Event
Enlit Europe 2022 took place at a critical time for energy in Europe. For most of 2022, the war in Ukraine has caused turmoil in European energy markets, with gas prices rising to unprecedented levels. The European Commission has responded with the REPower EU Plan, which reaffirms the target of making Europe climate-neutral by 2050 and adds strong impetus – based on concerns about energy security - for rapid diversification of sources, in particular by increasing renewable generation, and for energy efficiency. More recently, the European Commission also presented an action plan on “Digitalizing the energy system,” which describes the necessity for a fast digital overhaul – with a particular emphasis on distribution grids. This is in order to support the growth of renewables, the increase in eletricity demand, and the overall resilience of the energy system.
The themes of the energy transition and energy security were on everybody’s mind during the three days of the event, and we at Gridspertise had many opportunities – through our participation in the conference program and our booth – to discuss how our solutions can contribute to these challenges, by transforming today’s power grids into tomorrow’s digital, resilient smart grids.
The conferences
Our CEO Robert Denda was among the speakers who kicked off Enlit Europe with opening keynotes on the morning of November 29. Sharing the stage with fellow industry leaders Greg Jackson from Octopus Energy, Frederic Godemel from Schneider Electric and Vadym Utkin, from Ukraine’s DTEK, Denda underlined the fundamental role of digital and sustainable smart grids in the energy transition. Touching on the complicated geopolitical situation, he also focused on the urgency of investing in the cybersecurity of grids, as they become increasingly strategic assets.
Denda and the other speakers then took part in an animated panel discussion on “Europe’s Balancing Act: Energy Security and the Green Transition.” This focused on the challenges faced by Europe in securing energy supply in the short term while not losing sight of its ambitious emission reduction targets. “The conclusion was quite clear,” Denda wrote after the session, “an upgraded and digitalized electric grid will be the backbone of the energy transition, not only in Europe but also in the rest of the world.”
The first day continued with a Summit session on “What’s next for digitalization,” in which our Chief Commercial Officer Santiago Cascante took part in a discussion with Alexis Grenon, SVP Digital Grid, Schneider Electric, Carol Johnston, VP Energy, Utilities and Resources, IFS, and Maikel van Verseveld, VP Energy Service Line Lead – Microsoft. Cascante analysed some of the key reasons for the uneven adoption of smart meters in Europe, and discussed the challenges posed by the growth of EVs and of renewable generation. “It was a great opportunity to talk about the challenges of the energy transition with 360-degree vision,” Cascante said of Enlit Europe. “In particular, we looked at how cloud edge solutions can accelerate the digital transition of networks.”
On the exhibition floor, there was a buzzing program of “Hub” discussions involving inspiring leaders and experienced professionals. Here, our Chief Technology Officer Gianni Ceneri took part in a discussion on “Scaling digital innovations in the power sector” and presented our solutions for the digital transition of grids, addressing both today’s and future needs. “At EnLit Europe we proved that Gridspertise is bringing an innovative approach to the inclusion of digital technologies in grids, based on the virtualization of devices and edge computing applications, with both aspects being combined in our QEd device,” Ceneri said.
On November 30, at the Digitalization Hub, our head of Marketing Strategy Ilaria Sabatello presented in detail our Digital Asset and Vegetation Intelligence tool and the benefits of Network Digital Twin® for DSOs. This tool responds to the key challenge of monitoring vegetation growth and the interference of this and other elements with power networks. “These events are a great opportunity for us to meet existing – and potential – customers, as well as potential partners with whom we can co-develop new solutions by adopting an open innovation perspective,” Sabatello noted.
The morning of December 1st saw our Field Operations expert Marco Altigieri take the stage at the Digitalization Hub, with a talk on “A deep dive into VR and AI increasing accuracy and efficiency in a digital energy world,” which focused on workforce management solutions.
In a world where grids have to provide new essential services from mobility to heating while at the same time coping with increasingly frequent extreme weather events, Altigieri explained, AR and VR applications are a key element in meeting the challenge. “The event was a unique opportunity to meet many companies and customers, not only to introduce them to our portfolio, but also to better understand their real needs,” says Altigieri.
“It was a truly international fair with a lot of great discussion on how to work together to orchestrate the changes that are needed in the energy sector. For Gridspertise, the challenge for next year will be to continue to grow and help our customers leap ahead in their digitalization journey.”
Robert Denda, Chief executive officer
The booth
Our Portfolio is designed as an open ecosystem. It’s easy to integrate with legacy systems, combining smart grid devices with ready-to-use modular applications, running both centrally and on the edge. At our booth we showcased the four cornerstones of our end-to-end Cloud-Edge Platform solutions and services targeted at accelerating the digital transformation of distributions grids.
The metering ecosystem
Gridspertise has been a pioneer in the development of smart meters, over 40 million of which have already been installed in Europe alone, mostly in Italy and Spain. They are complemented by Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) which enables a two-way flow of data to allow remote consumption control and forecast, fault and outage detection, as well as by our Head-End System (HES) and Meter Data Management System to extract value from data and to help manage electricity demand in the most efficient way. Gridspertise is now expanding its portfolio with interoperable hybrid devices based on G3-PLC standards, and has recently joined the G3-PLC Alliance, a leading industry group on powerline communication in smart grid applications.
The QED – Quantum Edge® Device
A part of the booth was dedicated to our revolutionary all-in-one solution that enables DSOs to run key grid functionalities directly on the edge, virtualize key network automation functions through customizable applications and reduce the amount of equipment in secondary substations. It helps ensure the stability of the grid while managing generation from distributed energy resources and growing energy demand, and it makes it possible to add new applications over time – a key requirement in an evolving, open-technology scenario such as the one Europe is facing.
Digital asset and vegetation inteIligence
We developed this solution to create a 3D virtual model of the grid which helps DSOs improve their service quality and optimize their costs. A Network Digital Twin® creates a virtual replica of the electricity grid and the surrounding environment, by acquiring and processing structured datasets provided by laser, scanner, photography, videos, etc. By reducing the need for land-based patrols, it improves the safety and efficiency of field workers. Moreover, it enables the identification of critical distances, facilitating vegetation inspection and predictive maintenance. Based on a combination of on-site data collection, a cloud-based data repository and a web 3-D viewer integrated with image-recognition algorithms that spot anomalies, it allows savings up to 16% for vegetation management, 15% for maintenance and up to 50% for engineering. About 210,000 km of grids are currently monitored by this system in Italy, Spain and Romania, corresponding to 63% of the combined grid extension in the three countries.
Enhanced workforce management
Last but not least, we showcased our toolbox which uses Augmented Reality to deliver information to field operatives exactly when and where needed, and Virtual Reality for the accurate training of personnel in the field and for virtual navigation of the grid. These apps have several advantages for DSOs, such as reducing the time and transportation costs needed for on-site verifications and enhancing the ability to intervene in extreme conditions. Also on display at the booth were applications such as ARNet - which projects an electric grid in Augmented Reality over the external world, allowing operators to visualize the grid's topology and see salient data; and NetNav, an electricity grid consultation and navigation tool, an indispensable companion for almost all field worker activities and for the effective management of complex modern networks. Enhanced Workforce Solutions have been extensively deployed in Italy – thereby saving at least €8 million a year – and in Spain.
For the duration of the event, a meeting room close to the booth allowed us to network with potential customers and partners and lay the ground for new collaborations.
Browse through the gallery
Press Coverage
Die Digitalisierung der europäischen Stromnetze - eine umsetzbare Herausforderung
See you next year in Paris!