Enel: the "Smart Energy Partner" of Expo 2015

Enel has won two contracts to create a smart grid and install a highly-innovative street lighting system for the next Universal Exposition, and also become its industrial partner

Enel will be at Expo 2015 and will install some of the latest state-of-the-art technologies in order to create a smart grid and a highly-innovative LED street lighting system.

Enel Distribuzione - a world leader in the industry thanks to the installation of 33 million smart meters - has won the contract for bringing smart grids to the heart of Expo 2015.

Making a grid “smart” means ensuring it can receive the energy generated by countless micro-plants powered by renewable sources which, given their intermittent and somewhat unpredictable nature, need to be managed to maintain the balance between power supply and demand. Smart grids can also advise their users about what kind, how much and how they are consuming to help them choose the most convenient solutions, encourage the development of electric mobility and high-efficiency public lighting systems. All this requires the very latest technologies, including innovative grid management and monitoring systems, and even high-tech energy storage systems.

So visitors to Expo 2015 will be able to see for themselves how energy delivered via the electricity grid and controlled by an integrated computerised system has now been transformed from a mere commodity into a value-added service. They will be able to experience in real time how all the Expo’s energy sources are integrated and work in synergy and how the generation mix works to power the exhibition as well as monitor consumption.

It will also be possible to see the control centre for a smart city in action with expert technicians interacting with the equipment. The outside of the control centre will feature state-of-the-art architecture that communicates through monitors displaying data and information, and all the latest generation interactive monitoring technologies will be on display inside the control centre.

The showroom set up by Enel will be linked to three control stations in different parts of the Expo area and to an e-mobility control station which make up the “brain” of the system. Here visitors will learn about how energy flows move around the Expo 2015 smart grid. They start with the energy generated from renewable sources that enters the grid management systems to be distributed to public lighting and energy storage systems, as well as electric vehicle recharge points.

The grid’s “nervous system” will consist of seven master booths and fourteen secondary booths. These will all have the same architectural style as the control centre, which represents the grid architecture, and LED monitors will enable these booths to “speak” to the public and provide information about the different roles and functions of parts of the system along with other data.

Electric mobility, one the pivotal features of smart grids, is an absolute must for Expo 2015 so Enel will install dozens of recharge points, which are all perfectly integrated with the smart grid, for electric vehicles that can be used by both exhibitors and visitors.

Enel will also help to light the exhibition area with a huge network of public lighting based on LED technology to ensure that Expo 2015 is ecologically sustainable with a low environmental impact.

Enel will not be doing all this alone as it will receive the support of a number of national partners, in particular Siemens, Enel’s strategic partner for the smart grid technology for Expo Milano 2015.

“Being partners with Expo 2015 is a source of great pride for Enel, and reaffirms the major role played by our company to encourage the growth and development of our nation,” emphasised Paolo Andrea Colombo, the Enel Group Chairman. “A role that Enel has played throughout its long history and with which we are celebrating our fiftieth anniversary this year. This prompts us to look back with pride at our past achievements, and spurs us on to think even more deeply about the future of energy and inspires us to take a long-term view and provide effective responses to the challenges of competitiveness, environmental sustainability and technological development. The Universal Exposition is the perfect place for our vision of the future to become a reality. This is why Enel welcomes this partnership with Expo 2015 as it gives us the opportunity to tell all the millions of visitors to the exhibition about the new “electric era” that we want to offer the planet and all its inhabitants thanks to our finest technologies”.

“We are delighted to have Enel as our Smart Energy Partner for Expo Milano 2015,” said Giuseppe Sala, the Chief Executive Officer of Expo 2015 SpA, “Having the support and collaboration of Italy’s largest electricity company makes us very proud. With Enel we now have four of the world’s leading companies as our partners. This means that our plan to create a smart city that is both high-tech and eco-friendly is not only up and running but is also seen by the business world as a great opportunity. Thanks to the smart grid and public lighting system that will be developed by Enel, the Milan Universal Exposition will prove that it is the best place for trialling new low-environmental-impact lighting systems,” continued Giuseppe Sala. “This is perfectly in line with one of the challenges launched by the Expo Milano 2015 theme. ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’ is not only an invitation to achieve a more equal distribution of food resources in the world, it also provides an incentive to promote more sustainable food, environmental and urban planning development models that aim to ensure a better quality of life and greater wellbeing for all".