Even in Italy private users they will be able to transform their battery into an active resource. The diffusion of energy production plants from renewable sources, such as sun and wind, since these cannot be controlled or predicted with certainty, requires greater flexibility and efficiency of the electricity system, to guarantee the stability of the grid.
It is from this need that it arises il project promoted by Enel X, the business line for advanced energy services of the Enel Group, in collaboration with RSE (Ricerca Sistema Energetico). The experimentation is active in the provinces of Brescia, Bergamo and Mantua, where the first residential storage tanks have been inserted in UVAM aggregates (Mixed Enabled Virtual Units), so as to be able to use the battery capacity to provide certain services to the network, as early as the end of December 2019.
The project allows you to aggregate energy storage systems so that residential users can participate in the network services market which, until recently, was reserved only for large production plants or industrial loads.
According to Marco Gazzino, this experimentation has great potential, given that “there are thousands of residential batteries in Italy that will be able to help ensure the stability of the electricity system. This is a milestone for the country on the path towards an increasingly sustainable energy model".
The conclusion of the trial is scheduled for the end of 2020 and more than 100 photovoltaic systems with storage have already joined. All owners of residential systems and small businesses in the provinces who are interested in the initiative can participate by becoming part of the Enel X Smart Community.
At this point Enel X will have to verify whether or not it is possible to include the plant in the experimental project, after which it will install a communication system and remote control of the accumulation system which, considering the usual self-consumption functions, may be called upon to perform services for the electrical system, with a time management aimed at reducing the impact on the state of charge and the availability of the battery.
