In announcing the project, Enedis stated the importance of security and reliability of the electrical supply, in a context of accelerating electrical uses from the upcoming Olympic games.

In Seine-Saint-Denis, the replacement of one of the transformers at the Bourget source substation will allow Enedis to strengthen the quality of power supply for several decades and anticipate the demographic and economic growth of the region that will test the system’s resiliency.

Arrived by convoy from Saint-Leu-d’Esserrent in Oise, the new transformer can accommodate almost a double amount of electrical power, from 40MVA to 70MVA. 

Have you read?
First fully digital substation in US begins operation
Portugal’s EDP bets on a startup’s next-gen transformer

The substation is set to become one of the most powerful in the Ile de France region that includes Paris and its surroundings, according to the DSO, and will secure the electricity supply for 52,000 customers.

The replacement of the transformer coincides with the calendar of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games as part of the event organiser’s goal to connect 100% of the sites to the electricity network, rather than using generators for their power supply.

Similarly, earlier this year, Enedis announced the rollout of electric terminals to connect event sites across France to the grid to minimise carbon footprint of the event.

The organisers of the Olympic Games have in the past used generators that run on diesel to electrify the events, in particular for lighting and television broadcasting.

Enedis has set itself a challenge to contribute to the Paris 2024 objective of halving the event’s CO2 emissions thanks to a high quality, solid, constantly maintained and modernized electricity network.

“The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are perfectly in line with the company’s objectives of taking concrete action for the planet and improving customer service. The Paris 2024 deadline challenges our processes and forces us to adapt quickly to be on target”, adds Marianne Laigneau, CEO of Enedis.

Have you read?
Enedis rolls out electric terminals ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics
Smart grid research lab inaugurated in France

Enedis has mobilised Team France Electrique, a group of 39 000 employees who are committed to the ecological transition around stadiums and everywhere in France. The employees are committed to the success of this unique event.

Development, security and network reinforcement work and infrastructure will be part of the legacy left by Paris 2024 everywhere in the territories concerned, in the same way as the installation of permanent connection solutions for events within the venues.

The president of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games stated, “Sport is a solution machine for education, for health, for inclusion and for behaviour change. With Enedis, we are committed to a more sustainable society by rethinking the energy connection of all the Games sites.”

The electric terminals will be used to connect temporary sites of the Summer Olympics to the network, such as Place de la Concorde and Place du Trocadéro in Paris, and will remain as a legacy after the Games to benefit future events.

According to Enedis, the Games will be fully connected to the public electricity network.

This effort to lower the carbon footprint of the Games by reducing the dependency on diesel generators will now be extended nationally, to all cities and initiatives that are supporting the Games.

A call for expression of interest has been issued by the State, Enedis and Paris 2024 for local authorities and stakeholders, such as host cities, stage cities of the Torch Relay and celebration sites to name a few, to use the solution.

Interested parties can apply until October 1, 2023.

Also of interest:
Enedis tops smart grid benchmarking for 2022
The hidden threat to power quality on the electric grid
‘New kid on the block’ knows how to future-proof the grid

ADEME (French Agency for Ecological Transition) will operate the device on behalf of the State and Enedis, which bears 60% of the total cost of the equipment and connection.

Georgina Grenon, director of environmental excellence for Paris 2024, commented on the announcement: “CO₂ and fine particle emissions, urban congestion, noise pollution… diesel generators will soon no longer be welcome at events.

“Electric terminals for events are the solution that an entire sector has been waiting for to be more responsible in terms of energy. Thanks to the support of the State and Enedis, communities will be able to benefit from them and offer them to the events they host, now and for a long time.”

Catherine Lescure, director of communication and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) of Enedis, added: “By connecting events to the electricity distribution network, we are helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the Paris 2024 Games. With the event electric terminals that we connect to the network, we are proud to provide an innovative and sustainable solution to cities.”

Ready for deployment

Enedis, a subsidiary of EDF Group, was selected earlier this year in April as an official supporter of the Paris 2024 Games.

Also in April, Enedis and the City of Paris began experimenting with the first electric terminals for the event to manage its high-power electrical needs.

The “new simple and quick connection solution”, stated Enedis in a press release, will connect the event sites to the electrical network and is hoped to fully eliminate the need for diesel generators.

Enedis added how the terminals fits perfectly into the ground of urban environments and is a retractable system, making it possible to store the bollard in the ground not in use.

When the community or an event organiser has a need, Enedis will make the event electrical terminal accessible at the request of the energy supplier chosen by the organiser to connect directly.

Added Bruno Bonnell, secretary general for investment, in charge of France 2030:

“This system for local authorities should allow them to cross the expensive threshold of ecological transition for events aimed at the general public. France must be a reference at the international level on eco-energy transitions, and the Paris 2024 Games must be a concrete demonstration.”

According to energy company E.ON, which handled the project’s technical management, such mobile storage systems are able to avoid network bottlenecks in the distribution network at short notice and help prevent the need to shut down decentralised generation plants.

Their use can also bridge the time needed until necessary distribution grid expansion and flexibility can be increased.

The integration of a large number of renewable energy plants into the electricity distribution grids poses challenges for grid operators in many places.

This is because power generation is becoming increasingly volatile and the network expansion required to accommodate this is taking time.

Mark Ritzmann, managing director at E.ON Group Innovation, said: “Meeting the Paris climate targets is an important milestone on our path to a sustainable energy future. Tomorrow’s energy world will be characterised by flexible consumers and producers of green energy.

“To effectively integrate these prosumers into our existing distribution grid infrastructure, innovative and digital solutions like IElectrix are necessary complements to an efficient grid expansion.

