InSite-eng
Identification Code: CSEAB_00320
INtelligent energy management of Smartgrids based on IoT and edge/cloud Technologies
Objective: to optimise the control and management of smart electricity grids, referred to as Smart Grids, operating along the electricity supply chain.
The main focus is on Smart Grids, one of the trendiest applications in the energy sector, a sector that is nowadays projected towards an ecological transition due to the increasing use of energy sources produced from renewable resources. Smart Grid refers to a conceptual model that aims at intelligent energy management through the use of advanced hardware and software technologies.
To date, Smart Grids are controlled by SCADA systems, i.e. dedicated servers for supervision and data acquisition used in the distribution phase. However, such systems make Smart Grid operation inefficient for several reasons.
1) Wired control logics (fixed hardware or software configurations that cannot be easily adapted or modified in real time) and manual calibrations (alarm thresholds, control limits and all instructions given by hand by an operator) that can hardly respond to variations in the energy resources present in a Smart Grid. In particular from renewable sources, characterised by unpredictable behaviour especially in the presence of atmospheric variations.
2) Low resilience on all situations involving disruptions to the power grid such as faults or blackouts.
3) Inadequate and poorly protected in terms of CyberSecurity.
Therefore, the demand emerges for a new level of automation integrating Industry 4.0 technologies capable of responding dynamically and efficiently to the variations occurring within the Smart Grid. The aim of the project is to propose an Energy Management System (EMS) capable of overcoming the limitations of traditional SCADA systems through the support of an innovative system based on Edge-Cloud Computing technologies and the use of Artificial Intelligence algorithms and modelling techniques for stability analysis of a Smart Grid.
The benefits of the InSite project are targeted
1) towards users, allowing grid operators to be able to offer smart pricing services, thus reducing costs
2) towards the grid, through increased resilience and security
3) towards the environment, by optimising and incentivising the use of renewable sources
Exprivia, project leader, takes on the role of project co-ordinator and will focus on the modelling and integration of the InSite system, through the following steps
1) definition of the functional and architectural specifications of the InSite integrated system
2) design and development of the Cloud infrastructure and adoption of integrated CyberSecurity techniques on the entire InSite system process.
3) design and development of the InSite platform for operator decision support
4) dissemination and communication of the InSite project by means of publications in international trade journals and by means of presentations at national or international conferences
InSite has been approved and admitted for funding by the Decree of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, 20 September 2021, published in G.U.R.I. no. 234 of 30 September 2021, foreseen in the 2019-2021 Three-Year Plan of National Electricity System Research
Partner
EXPRIVIA S.P.A
Idea75 S.r.l.
PoliBA DEI (Department of Electrical and Information Engineering)
