustainable projects developed by the company to provide renewable solutions and promote the preservation of the island’s biodiversity,

Fernando de Noronha is the only inhabited island of a volcanic archipelago located in the northeast of Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean.

Iberdrola’s other energy initiatives on the island include the recently inaugurated Vacaria solar plant, the first of two solar farms, each with a capacity of 50 kW, designed to exclusively supply electric vehicles.

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The island already has ten electric vehicles for tourists and district administration uses and 12 new charging points are planned to be installed at strategic locations.

The company also intends to promote the use of electric bicycles by tourists and residents at Fernando de Noronha, which has an area of approximately 17 square kilometres, and it has begun installing 24 charging points at four separate stations.

The energy consumed by the equipment – which will be donated to the Pernambuco State Government – will be generated by solar panels installed on the roofs of the structures, which will allow them to be used free of charge.

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Kristina Carlquist, General Manager, Synchronous Condensers, ABB explains how this well-proven technology is helping to restore the balance in projects ranging from the Faroe Islands to the UK mainland grid.

In traditional power grids, based on large, centralized plant, there can be hundreds of generators working in synchronization.

This means that they are effectively locked together, rotating with the same frequency. This is the origin of the spinning inertia, or kinetic reserve, that plays a vital role in keeping the world’s power grids in balance.

Should there be a sudden change in operating conditions, such as a generator tripping offline, the cumulative energy stored by all the synchronous generators provides a fast response, available within seconds, to resist the change.

This ensures that the system frequency remains within tightly controlled limits for long enough for the grid control system to detect the issue and take appropriate action.

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The need to transition as fast as possible to decarbonized generation means that the grid penetration of wind and solar power must increase.

However, renewable resources cannot contribute real inertia to the grid. Furthermore, large synchronous power plants that were providing inertia are being taken out of service. The overall result is a significant net loss of inertia.

The situation in the UK illustrates why this loss of inertia is a concern.

In 2016, the National Grid System Operability Framework report estimated that the available system inertia ranged from a minimum of 100 to a maximum of 350 gigavolt amp seconds (GVA.s).

By 2025/26 this was expected to fall to a minimum of around 75 and a maximum of under 300 GVA.

In its Operability Strategy Report published in 2021, National Grid says that its current policy is to ensure that system inertia is always above 140 GVA.s.

However, it notes that going forward, minimum system inertia could be as low as 96 GVA.s for zero carbon operation by 2025.

Furthermore, studies have been carried out to examine the consequences of one of the largest potential losses from the system, which is 1.8 gigawatt (GW) – equivalent to a large interconnector going offline.

In that scenario, to limit the Rate of Change of Frequency (RoCoF) to the acceptable level of less than 0.5 Hz, inertia must be kept above 90 GVA.s.

The need to address the new inertia challenges are behind the renewed interest in synchronous condensers (SCs).

These are rotating devices that can put the missing inertia back into the grid by mimicking the operation of synchronous generating plant.

This offers a very cost-effective and reliable way to maintain power quality. It also provides the fault current protection essential to strengthen a weak grid.

SCs are very similar in design to large motors and generators. There are however two differences: An SC does not drive anything so is not a motor; An SC is also not a generator as it doesn’t have a prime mover.

Historically, SCs were regarded as vital elements in the power grid as they were employed to produce reactive power to balance out highly inductive loads on the grid, like electric motors. In recent years devices based on power electronics had replaced SCs. Now they are enjoying a resurgence in interest.

Helping the Faroe Islands transition to 100 percent renewable energy

SEV is the power company serving the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic. It operates as both the TSO and DSO as well as owning power plants.

In 2014, SEV announced its vision for the Faroes to become the world’s greenest group of islands by meeting all the country’s energy needs from renewable resources by 2030.

To achieve this, SEV intends to use green electricity from hydropower, solar, wind, and potentially tidal streams.

The transition will offer important economic benefits as the Faroe Islands will no longer be dependent on expensive fossil-fuel imports.