Have you read:
UK announces £16m in V2X and demand side response projects
Survey: US utilities call for government funding and new pilot projects

IElectrix’s investigation

As part of the IElectrix project, E.ON investigated the contribution that battery-based storage systems can make to meeting the challenges of the energy transition at locations such as Hungary and Germany.

Three points summarise the project findings:

1. BESS can more easily overcome technical hurdles that may arise from already busy power grids when connecting renewable capacity. They can absorb voltage peaks so that photovoltaic parks, for example, can be connected to the grid that might otherwise have to wait several years for a grid connection.
2. Mobile battery storage systems allow locally generated energy to be used more efficiently directly on site. This is a basic prerequisite for the emergence of so-called energy communities, such as ‘Adeje Verde’ on Tenerife.
3. Energy communities promote the participation of local people in the energy transition. Through them, households, businesses or municipalities can jointly consume, store and/or sell locally generated renewable energy. BESS enable better coordination for a more equitable distribution of grid capacity.

Under French DSO ENEDIS’s consortium leadership, IElectrix was part of Horizon 2020, the EU’s largest research and innovation program.

Within three and a half years, 15 project partners from eight EU countries, alongside Indian distribution grid operator TATA Power DDL, jointly developed mobile storage systems as a fast and cost-effective solution to local challenges in the distribution grid.

The project was also part of the EU Project Zone in 2021 and forms part of the Enlit World project directory.

These are monitoring and control, data analytics including smart meter coverage, distributed energy resource integration, green energy, cyber security and customer empowerment and satisfaction, with supply reliability as measured by SAIDI and SAIFI.

With this Enedis, which also gained an improved score, retains its top position from 2021.

Tying in second place are Taiwan Power Company and UK Power Networks and in fourth place Consolidated Edison from the US and Western Power Distribution from GB.

Australia’s CitiPower is the sixth utility to achieve a score over 90, albeit with a slight decline in its overall performance since 2021.

Have you read?
5G – how it could enable the digitalisation of Britain’s transmission networks
Smart grid candidate PCIs/PMIs announced

The Smart Grid Index from Singapore’s SP Group reports smart grid progress in the different regions and globally, with benchmark scorings for 94 utilities in 39 countries across the world.

The Index records Florida Power & Light and Southern California Edison from the US, Britain’s Northern Powergrid and Netherlands’ Stedin tying as new entrants to the top 10, while previously ranked 8th Pacific Gas & Electric drops to tie with Commonwealth Edison in 14th position.

At the bottom of the list are two Romanian DSOs E-distributie Dobrogea and E-distributie Muntenia and South Africa’s City Power.

For the record SP Group is well down in the ranking in 39th position, tieing with Ausnet from Australia, Dominion Energy from the US and Liander from the Netherlands.

Smart grid progress

The benchmarking indicates progress in smart grids globally in all the dimensions except supply reliability. By region the greatest progress was exhibited in North America in distributed energy resource integration, in Europe in customer empowerment and satisfaction and in Asia Pacific in data analytics.

The data also indicates that the highest growth overall was achieved by utilities in data analytics, while North America is leading in energy storage deployment with a score 20 points greater than the figure globally.

Asia Pacific also was found to have caught up on smart meter deployment.

The project under Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd is aimed to investigate the role of local distributed energy resource generation in increasing the consumption of renewable energy and improving the resilience of the energy system.

Partners in the project – part of the IElectrix (Indian and European Local Energy CommuniTies for Renewable Integration and Energy Transition) initiative – include French DSO Enedis, Schneider Electric, the Schneider initiated research collaboration Odit-e and the European consultancy Geco Global.

Funding is provided from the Horizon Europe facility.

Have you read?
Tata Power Delhi launches residential demand response programme
Energy communities in Europe – opportunity to increase system efficiency

The IElectrix project was launched in 2019 with a focus on increasing the integration of renewable energies into the distribution network with the creation of local energy communities and smart distributions systems.

The consortium includes sixteen partners from nine countries, with four large scale demonstrators. In addition to India, these are in Austria, Germany and Hungary.

Features of the New Delhi demonstrator include investigating the roles of demand side management in boosting the local consumption of renewables and of islanding in improving the resilience of the local energy system.

At the launch of IElectrix, Praveer Sinha, CEO of Tata Power, envisaged the demonstrator would be a game changer for the Indian grids, while Sanjay Banga, then CEO of Tata Power-DDL and now President T&D of Tata Power, said it would address key challenges in demand side management, system resilience and increased renewable consumption.

IElectrix runs until the end of October 2022. Progress with the other pilots is reported to be being made and among early results, battery energy storage has demonstrated support for grid overloads and the reduction of network losses in the German pilot.

SF6 (sulphur hexafluoride), widely used for its high insulating and dielectric properties in equipment such as switchgear and transformers in MV/LV substations, is one of the most potent greenhouse gases and one of the six targeted in the Kyoto Protocol as well as being harmful to health.

The initiative will utilise Schneider Electric’s RM AirSeT RMU switchboards, a new air-based technology that is SF6 free, with two units to be installed at Enedis’s R&D laboratory.

Over a period of 18 months, the behaviour of the equipment will be evaluated in different electrical configurations and in conditions similar to those encountered in real-world operations.

Have you read?
UK Power Networks to instal new climate friendly switchgear
National Grid pilots emissions reduction mechanisms at Deeside innovation center

“Enedis has made a commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% by 2025. This project should allow us to innovate to develop industrial solutions that respect the environment with a view to their industrialisation,” says Marianne Laigneau, Chairman of the Management Board of Enedis.

