Demo 3. Italy

Description

The Italian demo site is a distribution system located in Sarentino Valley in Northern Italy. The main DSO in the region is EDYNA, managing 8,608 km of the network (HV, MV and LV) and supplying electric power to 230,000 customers.

Because of the mountain morphology of the territory, a variety of hydroelectric plants are connected to the grid with 348 MW power installed on 616 MW of total MV and LV production. In addition, the EDYNA network supplies 50 sub-DSOs. The pilot demonstration is going to be performed in the MV and LV grid supplied by the HV/MV Sarentino substation.

The subject distribution system is characterized by an excess of power generation from hydroelectric power plants, particularly during the summer months. Most of the year, the power flows from the MV grid to the HV grid.

Subtended DSOs should also be able to manage their grid in island mode, through automatic primary/secondary frequency and voltage regulation of the local system.

The goal of the site is to demonstrate the developed grid islanding algorithms to avoid potential power outages and ensure the quality of the grid service.

Result Overview

The Italian pilot successfully overcame the critical operational limitations of islanded grid restoration in the mountainous network of the Bolzano province. Overcoming past failures caused by generator instability under variable loads, poor load-step management, and the unpredictable output of distributed PV generation, the pilot validated a coordinated approach to autonomous islanded operation. Specifically, it replaced costly, polluting diesel generators with locally managed renewable energy sources (hydroelectric and PV) to supply isolated network sections during faults or maintenance. The pilot achieved a controlled, progressive re-energization process that carefully manages high inrush currents and connected loads, maintaining voltage and frequency stability, eliminating economic losses for offline hydro producers, and drastically cutting restoration times from hours to minutes while providing key insights to overcome current regulatory and legal barriers for sub-DSO islanding.

The Smart Grid Controller (SGC), integrated with DSO SCADA systems, enables a transition from reactive to proactive grid management through:

• Advanced Observability: Continuous load-flow calculations based on real-time SCADA telemetry to estimate bus voltages and line currents.
• Islanding Management: The ability to identify grid sections capable of being powered by hydro plants and providing operators with optimized switching recommendations.
• Direct Control: Managing multiple generation units in island mode by directly controlling them in response to load variations to ensure frequency and voltage stability (simulation and real time operation).
• Cybersecurity & Standards: Implementation of standard communication protocols (e.g., OPC-UA) with integrated security features, fulfilling a mandatory requirement for modern DSO operations.

The implementation of the SGC within the eFORT framework has yielded three major improvements:

• Operational Efficiency: Operators can now monitor critical situations more clearly. In the event of a fault, restoration time is reduced from several hours (diesel generator deployment) to a few minutes (hydroelectric synchronization).
• Innovative Control Schemes: The project facilitated a comparison between traditional control techniques and Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches for grid regulation.
• Enhanced Support Tools: The introduction of auxiliary tools, such as the Grid Chatbot, assists agents in navigating and interpreting complex grid models more intuitively.

The pilot successfully validated four major use cases:

• Monitoring & DER Control Platforms: Real-time observability and operator support via A-Bot.
• Digital Twin Simulation: Testing seasonal grid topologies and profiles.
• Optimal Islanding Operations: Achieving a smooth, continuous transition from grid-connected to island mode by targeting “zero power exchange” across interconnection points prior to disconnection.
• Generators Coordination: Master/Slave coordination algorithms successfully rebalanced active and reactive power setpoints, keeping the master unit at its optimal 50% operating target of active power.