In 2021, SEV’s electricity generation was 40% renewable, but with expansion in wind power in 2022, the share of renewable energy is expected to increase, reaching more than 50% in 2023.

A significant challenge for SEV is that decommissioning the current diesel-fueled generating plant could impact the stability of its grid.

This could affect the fish processing and aquaculture industries that are a major contributor to the Faroese GDP.

An important factor is that the country cannot call on external grid support as there are no power cables connecting the islands to neighboring countries.

How much GWh storage capacity is needed for a resilient energy system?

SEV is working with ABB to install SCs to keep its grid in balance. The first SC is now in operation on Suðuroy.

This electrically isolated island is the southernmost in the archipelago and relies on a hybrid power system with heavy fuel oil, hydro power, wind power and solar photovoltaics.

The SC has been installed at the 6 megawatt (MW) Porkeri Wind Farm together with a battery energy storage system.

It is now possible for wind energy to meet 100% of the island’s needs at times with good wind conditions while ensuring the stability and reliability of its grid.

SEV has followed this installation with a similar 15 MVA unit for the main grid that serves 11 islands. It is located at Sund, close to Tórshavn, the Faroese capital on the island of Streymoy.

This is scheduled to be online in 2023. Further batteries and SCs are planned for other sites in the main grid in the near future.

High-inertia SCs for Statkraft in Liverpool

Statkraft, Europe’s largest renewable energy producer, has installed two high-inertia SC systems for the Lister Drive Greener Grid project in Liverpool, England.

This innovative project will play a key role in stabilizing the local grid to handle more wind and solar power, helping National Grid meet its target of operating a zero-carbon electricity system by 2025.

The Lister Drive site was selected due to its location near to an existing substation that enables the two SCs to connect to the grid at 400 kilovolts (kV).

It is ABB’s first project anywhere in the world to feature a high-inertia SC configuration. This couples a 67 MVAr SC with a 40-tonne flywheel that increases the instantaneously available inertia by 3.5 times.

The advantage of combining a mid-size SC with a flywheel is that it multiplies the available inertia by several times.

The losses are also much lower compared to installing the whole inertia as an SC. The scheme is a cost-effective way of using two mid-sized SCs coupled together with the benefits of a high level of redundancy, increased inertia and greater controllability.

Together, the two Statkraft units in Liverpool will provide a total of more than 900 MW.s (megawatt-seconds) inertia. That means Lister Drive will provide about 1 percent of the UK’s projected minimum total inertia requirement for 2025.

Construction of the project is well advanced. The SCs have been delivered and are being commissioned with the site expected to be online in early 2023.

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To ensure round-the-clock availability for this vital system, Statkraft has signed a 10-year services contract with ABB’s UK field service team to provide a full range of maintenance services, both planned and quick response. 

Digital condition monitoring solutions will be deployed to optimize performance and predict maintenance needs. By assessing real-time data with cloud-based analysis, the team will be able to plan corrective actions before issues occur, ensuring system reliability.

SCs offer a green solution to grid stability

Worldwide, the grid penetration of renewable energy is making rapid progress. This welcome news is also creating some additional challenges for grid stability.

At some times it is even necessary to shut down wind farms and operate gas power plants to keep the grid frequency within its acceptable operating limits.

Deploying synchronous condensers can help make this a thing of the past by maintaining stability without consuming fossil fuels.

The continuing success of the new generation of SCs is opening up the possibility of many further projects being developed across the world.

Located at strategic points on the power grid, they will help prevent power outages, ensure stability and most importantly contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from energy production.

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Grid congestion has become a very pertinent issue in Europe as renewables come online at a faster pace. Placing too many Renewable Energy Sources (RES) onto the grid without backing or updating the infrastructure creates problems, as evidenced by the situation in the Netherlands, where cities have been experiencing recurring issues with bottlenecks.

The issue begs the question of how best to manage grids so that high-priority RES can come online without detrimentally affecting businesses, utilities and consumers alike. And it is within this context that flexibility, and flexibility markets, can help.