“Innovation has a major role to play in finding new technical and technological solutions for the electrical networks that we operate.”

Schneider Electric’s RM AirSeT technology is the outcome of more than ten years of research and development as a new insulation technology based on pure air delivering the same electrical performance on SF6 as well as optimal safety for handling.

The new range also is compact and incorporates all necessary connectivity.

Frederic Godemel, Executive Vice President, Power Systems & Services, says that Schneider Electric is convinced that the best gas is pure air.

“Today, the innovation we have deployed allows us to consider a sustainable solution while maintaining all the advantages that conventional equipment with SF6 has always offered us.”

With the drive for decarbonisation, more and more companies are looking to develop alternatives to SF6.

The 2021 IPCC physical science basis report records a 36% increase in the concentration of SF6 in the atmosphere from 2011 to 2019, while the earlier estimate of its atmospheric lifetime of 3,200 years has been revised downwards to around 1,000 years. The gas also is used in industry for magnesium production and semiconductor manufacturing.

Having some of the largest distribution system operators in the world partnering with technology providers to co-develop an entirely new solution is intended to revolutionise the energy transition and help achieve a climate-neutral economy.

The E4S Alliance is helping digitalise the grid and make it data-driven in order to meet carbon neutrality.

Utility companies will benefit from an open standard-based secure and highly scalable platform to monitor and control the electrical grid, especially in low voltage.

Have you read?
Enedis CEO: ‘A holistic approach is key’
‘Green’ and sustainable IT not a focus for most, Capgemini reports

Virtualisation of applications, in combination with edge computing, leads to lower total cost of ownership, faster time to market for new applications, and more efficient management and delivery of electricity.

About Enedis

As a public service provider, Enedis manages the French electricity distribution network. The company’s 38,000 employees serve 37 million customers, developing, operating and upgrading 1.4 million kilometers of low- and medium-voltage (230 and 20,000 volts) electricity networks while managing associated data. Enedis carries out customer connections, 24/7 troubleshooting, meter reading and all technical interventions. It is independent of the energy suppliers responsible for marketing and managing electricity supply contracts.

About Capgemini

Capgemini is a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing the power of technology. The Group is guided everyday by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. It is a responsible and diverse organization of over 300,000 team members in nearly 50 countries. With its strong 50-year heritage and deep industry expertise, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to address the entire breadth of their business needs, from strategy and design to operations, fueled by the fast evolving and innovative world of cloud, data, AI, connectivity, software, digital engineering and platforms. The Group reported in 2020 global revenues of €16 billion.

Get The Future You Want | www.capgemini.com

About Minsait

Minsait (www.minsait.com) is Indra’s leading company in digital transformation and Information Technologies. Minsait possesses a high degree of specialization and knowledge of the sector, which it backs up with its high capability to integrate the core world with the digital world, its leadership in innovation and digital transformation, and its flexibility. Thus, it focuses its offering on high-impact value propositions, based on end-to-end solutions, with a remarkable degree of segmentation, which enables it to achieve tangible impacts for its customers in each industry with a transformational focus. Its capabilities and leadership are demonstrated in its product range, under the brand Onesait, and its across-the-board range of services.

About E4S

The Edge for Smart Secondary Substations (E4S) Alliance is a technical working group formed by Ariadna Grid, Capgemini, Circutor, Enedis, Iberdrola, Intel, Landis+Gyr, Merytronic, Minsait, TTTech Industrial and ZIV Automation. E4S is working to accelerate the creation of a standards-based, open, interoperable, and secure architecture that addresses both the technical and business challenges faced by utilities around the globe.

It’s ultimately about sustainability and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, said Laigneau, chair of the management board of Enedis, the French distribution operator, in an exclusive interview with Enlit Europe Content Director Florence Coullet.

Behind energy consumption, the real question is CO2 emissions, she says, noting that in France 70% are due to energy use across the different sectors.

Thus the responsibility of the energy sector is to offer alternative energies that emit less CO2 to all the economic players but also to improve the energy efficiency and reduce losses in its own industrial processes.

As an example, Laigneau cites Enedis’s losses reduction at 6%.

“This may seem small in relative terms … but it represents more than 20TWh per year, which is half the consumption of the whole Paris area. So, we have to do something about it.

“To reach the goal [of carbon neutrality] we have to take into account all the available levers. You can be sure that a distribution grid operator like Enedis is taking this very seriously.”

Drilling down into some of the actions Enedis is taking to support sustainability, Laigneau highlighted the mobilisation of employees as well as customers and other stakeholders to build the vision cooperatively.

“From our point of view, it’s an ecological transition as it’s about new ways of producing energy and consuming energy but also new ways of working and living. It’s larger than the energy sector.”

Marianne Laigneau will be speaking during the Enlit Europe opening keynote ‘Delivering Europe’s Green Deal and a Green Recovery’ on Tuesday 30 November. Register for the live event.

As examples she points to the introduction of a climate change awareness campaign for employees and the electrification of vehicles – from 600,000 electric and hybrid vehicles currently to the 15 million targeted for 2035 – starting with Enedis’ own vehicle fleet – currently the second-largest electric fleet in France.

“It’s a huge change. I can talk also about local energy communities, the development of self-consumption and so on. Implementing this type of change is concrete action right now, but it’s also the long term vision.

“At the end, I think it’s all about changing mindsets and modalities. And that will give meaning to our daily actions.”

And notable at this time, as Laigneau pointed out, is that Enedis is recruiting approximately 1,000 new staff this year to reinforce its teams to manage all the new growth.

“It’s not a burden at all – it’s great news. Electricity is the future of the world and we have to be very ambitious about that!”

