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Enel X confirms its leadership in the Italian market for demand response (through the UVAM project), the set of services aimed at stabilising and enhancing the flexibility of the power grid, guaranteeing its security and balancing. The Enel Group business line dedicated to innovative products and digital solutions was awarded 156.9 MW of capacity for 2019 as part of the new national dispatching project promoted by the grid operator Terna, dedicated to UVAMs (Unità Virtuali Abilitate Miste, Authorised Virtual Mixed Units). The tender for the first time extended the possibility of offering power dispatching services to include “mixed” generation, consumption and storage units (including e-mobility charging stations for the first time), whereas this solution was previously restricted to consumption units only.
“With this important step, we are continuing our growth strategy in the advanced energy solutions sector in Italy, further strengthening our leadership in the demand response market”, stated Francesco Venturini, Head of Enel X. “Our know-how in this sector enables us to offer innovative services to companies, giving them the opportunity to contribute to the energy market in a framework of responsible consumption and energy efficiency, ensuring ever greater sustainability for the system”.
More specifically, the annual auction for 2019 assigned a total of 349.9 MW, of which 332.8 were made available in the north/centre-north area and 17.1 MW in the centre/south, south and islands. Enel X was awarded the largest share, winning 45% of the total capacity at a price of around 30,000 euros/MW per year.
With its demand management solutions, Enel X is able to provide its customers balancing orders in real time to stabilise the network on the basis of availability to perform the service, when requested by Terna. Following this award, Enel X now manages demand response capacity of over 6 GW globally, with a presence in North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
Demand response programmes are intended to encourage end users to adjust their power consumption to facilitate the stabilisation of the grid when requested by the system. Active demand response ensures greater grid flexibility as well as more efficient use of the energy infrastructure, helping to contain electricity prices. These programmes pay the participants an annual fee in exchange for their availability to respond to possible grid emergencies, as well as an additional fee in the event of actual dispatching.
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