Discussed during Enlit Europe 2022 in Frankfurt, Germany, Louise Rullaud – Head of Distribution & Market Facilitation Team, Eurelectric – said: “We have to reduce emissions by at least 55%… We have to triple the number of heat pumps and…additions of 700GW of capacity are needed…It’s a lot, especially at distribution level, which will create challenges and opportunities.”

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According to Rullaud, flexibility provides an efficient tool for grid operators, supporting them with congestion management without adding more generation or tech onto the grid. And as it’s used more actively, market and business opportunities open up for market parties.

Flexibility markets help energy networks monitor flows and create signals to change energy supply and demand. Additionally, it allows for more clean energy and metering tech, such as smart meters and energy-efficient resources to come online and even assist with congestion management.

One mechanism to manage grid congestion is that of GOPACS, also discussed in Frankfurt by Ron Van Den Berg of Alliander and Maarten Hofs of Stedin.

An initiative of the Dutch grid operators, the GOPACS platform registers congestion and sends a message to market parties. Those with an electricity connection can then place a buy order on a connected energy market platform.

To prevent grid balance from being disturbed at a national level, the reduction of electricity production within the congestion area is combined with a sell order from a market party outside the congestion area.

GOPACS checks whether the order causes problems at other locations in the electricity grid of the participating network operators.

If all signals are green, the network operators pay the price difference between the two orders so that they can be matched on the trading platform and the congestion situation is resolved.

And so, although grid management continues to be a concern, flexibility provides a potential aspect of smart alleviation.

These markets can hopefully provide the ground upon which grid operators can continue to add renewables onto the grid, while ensuring that new electricity connections are possible.

The post Monetising flexibility as a fix for grid congestion appeared first on Power Engineering International.

The new tech will be released during Enlit Europe 2022.

The W270 and W370 smart meters will provide data in terms of volume as well as additional information on water temperatures, statistical values, alarms and events. They will also be equipped with IoT communications, including NB-IoT, and will be integrated into latest generation communication networks, aiming to enable remote control.

In addition, Landis+Gyr will be showcasing its interactive electric vehicle (EV) charging line, INCH Pro and INCH Duo, which aims to reduce operating costs by balancing charging power for more energy-efficient charging.

The charging line accepts digital signals through power lines and frequency monitoring to autonomously respond to grid conditions – managing the charging power and impact on the electric grid. Furthermore, the OCEAN software, a scalable and remote EV charge point and energy management software, performs advance load management tasks to support demand response and load flexibility services.

Join Enlit Europe in Frankfurt and be part of the conversation about the energy transition in Europe and beyond.

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“Managing energy consumption with more efficiency has never been more crucial than today”, said Werner Lieberherr, chief executive officer of Landis+Gyr. “If the current energy crisis and the urgent need for global decarbonisation have taught us one thing, it’s that resources are finite and having the insights and tools to shape the way they’re used is key.”

Bodo Zeug, executive vice president of EMEA at Landis+Gyr added: “Utilities require fast, reliable and secure data transmission. We’re excited to showcase our abilities to collect, monitor and process data at the grid edge at Enlit Europe, providing solutions to balance load and ensure continued power quality and reliability.”

Landis+Gyr will be presenting and showcasing their products during Enlit Europe.
Register here to attend their sessions and more.

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As a surplus of renewables has been coming online to the Dutch power grid, a new problem has unfolded – that of being at capacity.

Too much green energy coming online has meant that in certain Dutch cities bottlenecks have arisen and new connections have either had to experience immense delays, or have not been possible whatsoever.

The Dutch grid operators have been attempting to mitigate the situation through various means, including smart congestion management and grid expansion. And now, a new large-scale battery storage system has been announced to help utilise the existing renewable supply while not impacting the grid further.

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The battery storage system

Rolls-Royce will supply and install the large-scale mtu EnergyPack QG battery storage system on a turnkey basis to Dutch energy company Semper Power in Vlissingen.