Watch the full interview

We can’t wait to see you in Milan

Enlit Europe will bring the energy community together during the live event in Milan (30 November – 2 December 2021). Register here

Cybersecurity is a strategic issue for Enedis to guarantee the continuity of electricity serving 37 million customers. The French power company manages the public electricity distribution network for 95% of continental France including 1.4 million km of network, and more than 31 million of “Linky” smart meters.

Bernard Cardebat, executive cybersecurity director, Enedis, comments: “Cybersecurity is a particularly demanding field that requires constant questioning of its practices and knowledge. ENCS has developed solid expertise in the field of cybersecurity for DSOs, which will help us to further strengthen our practices. I am thrilled that Enedis is joining the ENCS community made up of many European DSOs of different sizes. Creating links and working together will foster lasting dialogues and trust between cybersecurity actors. And where trust grows, cybersecurity will grow.”

Have you read?
Smart grid interoperability – new models and concepts
No green grid without cybersecurity

According to ENCS, Enedis joins in a year where many transformations in the European DSO cybersecurity sector are underway, such as the upcoming European Network Code Cybersecurity, and the revision of NIS & REC Directive, the ambitious development programme by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA).

ENCS already works with a great number of electricity grid operators across Europe, sharing knowledge and expertise, providing security testing, consultancy and training services. With Enedis joining, a big step in harmonising best practices throughout Europe is at hand, as well as the opportunity for ENCS members and stakeholders to benefit from Enedis’ advanced security expertise.

Anjos Nijk, Managing Director, ENCS, comments: “Enedis is Europe’s largest DSO with sophisticated cybersecurity expertise. By joining ENCS, it underscores its commitment to improving cybersecurity even further. Enedis and ENCS together bring a wealth of expertise and experience to the table that European society as a whole will benefit from.”

According to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Future Series: Cybercrime 2025 initiative designed to address increasing cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, current cybersecurity mechanisms are outdated and are not in line with the fast-moving pace of digitalisation. With the rise in ransomware attacks and state-sponsored cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, it has never been more important for energy sector players to collaborate and share best practices.

Early studies by the French distribution company Enedis indicated that electric vehicles (EVs) could be readily integrated into the country’s distribution system without major impacts at either the local or national level. The challenge, however, is in optimising their large scale integration with managed charging and enabling their participation as flexibility resources.

EVs are fast growing in France with sustained growth, even during the current year with nearly 70,000 units sold during the first half of 2020 – twice as many as in the same period in 2019. Today, there are nearly 30,000 charging stations open to the public, directly or indirectly connected to the public distribution network.

Related articles:
Enedis: Simplifying DER integration with the grid
Australia’s AGL Energy embarks on large scale EV charging pilot

Enedis found in its testing that with managed charging when electricity prices were lowest, EV drivers could save up to €90/year ($110) compared with uncontrolled charging for a Renault Zoe type city car.

With the use of self-generated electricity, the savings could rise to €300/year ($360), depending on the user profile and the type of vehicle.

Beyond the personal benefits, at a community level control of the load limits the total power required from the grid for EVs. At a system level synchronising charging with renewable generation production supports the greening of EVs and promotes self-generation and new uses of electricity.

Moreover, with large numbers of EVs their load can be aggregated as a local flexibility resource for the grid, which will enable the deferment of upgrades and containment of electricity prices.

Enedis’s managed charging involves three forms of optimisation – managing the time of charging to benefit from lower prices and offers from suppliers, managing the power of the recharge to reduce the demand from the grid and for owners with solar PV managing the use of the self generated power to charge with excess solar during the day.

Enedis anticipates the flexibility value of EVs to range from a few tens of euros up to €200 per year.

Enedis says that as the distribution operator for the majority of France’s network, the company has a key role in emobility with the deployment of EVs and the charging infrastructure. Enedis itself claims the second largest EV fleet in France, with more than 3,000 vehicles, and is involved in the development of smart charging solutions.

“Are we doing enough?”

This was the question asked during the keynote session by Cedrik Neike, CEO Smart Infrastructure, Siemens. Neike, of course, was speaking about efforts to decarbonise the energy sector. By a show of hands, the audience response was overwhelmingly that we could and should be doing more.

This article was originally published in Smart Energy International issue 1-2020. Read the full digimag here or subscribe to receive a print copy here.

Neike was one of the keynote session presenters who kicked off this year’s European Utility Week/POWERGEN Europe conference in a rather damp Paris.

Neike followed presentations by Philippe Monlobou, CEO of French DSO Enedis and Francesco La Camera, Director-General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

In all cases, there was a strong focus on efforts to decarbonise – a move that can only be accomplished through digitalisation.

Monlobou spoke about the scale of the challenge and made it clear that this is a transition that cannot be accomplished by anyone company, organisation or country. That the successful transition of the sector can only be done through a concerted effort by all stakeholders to work together. Yet, his was a positive message in which he reiterated his belief in the abilities of the sector not only to transition, but also to flourish.

La Camera, however, cautioned that the transition to a cleaner, low carbon world would not happen without significant investment. He estimated that more than $110 trillion would be needed by 2050 – with more than $1 trillion of that being needed annually in Asia.

It’s all about data

Data was a topic of discussion during the opening keynote of day two of European Utility Week. Addressing the topic – “Who owns the data?” – were Signe Horn Rosted, Energinet; Julien Groues, Amazon Web Services; Robert Denda, ENEL and Hervé Champenois, Enedis.

In the light of privacy and data protection legislation, the need to balance these considerations with insightful operational data is a challenge for multiple players in the sector.

