The Energy Transition Law for Green Growth (LTECV) sets ambitious targets for France, in terms of developing renewable energies and controlling energy consumption. The development of smart grids, a tool for better integration of renewable energies and greater control of energy consumption, will be necessary to achieve these objectives. The program of future investments, of which the ADEME is an operator, supports experiments of smart electrical systems since 2009. It is in this context that the call for projects “Intelligent electrical systems” was opened in 2014. 4 new winners have just been announced.
A wind mill farm – Photo credit: Jason Blackeye in CC
4 new major projects
The 4 winning projects will explore complementary demonstrators with the 21 projects resulting from previous “Smart Electrical Systems” call for projects, funded under the future investment program:
- The NEXT and PicoWatty projects cover fields that have not yet been explored by previous winning projects, in particular concerning asset optimization software aimed at Distribution Network Managers and local authorities, and multi-fluid and multi-service offerings (energy , environment, health) for individuals, businesses and communities;
- Smart Occitania and PRIDE are recognised as part of the call for projects of the New Industrial France through a better monitoring of the distribution network and a pedagogical action around the issues of the Energy Transition across Occitanie region while, at the same time, focusing on the valorization of energy data in the Brittany and Pays de la Loire regions.
The “smart electrical systems” call for projects was targeted at the actors of Intelligent Electrical Networks, particularly to the winners of the call for projects of New France Industrial [2] for the large-scale deployment of smart grids. Several other projects are currently under investigation, the results of which are expected by the end of April 2017.
Focus on the different winning projects
NEXT (Ile-de-France)
Coordinated by ARTELYS, a company based in Paris, this project aims to design and develop a reference software for the simulation and optimization of the scaling of distribution grids taking into account the flexibilities (flexibility of production, consumption, storage, multi-energy flexibilities, fine-tuning of the network …). The software will allow navigation between different spatial scales, from the low voltage section of network to the scale of the country. It will be aimed at Distribution Network Managers, local and national public authorities and players in the energy and equipment markets.
The project will remove several technical locks to reintegrate the temporal dynamics of networks. Advanced techniques in algorithmics (artificial learning for example) and high performance computing will be used in the development of this software.
PicoWatty (PACA)
Coordinated by ECO CO2, this project aims to develop an innovative multi-service energy-environment offering based on seven sensor families, three communication gateways and a LoRa-type telecom infrastructure.
The energy-environment products and services will be the subject of 5 field experiments with vulnerable households, local communities, condominiums, and businesses. An innovative life-tracking service for older people using the same objects will also be tested. The project will conclude with a commercial experiment on more than a thousand solutions.
Smart Occitania (Occitanie)
Coordinated by ENEDIS, this project aims to experiment, industrialize and promote new models of smart distribution networks adapted to rural areas. These models will have to respond to the challenges posed by the Energy Transition, particularly in terms of costs and acceptability. The project also aims to develop a TEPCV ” positive energy territories for green growth” sector consisting of companies whose activity is centered around the energy transition and smart grid.
Three families of experiments are planned with the aim of (i) the observability and management of the distribution network in rural areas, (ii) the dynamics of the energy transition in favor of optimized deployment of renewable energies, and (iii) facilitating the integration of these energies into a distribution network located in rural areas.
PRIDE (Bretagne Pays de Loire)
Coordinated by the Images & Réseaux competitiveness cluster, this project aims to define the functional contours of and to implement a platform for the collection, processing and visualization of energy data from very diverse origins in the Brittany and Pays de la Loire regions. The project will be integrated into the development of the SMILE project which includes several projects for the deployment of smart solutions regarding the production or use of energy (especially electricity). This platform will make it possible to analyze the results of territorial energy policies at different scales and to demonstrate the interest of smart grids solutions and projects, particularly in terms of MDE.
Source ADEME