The order also includes general contractor services, as well as the construction of the building and other infrastructure. Semper Power develops and operates energy storage systems for wind and solar farm developers, distribution grid operators and industrial customers.

The large-scale battery storage system, with a capacity of 30MW and a storage capacity of 60MWhs, is used for grid frequency regulation in the Netherlands to integrate electricity from renewable energy sources into the public grid.

When fully charged, the system has the capacity to supply 8,000 households with electrical energy for an entire day. The mtu QG EnergyPack storage solution from the Rolls-Royce business unit Power Systems consists of 168 battery units, 7 inverters and the intelligent control platform mtu EnergetIQ.

Maarten Hofs from Stedin and Ron van den Berg from Alliander will be speaking at Enlit Europe.
Register for the conference in Frankfurt to attend their session on market-based mitigation of grid congestion and more.

One of the largest in the EU

When commissioned in spring 2023, it will be the largest energy storage system in the Netherlands and one of the largest in the EU.

“We see it as our task to accelerate the energy transition. We do this by using energy storage systems that store sustainable energy in times of surplus and release it when the market needs it,” explained Dennis Schiricke, CEO SemperPower B.V.

“With our new large-scale battery storage systems that support the integration of renewable energy sources into the power supply, we are taking another step with our customers towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. We are very much looking forward to working with Semper Power on this,” explained Andreas Görtz, president sustainable power solutions at Rolls-Royce Power Systems.

The post Rolls-Royce to supply 30MW battery solution to balance Dutch grid appeared first on Power Engineering International.

Going back to the early 2000s, Endesa – Enel’s Spanish subsidiary – was very much a pioneer with smart metering in Spain, as the technology was at an early stage of development.

From the outset, Denda was involved in the initiative, which gained added impetus with Enel’s initial share acquisition of Endesa in 2009. The Italian giant had in fact pioneered in Italy the first country-wide smart meter deployment in Europe and among the first globally.

“I was working on looking at finding the right technologies for Spain,” recalls Denda, who with the successful completion of Endesa’s smart meter rollout based on Enel’s leading technology, became Enel’s global lead for smart metering solutions.

Subsequently, he took on responsibility for network technologies and innovation for the Enel Group’s global business line overseeing distribution – “everything related to the Operations Technology part of the grid” – until 2021 when the decision was made to bring together all the expertise developed in grid digitalization over the years, into a single entity named Gridspertise.

“Smart meters are a perfect example of how Enel’s role has been more industrial than simply as a user, including the design and engineering right up to the management of outsourced manufacturing,” he says.

“We felt that we should do this not just for Enel but for the whole sector. Worldwide, grid operators are facing the need to invest in the digitalization of power distribution infrastructures. We have the opportunity to share the technological expertise we have developed in Italy with countries that are tackling the energy transition, starting with regions where Enel Group is already present but with global growth ambitions.”

What is the Gridspertise offer?

With the digitization of grids, a priority shift is needing to be made. In September 2021, Gridspertise was officially launched and introduced as a technology and solution developer and provider, drawing on Enel’s over 20 years of experience in developments for diverse markets, from Italy to Europe, to Latin America.

While we have the strong foundation and backing of Enel’s credible technologies, we have introduced innovations, which in our opinion, are groundbreaking and could change the face of grid digitalization.

One is the QEd – Quantum Edge® device, which we expect to revolutionize how substations are digitalized. In addition, there are IT platform solutions that help optimize the flow of data, and other technologies such as digital twins.

We work with a huge ecosystem of partners and leverage the investment made by Enel in the past to find the best solutions for others. It is an acceleration of grid digitalization.

What is the approach to developing new technologies?

By looking at different markets, we collect their requirements and define their needs. We then challenge those needs with customers in different geographies.

We are fully conscious of the potential of our current product portfolio and we can determine the delta that needs to be developed to address specific needs. In those cases, Gridspertise continues to invest in innovation to reach the goal to satisfy those needs. In some instances, the Company launches co-creation activities working with customers and industry leaders.

