Smart Grid Labs

With our Smart Grid Labs, we work towards the ambitious goal of decarbonization and a zero emissions future by tangibly reinforcing the spread of distributed renewable energy resources that are connected to the grid.

Our four Labs located in Milan and Bari (Italy), Seville (Spain) and São Paulo (Brazil) are environments where we can replicate the operating conditions of electric grids. This is where we try out innovative solutions in order to contribute to the development and integration of flexibility services, products, devices and resources. 

We share this know-how available to all flexibility operators and stakeholders in a vision of transparent and fair business, to guide the transition to an increasingly resilient and efficient electricity system.

Our facility in Milan is specialized in medium voltage, while the one in Bari focuses on low voltage and microgrids. Both offer simulation and emulation in a controlled environment in order to analyze the potential and integration of various flexibility resources in the grid, even in extreme operating conditions.

The Seville-based laboratory develops dedicated metering and grid technologies and performs Technical Conformity Assessments (TCA). Using state-of-the-art tools that are developed in-house, the Lab serves as a test bench to validate the compliancy of our solutions with relevant standards and customers' specifications. Moreover, server-based and embedded applications and systems are developed to manage power quality instruments and internet-of-things devices, as well as to define and trial appropriate operational parameters, using different scenarios.

Time is at the core of the benefits of our Brazilian Smart Grid Lab: the facilities in São Paulo help reduce its application in new grid technologies, also reducing the time needed to approve new products and suppliers. Its focal points regard automation, distributed generation, protection, telecontrol, energy quality, and operation network communication. In our facility we analyze smart devices, realize real-time simulations in the entire country and worldwide, and have implemented the infrastructure for new smart devices. 

We provide services to our partners and DSOs by making our Labs available to test new solutions in conditions of absolute technological neutrality, within a simulated or emulated interconnected electricity network that can be configured according to different scenarios. The platform makes it possible to test the technical specifications of products and flexibility devices in an innovative and sustainable perspective, facilitating their development and fine-tuning.