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Enel launches its “Net Zero” strategy for grids


Rome – WEBWIRE
  • Enel’s Net Zero strategy for its grids business to focus on lowering the CO2 footprint from operations, reducing network losses and adopting circular and low emissions materials and components
  • The Net Zero Grid Day event saw the announcement of the “Open Power Grids” association aimed at sharing Enel’s standards for distribution network components with stakeholders in an open-source environment to accelerate the adoption of new safe, sustainable and efficient technical solutions
  • Within this framework, Enel also unveiled the growth strategy in the United States for Gridspertise, its company dedicated to accelerating the digital transformation of power grids


Enel and stakeholders of the power distribution ecosystem gathered today in Rome for the Net Zero Grid Day, in which Enel presented its Net Zero strategy for its grids business, focusing on zeroing the inherent emissions of the infrastructure itself. The company also revealed details on how it intends to collaborate with the wider industry to promote sharing and advancement of standards for grid components that meet efficiency, safety, quality, and sustainability criteria, in compliance with the net zero requirements.

Towards this aim, the event saw the launch of the “Open Power Grids” association, bringing together network operators, manufacturers, research institutes and other stakeholders to share and develop standards and technologies for critical grid components that comply with the net zero requirements. Against this backdrop, Enel’s company Gridspertise, which provides distribution system operators (DSOs) and utilities cutting-edge solutions for the digitalization of electricity distribution networks, has outlined the next step of its growth strategy focused on supporting infrastructure modernization efforts in the United States.

Our Net Zero ambition for grids aims to speed up the adoption of the principles set out by the Paris Agreement across the industry in order to support the energy transition and a meaningful transformation of power distribution infrastructures. This represents the first move by a global power grid player to address the upstream and downstream emissions of the infrastructure in an open way, which is necessary if we are to reach net zero goal throughout the industry,” said Antonio Cammisecra, Head of Enel’s Global Infrastructure and Networks. “We have done a lot to identify the best technical solutions for our grids but to step forward quickly we need to share this challenge with other actors in an open and collaborative environment towards Net Zero Grids.

Robert Denda, Gridspertise CEO commented, “We are very happy to unveil the next step of our growth strategy with the entry into the large US market with digital solutions to increase resiliency and reliability of power distribution grids. We are working to establish partnerships with local utilities to support grid modernization and digitalization plans in an open way, also through collaborative testing of our innovative QEd - Quantum Edge Device – for digital secondary substations. This digital solution can be retrofitted to legacy infrastructure, allowing for example the integration of electric mobility and decentralized renewables without costly grid rebuildsGridspertise will be present at the Distributech event taking place later this month in Dallas where it will unveil further details.”

The Net Zero Grid Day event convened by Enel follows the launch of Grid Futurability within the framework of Milan’s pre-COP 26 activities where the Group presented its customer centric and innovative transformation of its own power grids into participatory, resilient and sustainable platforms, as part of its 70 billion euros investment plan 2021-2030 in power networks.

Enel shared concrete actions to tackle direct emissions by adopting more sustainable operations through digitalization, remote operations, fleet electrification, biodiversity protection measures, and by reducing the technical losses of the grids. The company is also engaging suppliers, equipment manufacturers and construction firms from its supply chain in order to tackle indirect emissions and deploy more sustainable grid processes and components such as SF6-free switchgears, vegetal oils for transformers and green cables or standards for sustainable construction sites. The company also noted how some of the actions put in place to embrace circular economy principles across its business, such as using recycled materials for new assets like circular meters, poles or street cabinets or managing the end-of-life for components, can yield important environmental and economic benefits.

Stakeholders attending the event included, among others, leading equipment manufacturers, testing and certification firms, engineering consultancies, research and design institutes as well as utilities. They shared strategies and actions already in place to support the delivery of sustainable grids as a critical part in the transition to a low carbon world and called for increased collaboration.

Through the “Open Power Grids” association, Enel has began sharing its technical specifications for main components and devices, including the Liberty standard primary substation’s Building Information Modeling (BIM) design, which involves the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics. This is the first building block to promote convergence and co-engineeringtowards standards of modularity, maximizing shared value creation through sustainability and safety, as well as cost efficiency and technical performance. Towards this aim, through Enel’s online platform Open Innovability, the Group is also promoting a global contest for the design and architecture of sustainable substations in order to improve the integration of these assets within urban, suburban or rural landscapes.

Members of the “Open Power Grids” association can benefit from the global standards already available on the platform that Enel uses for its own global tenders and propose the introduction of new standards or the modification of existing ones. Starting today, expressions of interest by potential members can be submitted directly to openpowergrids@enel.com.

Enel, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global power and renewables markets.

At global level, it is the largest renewable private player, the foremost network operator by number of end users and the biggest retail operator by customer base. The Group is the worldwide demand response leader and the largest European utility by ordinary EBITDA [1].

Enel is present in 30 countries worldwide, producing energy with over 90 GW of total capacity.

Enel distributes electricity through a network of over 2.2 million kilometers to more than 75 million end users. The Group brings energy to around 70 million homes and businesses. Enel’s renewables arm Enel Green Power has a total capacity of more than 54 GW and a generation mix that includes wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power, as well as energy storage facilities, installed in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Enel X Global Retail, Enel’s global advanced energy services business line, has a total capacity of around 6.6 GW of demand response managed globally and has installed 59 MW of behind-the-meter storage capacity. In addition, Enel X Way is the Group’s new global business line fully dedicated to electric mobility, managing nearly 350,000 public and private EV charging points worldwide, both directly and through interoperability agreements.

 

[1] Enel’s leadership in the different categories is defined by comparison with competitors’ FY 2020 data. Publicly owned operators are not included.


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