We work with numerous customers, not only within the Enel Group. The company delivers its solutions based on a significant intellectual property portfolio of field-proven solutions to dozens of Distribution System Operators (DSOs) of different sizes in different geographies.

The question is: How do we create the right solution?

With a collaborative effort between Gridspertise and other market players, applying an open approach to design the right solution for each customer.

What is the QEd – Quantum Edge® device?

The ‘QEd’ is an innovative edge computing solution that we developed from scratch. It enables to virtualize key grid functionalities into applications and running them directly on the edge, increasing the reliability of the network and improving service quality for end users. This solution can do protections, RTUs for remote control, power quality measurements, routing, and distributed energy resources management – all technical functions that typically would need different individual devices.

Once intelligence is put into the grid, and close to the transformer, many use cases are opened up; flexibility management, power flow optimization, fault detection, predictive maintenance, etc. With the capabilities of artificial intelligence, the functions that typically would be done in the cloud, or on a central system, can be extended to the edge. This brings it closer to the problem of reduced latency.

We have already made the first deployments within Enel and started the first co-creation programs with customers in order to fine-tune their use cases. In 2023, we will start to see deployment happening on many different sites.

The QEd Co-creation Program is also available for technology providers to build applications that run on that hardware.

What other developments are in the pipeline?

We are focusing our efforts on the digital platform.

For example, we have developed Digital Asset and Vegetation Intelligence, which is very helpful for predictive maintenance. Simple use cases, such as the identification of vegetation in critical closeness to the overhead lines, can be automatically optimized, creating value by reducing operational costs for trimming. Moreover, the solution enables automatic recognition of anomalies on specific grid components, preventing the risk of failure.

In terms of technology, the platform enables advanced functionalities to customers or even operates the technology as a service.

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What gaps are there in the market?

Every geography presents specific needs and gaps to be covered.

In APAC, for example, the main issues are power losses and grid quality, whereas, in the US and Europe, where the digitalization level is more advanced, there is a need to integrate flexibility dynamically. Then there are some areas where the quality of the supply is still a big issue in regular situations or some emergencies.

In terms of solutions, our portfolio is able to cover the entire value chain of DSOs’ operations and we are progressively including new solutions focused on addressing the future needs of grid operators all over the world.

Much of the focus we see, will be on the integration of electric vehicles, storage, and the demand side in real-time at the control level.

What’s next for digital solutions and services?

The utility sector has been a very traditional one but over the past five to ten years there has been a shift to the cloud and away from legacy technologies, and that mindset has become a reality. The next step we will see is ‘everything as a service’. It will bring a lot of value as there are many power grid operators which do not have the technological muscle to make the jump.

In the near future, DSOs will also need help in reducing their carbon footprint and achieving net zero emissions. Sustainable Grids are not only determined by their ability to host more renewable energy sources. They require more sustainable operations and the adoption of zero or low–emissions equipment, materials, and digital technologies. To reduce the grids environmental footprint, Gridspertise strives to deliver integrated solutions that are sustainable by design.

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How would you evaluate the past decade and what do you see for the future one?

In the last decade, smart meters have helped stabilize the grid with granular information on consumption, allowing for real-time monitoring of electricity use, advanced management of the technical parameters of the grid, and detection in near real-time critical events, such as blackouts. The increasing awareness of low-voltage grid information has also enabled the improvement of the management of the medium-voltage grid.

Coming up in this decade, I see three evolutions. The first one is the transformation of the traditional grid into a smart grid. This means that the grid will need to increase its hosting capacity, work on network flexibility, and make system operators more responsible. In the future, I think we will have grids that can automatically reconfigure in real-time according to the situation.

The second trend I foresee is related to the shift towards electrification and the consequent increase in power consumption. This together with an increasing demand for information in real-time will stimulate customer engagement and participation in the electricity sector as well.

The third aspect is that the digitalization of the grids requires the right training and skillsets for managers and the workforce, as well as the right digital tools to streamline field operations. While the lack of grid managers with expertise in digital grids represents a huge challenge, the development of digital tools and their integration with operations is already in progress. Our solutions, for example, augmented and virtual reality, can be coupled with a digital twin overlay for workers in the field.

