Smart Energy Regions: Italy

Energy system sustainability represents one of the major challenges that Europe, National Governments and Local Authorities are facing in order to achieve their economic, social and environmental objectives. The Energy and Climate European policy, the SET-Plan and other directives (e.g. Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of energy from renewable sources) have boosted large investments in renewable energy technologies. This is particularly true in Italy where economic incentives supported by national laws brought, in 2011, the setting up of about 9000 MW of new PV plants and 7000 MW of Wind plants. The increasing supply of intermittent sources in the electrical power system has important consequences on the system management. In particular, electrical systems must be enabled to manage and balance a discontinuous power production (such as Wind and PV) with fossil production and storages. In this framework micro-grids can play a key role in the transition towards smart and active energy systems, providing for a more efficient configuration through consumers and businesses engagement and allowing the valorisation of the endogenous resources. The paper presents the first results of an ongoing research concerning the introduction of micro-grids technologies in a regional framework (the Basilicata Region, Southern Italy). The achievable benefits in term of energy efficiency have been evaluated by an integrated modelling platform, the TIMES-Basilicata model, with the aim to provide policy-makers, planners and researchers for feasible solutions, replicable to other geographical areas interested by a noticeable increase of renewable energy sources.