The session considered the perspectives for TSOs, DSOs and consumers and paid particular attention to the importance of GDPR and the democratisation of data.

The future is renewable

Emerging renewables such as tidal energy are seeing a surge in interest. Despite initial challenges around the commerciality and perceived cost of the technology, innovation now means that it is possible to effectively and predictably generate electricity from the tide. One of the project examples highlighted was that of the Faroe Islands, where there is a pilot installation in place. This is just one facet of their efforts to meet a goal of generating 100% of their energy through renewable means.

The ”Hydrogen & Power to X” session was well received in an industry that is taking the storage challenge seriously. The session, which was standing room only, focussed on the role of the ‘large players’ currently seen in the sector, as well as efforts to improve and commercialise the technology.

What’s trending?

Smart Energy International was able to engage with leaders from across the globe who have shared their perspectives on developments within the energy sector.

Impressions and trends across the course of the three days include:

• A focus on utilising data to gain insightful information which will impact on operations.

• Reiteration of the message that decarbonisation cannot be achieved in isolation – this is not an effort which can be undertaken by anyone company, country, region or even continent.

• Consumers are still important but this is no longer a new development and is becoming part of the normal business landscape – although there is room for improvement.

• There is a desire to gain deeper understanding from the data which the proliferation of sensors on the network is providing.

• Speaking of data – discussions are still underway in terms of who owns what, who can use which data and how best to protect consumers and provide the level of detail that service providers need.

• The electrification of everything is on the cards – focus is shifting from the electrification of transport to encompass heating and cooling.

• Renewable energy technology is becoming more cost-effective and alternative forms of generation, such as tidal power, are gaining traction and becoming more commercially viable.

• Storage is still a focal point and will continue to be so as the efforts to decarbonise the energy sector increase.

These are just some initial impressions from what was a truly enlightening event. SEI

Enedis CEO Philippe Monloubou details how the French DSO is industrialising smart grids and becoming a key enabler of the energy transition.

Related videos:
Designing tomorrow’s electricity grid
Simplifying DER integration with the grid

• Watch the Enlit video here
• Read the full press release here

Clarion Energy Executive Vice President & Global Managing Director Duncan Reid said: “Enlit is a fantastic new brand for what is the most important and comprehensive event portfolio for the global energy industry. Over the next 12 months, we will roll out Enlit across three continents to unify seven brands: Power & Utilities Australia, Australian Utility Week and POWERGEN Australia in Melbourne in August, Asian Utility Week and POWERGEN Asia in Jakarta in September and European Utility Week and POWERGEN Europe in Milan in October.”

The result of six-months of engagement with the industry and other stakeholders, Enlit is the world’s only complete energy event. It will bring clarity to the global energy transition and define the roles of all those involved in powering the next generation of the industry.

Its all about data

Data was a topic of discussion during the opening keynote. Addressing the topic – who owns the data? – were Signe Horn Rosted, Energinet; Julien Groues, Amazon Web Services; Robert Denda, ENEL and Hervé Champenois, Enedis. In the light of privacy and data protection legislation, the need to balance these considerations with insightful operational data is a challenge for multiple players in the sector.

The session considered the perspectives for TSOs, DSOs and consumers.

The future is renewable

Emerging renewables such as tidal energy are seeing a surge in interest. Despite initial challenges around the commerciality and perceived cost of the technology, innovation now means that it is now possible to effectively and predictably generate electricity from the tide.

The Faroe Islands have a pilot installation in place – one element of their efforts to meet a goal of generating 100% of their energy through renewable means.

The ”Hydrogen & Power to X” session was well received in an industry that is taking the storage challenge seriously. The session, which was standing room only, focussed on the role of the ‘large players’ currently seen in the sector, as well as efforts to improve and commercialise the technology.

Join us tomorrow for updates from the final day of Enlit in Paris.

Until then

Claire

Neike, of course, was speaking about efforts to decarbonise the energy sector. By a show of hands, the audience response was overwhelmingly that we could and should be doing more.

Neike’s presentation was one of the keynote session presentations which kicked off this year’s European Utility Week/POWERGEN Europe conference in a rather damp Paris.

Related stories
Preview: European Utility Week & POWERGEN Europe 2019

Neike followed presentations by Philippe Monlobou, CEO of French DSO Enedis and Francesco La Camera, Director-General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

In all cases, there was a strong focus on efforts to decarbonise – a move that can only be accomplished through digitalisation.

Monlobou spoke about the scale of the challenge and made it clear that this is a challenge that cannot be accomplished by any one company, organisation or country. That the successful transition of the sector can only be done through a concerted effort by all stakeholders to work together. Yet, his was a positive message in which he reiterated that his belief in the abilities of the sector to not only transition, but to flourish.

La Camera, however, cautioned that the transition to a cleaner, low carbon world would not happen without significant investment. He estimated that more than $110 trillion would be needed by 2050 – with more than $1 trillion of that being needed annually in Asia.

The next three days are going to be an important opportunity for the sector to discuss, share and collaborate in order to transform and innovate. Smart Energy International will be here, sharing our insights, observations and thoughts with you.

We launched the Global Power & Energy Elites at European Utility Week/POWERGEN Europe. Enjoy the opportunity to read more about the innovative projects and the energy leaders who make up the focus of this year’s publication.

Be sure to check our website regularly or follow us on Twitter, to get the latest news from European Utility Week 2019.

With best wishes from Paris

Claire

• Read more about CGI
• Read more about Enedis

To support the deployment of Linky smart meters, Enedis wanted to replace and modernise its existing customer relationship and billing information systems. For this ambitious project, Enedis selected efluid SAS, editor of the efluid solution dedicated to the utilities sector.

