The projects in this area generally aim to improve energy efficiency by focusing on: saving energy in production processes and in end uses; intelligent use of renewable energy sources; improvement of energy safety; promotion of environmental sustainability and of the correct energy mix of sources.


EXAMPLES OF SIGNIFICANT PROJECTS:

RESCOM - Reliability of the Electric energy Supply in a Competitive Market
The Rescom Forum includes: ABB; Siemens; the Italian Authority for Electrical Energy and Gas; GSE (Gestore Servizi Elettrici, the electrical services operator); AU (Acquirente Unico, the energy single buyer); Terna; Anie; Assolombarda; Assoelettrica; AIGET; AEM S.p.A.; CESI; CESI Ricerca; Enelpower; Sorgenia; Foster Wheeler; General Electric; Electrabel Suez; Booz Allen Hamilton; Enea; the Politecnico di Milano; the Politecnico di Bari; the University of Pavia; and the University of Genoa. The project instituted a forum, open to all interested players, with the aim of drawing up specific proposals for competitively managing the systems and processes that govern the supply of electricity in Italy. The starting point was electricity generation. The evident imbalance in the mix of primary sources is a well-known Italian anomaly. Once strongly oriented towards oil, today Italy is worryingly dependent on natural gas, leading to a reconsideration of coal, together with the use of alternative sources, as a more realistic solution. Discussion moved on to consider the transmission of energy and, in particular, the difficulties marking the development of the electricity grid, including the opposition of public opinion to building new infrastructure and the lack of comprehension of said infrastructure's actual "utility". Lastly the forum considered the market rules required to guarantee competition between the various players and, at the same time, safety of operation. In this context, the primary roles are the systems for supervising and controlling the grids, which must be developed in accordance with an impartial and supranational structure in order to guarantee the exchange of information that is essential for the safety of the country's electricity systems. The results achieved by the Forum represent an initial foothold in setting up a platform for debate between the parties working towards the growth of the "Italy-system".

MAG - Metering Automation Gateway
Project conducted in association a2a, the Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione del Politecnico di Milano (Faculty of Electronics and Information of the Politecnico di Milano) and E-utile. Soon we'll all have intelligent meters that will remotely manage our electricity supply and, in the future, our gas and heat as well. It's called Automatic Energy Metering Management and it's an integrated remote control system for Milan and the surrounding towns. Meter-reading, which is completely automated, is done remotely. Software with an amazingly good "nose" warns us of malfunctions, checks our consumption and watches out for spikes. Several different technologies are used: the current meters communicate over the electricity line itself, while the electricity meters use latest-generation wireless communications. The data collected by local concentrators travels over a GPRS channel to an IT centre that translates and routes the information to the commercial, marketing and web departments. The project is one of the most advanced internationally, due to its use of standard communications protocols and per la technology and wireless network architectures.