MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN SMALL ACTIVE CUSTOMERS AND THE LV GRID: A METROPOLITAN CASE STUDY

SUMMARY The process of opening the energy market already reached small business and residential consumers. Several opportunities are now available for small energy users which are about to change their role of passive consumers becoming active customers. Continuous increase of energy demand and the recent peak-shifting from winter to summer especially in urban areas represent new challenges for distribution utilities. Not always network upgrade is possible, often it is neither the more efficient solution. Forecast of the capacity improvement and planning of the most adequate investment is always necessary. An analysis on the Milan urban area and a comparison with regional and national data is reported. A simple model is then proposed to support the planning process. Steep increasing in demand and inadequacy of the distribution network can be temporarily mitigated by short term-actions like promotion of energy efficiency in end-uses and providing customers and households with the technology enabling them to become “active nodes" of the electric network. Responding customers, in a liberalized market scenario, may offer services both to the network (power modulation) and to the market (reduce energy price volatility). The interaction between customers and distribution networks can be provided by a local ICT platform (at customer side) which supports both energy management and bi-directional communication with energy retailers, traders and distributors. This ICT platform receives market and system signals from distribution utilities, energy traders and retailers and provides energy management of loads, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems, storages, local generation units according to user preferences.