This expert software solution, co-developed by efluid SAS and CGI, covers all the needs of the electricity, gas and water companies: from contract taking to recovery and billing, efluid offers a 360-degree view of the customer. More than 50 companies have chosen this solution, which manages more than 25 million customers in production.

The efluid solution represents, for Enedis, an innovation in terms of optimization and automation of its information system. It also offers a great capacity for configuring routing offers in view of the possibilities offered by the new Linky technology as well as an extended service offering for suppliers.

“The installation of the Linky meters is a strategic industrial project that involves the installation of nearly 30,000 meters per day,” says Jean-Claude Laroche, director of information systems of Enedis. “The efluid solution is a real innovation that allows us to automate our information system and enrich our service offer of today and tomorrow.”

“To meet the new needs of our customers in the modernisation of their information systems, particularly in the context of the deployment of smart meters, we have chosen, with CGI, to combine our know-how to offer an integrated and innovative solution. that meets the needs of businesses,” said Francis Grosmangin, president  of efluid SAS. 

“We are very proud to support Enedis in the implementation of this strategic solution, unprecedented in Europe. Our integration know-how and our partnership with efluid SAS have been key elements in the success of this project,” said  Denis Marchesnay, Vice President, Consulting Services, CGI.

Watch more videos about the SMILE project and the site visits you can participate in at European Utility Week by clicking on these links:

• Check out this video by @reseaudurable to know more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhEBVT-JLhg
• Join the #SmileSmartGrids site visits to get to know the coolest #energy projects in #France! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6hs8kAfpY4
• Get to know this project: “Smart grids: the electric grids of the future”, in Rennes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tryB4xmB9SA&t=42s
• Visit the Showroom and Smart Gas Route in Rennes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpDC–NpQ9E&t=7s
• “Integration of Renewable energies and flexibility” in Nantes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lm1mrIzi8s&t=51s
• Visit the project: “Integration of Renewable energies and flexibility”, in Nantes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMt1is_FmDQ&t=20s 
• Find out more about the E-Busway project in Nantes – watch the video by @reseaudurable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyjB6cucIKo&t=38s
• Learn about the Deltagreen project  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUy5BQoINAE&t=7s

Click here to watch more videos about the energy transition in Europe.

The energy transition is a hot topic set for discussion at this year’s European Utility Week and POWERGEN EUROPE conference. Click here to register to attend or more information about the event.

Interview with Maxime Gillaux, Brittany regional director at Enedis. On a daily basis, Maxime manages smart grid and telecom projects.

Join the #SmileSmartGrids site visits during #EUW19 & #PGE19 to get to know the coolest #energy projects in #France!

This video by @reseaudurable will tell you more about this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6hs8kAfpY4

In this interview we hear from Maxime Gillaux, regional director for Brittany at Enedis. Maxime manages smart grid and telecom projects on a daily basis.

Click here to watch more videos or read more stories about the energy transition in Europe.

The energy transition is a hot topic set for discussion at this year’s European Utility Week and POWERGEN EUROPE conference which takes place from the 12th to the 14th of November 2019. Click here to register to attend or for more information about the event.

Join the #SmileSmartGrids site visits during #EUW19 & #PGE19! Check out this video by @reseaudurable to learn more. 

Join the #SmileSmartGrids site visits during #EUW19 & #PGE19! Check out this video by @reseaudurable to learn more. 

What is the SMILE project? Why was it born?

Interview with André Crocq, Brittany regional councillor in charge of the energy transition and co-president of the SMILE association.

Click here to watch more videos or read more stories about the energy transition in Europe.

The energy transition is a hot topic set for discussion at this year’s European Utility Week and POWERGEN EUROPE conference which takes place from the 12th to the 14th of November 2019. Click here to register to attend or for more information about the event.

Read more about the global energy transition here

Cedric Kerdiles, Executive Director of GALEO, presents the Deltagreen project.

Join the #SmileSmartGrids site visit during #EUW19 & #PGE19 and get to know the Deltagreen project – watch the video by @reseaudurable
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUy5BQoINAE&t=7s

Click here to watch more videos or read more stories about the energy transition in Europe.

Read more about the global energy transition here

This article was originally published in Smart Energy International 5-2019. Read the full digimag here or subscribe to receive a print copy here.

For the first time France will play host to the European Utility Week. As Chairman of the management board of Enedis, can you tell us how important this 2019 edition is to you?

France is, of course, proud to host European Utility Week for the first time. Annually, this is a unique opportunity to meet all the actors of the energy sector in Europe and to exchange and compare our experiences. It is also an industrial showcase of the achievements of European energy companies, on a worldwide scale.

The timing of this edition is significant for all the actors of the energy sector in Europe, with the new EU Electricity Market design legislation which was formally adopted and published a few months ago. Additionally it comes after the European elections which led to a renewal of European institutions with notably a new Energy Commissioner and a new Director-General of Energy.

In France, under the existing Climate Plan, new energy and climate laws were drafted and adopted this year, and this sets ambitious targets for the next decade for renewable energies with about 75GW of wind and photovoltaic installed capacity by 2028 – against 25GW today. In parallel, the development of new electrified uses such as electric mobility is encouraged – which makes a lot of sense from a generation mix that is more and more carbon-free.

DSOs are key players in these developments. So far in France more than 90% of electricity generation capacity from renewable sources such as wind and solar are connected to MV and LV distribution networks. With regard to Enedis, today intermittent renewable energy produced from more than 425,000 DER power production facilities account for about 13% of our power balance. Ten years from now, we will have more than one million producers connected to the grids we operate, and the electricity they produce could represent between 30% and 40% of our electricity balance. It is quite a big challenge for us, and we believe for other DSOs in Europe – as well as for TSOs. For a few years, reverse flows from distribution grids to the transmission grids through our main substations have been increasing regularly, allowing us to reapply local production to areas of higher consumption.

