Hitachi, NEDO and ELES have finished with implementation of equipment and solutions in the first phase of the NEDO project
NEDO project is international project in the field of smart grids and smart communities in cooperation between New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), its entrusted party Hitachi and Slovenian transmission system operator ELES. Since numerous other stakeholders are involved on Slovenian side and the project is running on several locations, it can be justifiably called a national project, which makes it unique in Europe. Project is connecting transmission and distribution companies, local communities, consumers, solution providers and research organizations with the goal of implementing advanced solutions, which will bring benefits to consumers and network operators. Solution providers will gain an important reference. NEDO is financing advanced equipment and systems from Japanese and Slovenian providers while ELES finances development of advanced functionalities. Using existing infrastructure this will result in advanced smart grids infrastructure.
Contents of the project are following previously conducted Slovenian and Japanese documents and include advanced network operation systems, demand side management and energy management systems.
First phase of the project started in November 2016. Since project start advanced equipment and solutions were implemented on existing infrastructure of Elektro Celje, Elektro Maribor and ELES. This equipment will enable advanced functionalities and better utilization of existing infrastructure. Integrated cloud based distribution management system (DMS) for small and medium-scale electricity distribution companies from Hitachi represents a new approach in solution implementation. 145 devices for network monitoring and control were installed in the network among which first on-line tap changer transformers from Slovenian producer, company Kolektor Etra. All devices are connected with control centres, an effort done by Stelkom, ELES daughter company.
Japanese and Slovenian experts are involved in development of advanced functionalities as coordinated voltage control, conservation voltage reserve, fault location, localization and service restoration, closed loop operation and short term demand forecast. These will enable higher reliability of supply for network users and enable connection of a higher share of dispersed generation in the existing network.
830 households are included in the project in broader Ptuj area. Together with Elektro Maribor response of consumers on dynamic tariffs and signals from transmission system operator is tested. By this, consumers are becoming active participants in the power system. Demonstration in this part of the project is already running and first results are positive as consumers on average reduce their consumption in selected hours by 30 %. In return, they see savings on their energy bills.
First phase of the project will finish at the end of next year. Start of second phase of the project, which will focus on smart communities, is planned for the end of this year. Active communities together with advanced solutions such as battery storage and energy management systems will bring benefits to consumers, communities and system operators. Second phase is planned in areas of Idrija and Ljubljana.