Demo Site – Conversano, Italy
Bringing together four diverse industrial sites, the Italian demo’s energy community will use thermal storage as a key enabler for flexibility services to the grid
Information about the Demo Site.
- The Italian pilot is located in Apulia Region, in the south-east of Italy. The region has a Mediterranean climate.
The STUNNED Italian pilot will be developed in four different buildings: Chiarappa Factories, Norbalat factory, Coco Beach Club, and Rehamedica Rehabilitation Center. The thermal capacity present in the existing chillers and pools will be used as a storage of energy available for the flexibility service.
Role of your demo site in STUNNED
The Italian Demo has the aim to create a mixed industrial energy community which has the thermal energy storage, with existing facilities (cold storage, pools) as the key for providing a flexibility service to the grid as a capacity of balance of the grid.
Grid balancing will be done by shifting the load during the hours of excess of energy production by renewable energy sources (RES). The common characteristic among the different factories is the possibility to manage the energy demand using the thermal inertia as an intrinsic thermal storage system. The cold storage system offers significant thermal storage capacity within a safe temperature range. However, maintaining the required temperature for stored goods always takes priority over using the system for energy flexibility.
- Contact Person Demo Site
Vincenzo Loverre
Engreen
vincenzo.loverre@engreen.eu
Challenges
The Conversano Demo Site aims to address some of the main critical issues facing the Italian energy flexibility market, including regulatory, technical, and economic aspects.
- Regulations are still evolving: – A stable and comprehensive regulatory framework is lacking. Pilot projects are still experimental, with no long-term vision.
- Access complexity: – Complex technical and administrative procedures for market participation (especially for SMEs).
- Weak demand involvement: Demand response is underdeveloped. Energy culture is lacking, and Aggregators are still under-represented and have immature business models.
- Coordination between stakeholders: Lack of efficient tools for coordination between TSOs and DSOs, with overlapping roles and responsibilities.
Use cases
Currently the four demo sites operate independently. The energy generated is purchased by the GSE (Italy’s energy service manager). Any surplus energy is fed into the grid and compensated by the energy supplier, based on the difference between the energy sent to the grid and the energy consumed from it.
In the current scenario the buildings are being upgraded: new PV power, new loads (chillers, heating system for the pool) and establishment of the communication network between the building’s ancillary services and the Distribution System Operator (DSO).
Buildings in this demo site
- 001
Rehamedica rehabilitation center
- 002
Coco Beach Club restaurant and leisure center
- 003
Two industrial food and cold storage buildings: Chiarappa Factories and Norbalat Factory
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