Smart cities of the future will integrate smart grids to improve citizens’ quality of life and environmental sustainability.
But what are smart grids? How do they work? What benefits do they bring? What impact will they have on our daily lives? Let’s get started!
Table of contents
What are smart grids and how do they work?
Smart grids are advanced electricity systems that use technology to their advantage to monitor and distribute energy. Unlike traditional electricity grids, smart grids respond dynamically to the supply and demand for electricity, improving their performance.
Imagine the electricity grid as one big motorway. If in traditional grids, energy only travels in one direction (from power plants to our homes) with smart grids, it can travel in multiple directions.
In addition, smart meters, being small computers, already allow us to measure how much energy we consume and communicate this to the control centre; this can send messages to the meters to signal when energy is cheaper or if it’s time to reduce consumption. Smart grids, in essence, allow us to make significant savings on our bills.
How smart grids will improve cities
Smart grids will improve smart cities by enabling them:
1. More optimised energy management
Smart grids will reduce energy consumption, ensuring a better supply in cities that adopt them.
2. More sustainable mobility
Smart grids will facilitate the installation of so-called ‘charging stations‘ for electric vehicles, promoting greener mobility.
3. Smart buildings
Thanks to smart grids, buildings will be smarter, as they will regulate energy consumption according to need.
4. Greater citizen involvement
Citizens will be able to monitor their energy consumption more easily.
Smart grids in everyday life
Implementing smart electricity grids within our cities means, first and foremost, being able to achieve concrete benefits in everyday life. Let’s analyse some possible positive effects:
- fewer blackouts;
- lighter bills;
- consumption control;
- new job opportunities.
What are the benefits of smart grids?
1. Energy efficiency
According to the research centre PMF Research, smart grids optimise the distribution of energy, greatly reducing energy losses.
2. Easy integration with renewable energies
Smart grids integrate with renewable energy sources , such as solar and wind, balancing variable production.
3. Cost reduction
Smart grids reduce operating costs and prevent additional investments.
4. Improving the quality of service delivery
Smart grids facilitate fault detection and resolution, shortening blackout periods.
5. More active citizen participation
Thanks to smart grids, citizens can manage their energy consumption in real time, actively participating in grid management.
Smart grids projects in Europe
Grid4EU Project
The EU-funded Grid4EU project aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of smart grids on a large scale. The project includes:
- a total of EUR 54 million in funding from the European Commission;
- the cooperation of the European DSO partners in the consortium (e-distribution, ERDF, Iberdrola, CEZ Distribuce, Vattenfall Eldistribution, RWE);
- demonstrations in 6 different European countries with emphasis on complementarity and sharing of results.
Puglia Active Network (PAN)
The Puglia Active Network (PAN) project is an Italian project, the aim of which is to improve the performance of the electricity network. It envisages, in detail
- 170 million in funding, prepared by e-distribution in response to the European call for proposals NER 300;
- a duration of 9 + 1 years (2014-2024);
- 4 main actions, namely:
- the upgrading of the electricity grid.
- the creation of charging stations for electric vehicles.
- the promotion of environmentally sustainable zero-emission mobility.
- monitoring of energy consumption in homes and small businesses.
- to get the following results:
- transforming at least 50 per cent of medium voltage lines into intelligent lines;
- interconnect more than 8,000 cabins via an LTE network;
- impact on the development of local businesses.
- reduce network losses.
Both projects demonstrate Europe’s and Italy’s commitment to promoting sustainable and innovative energy solutions for the smart cities of the future.
Challenges and opportunities
Despite the undeniable advantages, the implementation of smart grids is not so easy and presents some challenges, such as:
- modernisation of existing infrastructure;
- data security;
- protection of the network from cyber-attacks.
Investing in smart grids will create new job, innovation and development opportunities for energy companies. In short, smart grids have the power to transform cities into more liveable and sustainable places.
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