Nevertheless, I am confident in our collective industrial strengths to meet these exciting challenges, particularly through the already ongoing deployment of smart grids solutions.

Speaking of smart grids, since 2016 Enedis has been engaged in a massive rollout of smart meters: where is this programme and what does this change for market players?

Last year during EUW 2018 in Vienna we had just over 14 million smart meters deployed. Today more than 22 million of our low-voltage customers, i.e. 60% of LV delivery points, are equipped with our Linky smart meters – and the entire fleet of 500,000 MV delivery points is fully equipped with our Saphir-class smart meters. Our goal remains to reach 35 million LV delivery points equipped with smart meters by the end of 2021. So far, this industrial programme has been successful, not only for Enedis but also for all partner companies involved in its realisation.

But in my view the most significant fact that we are seeing this year – and this is the focus we are highlighting for this 2019 edition of EUW on our Enedis Corporate Booth (E.60) – are the improvements that our smart metering programme is already providing for market players – first and foremost customers and energy suppliers.

Innovative offers from energy suppliers are multiplying, based on our Linky smart meter technology which enables managing several dozen horo-seasonal ranges. This allows them to offer more economical offers to their customers, at time periods when the electrical system is least constrained. Collection of indexes and load curves, and their provision to customers and suppliers is totally automated, and the number of suppliers and third-party subscriptions to customer hourly consumption data has tripled in just one year. It means that our smart metering system has already reached a critical size for the market.

Each day 75,000 requests of various services (change of power, modification of contracts, etc.) are processed automatically by the system; by the end of 2021, this figure will rise to 150,000 per day.

Furthermore, in our relationship with customers as a DSO, our smart metering system technology allows us to improve the quality of service delivered to the customer by improving the detection of failures and incidents on low-voltage networks and their recovery time.

When a customer reports an electrical problem to our troubleshooting callcentre, our operators can now remotely perform a diagnosis of the situation in a few seconds, and if necessary, decide an intervention or repair on site which can be scheduled more accurately and quickly. Since the beginning of 2019, our call centres started to perform 50,000 remote diagnostics each month, making it possible for us to address customer requests with much better efficiency and speed than in the past. As another example, this summer nearly 700,000 customer moves into new homes were facilitated by remote commissioning of their power supply contract parameters to their new delivery point. This ability to act remotely very quickly considerably changes the customer’s perception of the service rendered.

The ability of Linky meters to count energy in both consumption and/or production directions facilitates the development of individual and collective self-consumption projects, which have doubled last year.

It is also an asset, we are convinced, for the development of smart charging solutions for electric vehicles. Power data collection allowing to measure and prove energy savings are also of interest to local communities, building renovation companies or energy services companies.

Most important, we believe these recent developments will accelerate the empowerment of market players, first and foremost customers – consistent with the ambition of the revised European Directive and new electricity market rules which put consumers at the heart of the energy transition.

Beyond those for market players, what are the benefits of your smart metering system in day-to-day grid operations and activities?

Smart grids are already a daily reality for our grid operations and will strengthen in the years to come.

The use of the Linky smart metering system to optimise the management of the LV power grid network is already operational with automatic detection of power incidents and their geolocation. Thanks to the data collected from the system, our remote-control rooms hold a finer view of the state of the LV grid in terms of voltage levels or cut-off times.

More generally, smart meters are part of a larger set of smart grids solutions that we started deploying at an industrial scale back in 2016. For example, remote monitoring of equipment on MV grids such as fault indicators, surge arresters, transformer monitoring or flood sensors can detect faults and identify their location. Artificial intelligence and data processing solutions are also already operational for network managementand the optimisation of low voltage cable renewal. They will be extended in 2020 to optimise the renewal of medium voltage cables and predictive maintenance.

Production and consumption flexibilities are being tested. They will provide faster and cheaper connections.

The design of the networks will evolve progressively to adapt to the development of renewable energies, EV mobility and flexibilities.

I would like to emphasise that the deployment of smart grid solutions on an industrial scale is the result of the many smart grid demonstrators, in particular, European ones, in which we participated alongside with other European DSOs, power device manufacturers or market players, with the constant support of the European Commission. Demos like Grid4EU previously, or Interflex today, to name just two examples among dozens, have made decisive contributions in testing and developing solutions that we can deploy today on an industrial scale.

Smart meters, IoT and smart grid technologies, remotely searchable connected objects deployed on power grids … How does Enedis cope with all this influx of data?

You mention a critical issue. Mastering the management of a large volume of data, securely, is becoming more and more strategic for power utilities, particularly DSOs that must ensure the trust of customers and all market players.

With regard to Enedis, in parallel with the massive rollout of smart meters and smart grids solutions, we are experiencing a sharp growth in the size of our IT system. We anticipate the volume of data being processed by Enedis to rise from 14 petabytes of data this year up to 31 petabytes in 2023. These data are hosted in about 16,000 servers – in comparison there were 9,000 in 2016 and more than 22,000 in 2023 in order to ensure the associated treatments. With time steps closer to real-time, flows and treatments increase.

At the same time, in an increasingly digital world we are seeing a sharp increase of requirements for reliability and availability from our stakeholders: from customers for whom power data measured by Enedis is the trusted reference; from suppliers, especially for billing reasons; and from communities for monitoring their local climate plan.