What is the vision for the future grid?

In the short term, the top priority is to accelerate grid digitalization to manage the key challenges of grid operators: loss reduction, quality improvement, reliability, etc.

In the future, with the increasing electrification and distributed generation, the grid will still play a central role to manage the complexities of the market. Even if everyone becomes a generator, there will still be a need to share and trade excesses. The electricity grid is like the internet of power and it will be extended even in the most remote locations.

For power grid operators, their role will also be different: by 2050 they will also be digital operators with the digital control of energy – unless we find another energy source even better than electricity, but that’s not foreseeable in my mind!

** The recent announcement by Enel of an agreement to sell 50% of Gridspertise to CVC Capital Partners is a further sign that the smart grid space is vibrant and at the center of the transformation of the current energy model, making this conversation even more relevant.

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About Robert Denda

Robert Denda is the Sole Administrator and CEO of Gridspertise. Previously, he served as Head of Innovation & Industrialization and Head of Network Technology and Innovation at Enel Grids. In that capacity, he led the development and application of digital grid technologies at Enel, the largest privately-owned international operator of power distribution grids, serving 74 million customers.

As Global Head of Smart Metering Solutions from 2014 to 2015, he oversaw Enel’s international rollout of digital meters, building on his previous experience in coordinating the rollout of 13 million smart meters for Enel Group subsidiary Endesa in Spain. At Endesa, Dr. Denda also served as director of the R&D department, innovation manager in the telecommunications sector, and manager of technology services at Endesa Ingenieria. As well, he is an active participant in European and international energy sector associations.

He holds a degree in Computer Science and Business Administration and a Ph.D. from the University of Mannheim in Germany.

Robert Denda will be a Keynote speaker at Enlit Europe on 29 November 2022; addressing ‘Europe’s Balancing Act: Energy Security and the Green Transition’. View more details on the Keynote here, and register to attend the event below.

Join Enlit Europe in Frankfurt and be part of the conversation about the energy transition in Europe and beyond.

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The post A smart grid journey with Robert Denda, Gridspertise appeared first on Power Engineering International.

The controller, almost two years in development and led by the maritime focussed design house BMT, is intended for use in distributing energy to islands and remote communities and increasing their use of renewable energy sources as a replacement for diesel power generation.

The solution is designed with commercial off-the-shelf components, along with a series of control parameters which effectively manage the energy optimisation of the resultant microgrid and balance the output from each energy source to support the required loads and users of the grid.

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With a modification of the control parameters, additional unlimited renewable energy sources can be integrated.

The testing is taking place at Sustainable Marine Energy’s substation in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, with the primary renewable energy source provided by the company’s PLAT-I tidal energy device, a floating inshore tidal energy system designed for simple deployment in remote locations.

The PLAT-I was first installed for testing in 2018 and has been delivering power to the Nova Scotia grid since May.

“So far we’ve successfully tested prototypes, controlling and distributing river turbines, batteries, PV and generators to meet various load requirements,” says Martin Moody, BMT’s principal electrical specialist leading the testing.

“The fact that we’ve reached a full-scale testing opportunity is a success in and of itself and is a testament to the hard work and efforts of all the teams involved. But everyone is really excited to put this thing to the ultimate test.”

Wave energy could be key to a stable green grid of the future

The Ocean Energy Smart Grid Integration Project was launched by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster in December 2020 as part its Accelerated Ocean Solutions Program.

Other participants in the BMT-led project in addition to Sustainable Marine Energy are Rainhouse Manufacturing Canada, the University of Victoria and Turtle Island Innovations.

Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is an industry-led cluster to drive cross-sectoral collaboration and accelerate innovation in the country’s ocean economy.

The Accelerated Ocean Solutions Program was designed for smaller projects of up to two years in length.

With successful testing, the technology should move a step closer to commercialisation and the integration of ocean energies with others, particularly for islands with limited land space for other renewables.

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