In order to cope with this challenge, in addition to the necessary investments in the IT system we have for several years now integrated and developed new skills; for example in data science we have developed our internal Digital Factory with several dozens of data scientists. Also, to guarantee our smart metering system availability close to 100% on a 24/7 basis, we have staffed dedicated hyper vision and supervision teams. Our Linky system includes equipment (meters, concentrators) connected by a communicating chain (IT and telecoms) to a central system connected to customer interfaces and a dedicated portal for power suppliers. Given the sensitivity of such an end-to-end automated digital platform, significant efforts have been made to make the safest possible equipment and secure the core of the system. We have also staffed a cybersecurity team within our organisation with a programme to strengthen our actions in this area.

Last year was the first time you shared Enedis’ ambitions to facilitate the development of e-mobility. One year on, where do you stand?

E-mobility is a collective, societal and technological challenge and our ambition is to become a leading industrial partner for every e-mobility player to co-create solutions to make widespread EV development possible.

All our teams are mobilised to serve this ambition and within just one year Enedis has participated in nearly 150 operations or projects, with concrete references made on many different use cases – such as electrification of bus depots or collective residential car parks. The number of public domain charging points connected to distribution networks has increased to more than 27,000 – with an average accessibility rate of 42 charging points per 100,000 inhabitants.

Yet much remains to be done; we are just at the beginning of the transition journey. The objective in France is to have 1 million EV or plug-in hybrids in 2023 and 4.6 million in 2028 – compared with the size of the current fleet of light vehicles in France totalling more than 36 million vehicles.

But collective challenges are already ahead of us today. Clean mobility is at the intersection of several deeply changing ecosystems: transport, with innovations around autonomous vehicles and shared uses, energy and digital. Charging infrastructures are connected to distribution grids where local energy systems are gradually emerging, organised around local energy producers and consumers. To illustrate these issues, we have wished this year to integrate a multiple EV charging services station into our Enedis corporate booth.

In general, what do you think the key factors are that will enable the energy transition objectives to be achieved and what roles can utilities and DSOs have in particular?

Every European citizen, economic, private or public actor, must be able to become an actor in the energy transition, by having access to tools, solutions and services under economically and socially acceptable conditions. As long as the economic, market and fiscal signals are consistent, and as stable as possible over time, the responsibility of power utilities is to be able to offer solutions and deliver services at a lower cost. This requires a lot of innovation, and an ability to structure industrial sectors capable of meeting the needs of the European internal market.

Another key factor of success, I believe, is to ensure that no one is left aside on the road towards the energy transition. DSOs and other network companies that irrigate all territories in Europe have a special role to play in preventing potential risks of territorial fractures between urban and rural areas, for example.

Success factors of territorial solidarity at the national or European level are even more crucial at the international level; French and European experiences in smart grids and new energy systems can already benefit other geographical zones. Enedis is well-positioned to share its skills for the deployment of smart grids in the world. Enedis thus supports the promotion of the expertise of the French smart grids sector through the Think Smartgrids association and the G3-PLC Alliance. We currently make available our smart metering system expertise in several projects; for example in India in the frame of a 5 million smart meters programme in several states, or in Singapore where Enedis is involved in the Microgrid Masera project, 100% powered by renewable power sources.

The willingness of European power utilities and DSOs to continue their commitment to the transition not only in Europe but also beyond our borders is a strong message for the future. SEI

You can visit the team from Enedis at exhibition booth E.60 at European Utility Week.

This is just one of the site visits which are accessible to all registered visitors of EUW & PGE 2019. Click here to discover more about the tours offered and the additional costs.

• Read more stories or watch more videos about Enedis here
• Watch more videos here

First worldwide implementation of DLMS over LoRaWAN with industrial-grade devices will be demonstrated at the event.

• Read more about the LoRA Alliance here

The LoRa Alliance will exhibit in Stand N128, where it will feature member demonstrations and showcase its collaboration with the DLMS User Association.  

The DLMS User Association is a non-profit organisation that develops, maintains, supports and promotes the DLMS/COSEM specification for data exchange for smart metering, smart energy management, and related fields. The LoRa Alliance has a liaison with DLMS to develop and support a new DLMS communication profile over LoRaWAN networks, which emphasizes the versatility of LoRaWAN. 

The LoRa Alliance booth will feature the following demos:

• ProEsys will show LoRaWAN solutions for monitoring critical infrastructures like railways, energy transportation and roads for long-term structural issues.
• Vertical M2M will feature a water metering use case with Axioma, a heat and cooling use case with Landis+Gyr, and a remote pipe control use case with Strega technologies.
• IHM Pacific will showcase single-phase din rail smart meter with LoRaWAN communication, designed and produced by Andrea Informatique. 
• Acklio will highlight the importance of the SCHC adaptation layer, the core innovation behind Acklio’s software solutions that enable the compatibility of smart meters using IP communication with LoRaWAN.
• Euridis association will showcase the first implementation of DLMS over LoRaWAN featuring electricity network products from Cahors and Sicame with support from Acklio, Actility, Semtech and Vientech. 

 “Utilities are one of the leading applications for LoRaWAN having quickly become the de facto standard for this market,” said Donna Moore, CEO and Chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance. “The LoRaWAN standard is easy to implement, cost-effective and able to deliver rapid ROI to address critical market needs.”

Accelerating partnerships to come up with new solutions enabling the energy transition is a hot topic set for discussion at this year’s European Utility Week (EUW) and POWERGEN Europe conference which takes place from the 12th to the 14th of November in Paris. Click here to register to attend or for more information about the event.

Read more about EUW and POWERGEN Europe conference here

To watch more videos, click here