Countries across the world embracing Smart Grid (Europe) … Part 2 .

In Part -2 and 3, we have covered countries of Europe in this continuous series of smart grid profiling of countries across the world.

Europe : European countries are actively collaborating for smart grid through Smart Grid European Technology Platform (ETP), which was set up in 2005 to foster and support smart grid deployment in Europe. ETP is playing an important intermediary role in developing Smart Grid infrastructure in Europe through joint working groups, knowledge and expertise exchange, sharing best practices , developing common standards, and collaborative projects. Its smart grid vision comprises of four key elements viz. flexible, accessible, reliable, and economical. European union plans to equip every European home with smart meters by 2022. Though European countries have joint Smart Grid collaboration through ETP, they also have their own independent Smart Grid plans.

Italy : Italy can be considered the pioneer of the Smart Grid technology, In 2001, when the smart grid was relatively unknown lexicon, Italian utility Enel became the first utility in the world to roll out smart meters to its 40 million customers. By 2006, Enel had spent $3 billion for smart grid infrastructure and was reaping $750 million in annual savings. Today 85 % of Italian home are covered with smart meters. By 2011, the government plans to cover 95% of the consumers with smart grid infrastructure and if it goes as planned, Italy could well be the second Smart Grid country after Malta.

Germany : The largest economy of Europe is one of the early adopters of Green energy and its related technologies. The government of Germany is pursuing Smart Grid under the E-Energy – “The Internet of Energy” initiative through which it plans to connect giant solar plants located in desert, gigantic offshore and onshore wind farms, and mini power plants located on house rooftop and in the basement of buildings. Under this initiative, it has selected 6 project that will develop Smart Grid pilots in 6 different region. The six selected projects are being funded by Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMUi) and Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) with €40 million and €20 million euro respectively, another €80 million will be generated by the 6 selected companies.

E- Energy Concept Germany

The selected companies are
1) eTelligence for model region of Cuxhave coordinated by EWE AG
2) E-DeMa for model region of Rhein-Ruhr coordinated by RWE Energy AG
3)MEREGIO for model region of Baden-Württemberg coordinated by EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG
4) Model Ciy of Mannheim for model region of Rhein-Neckar coordinated by MVV Energie AG
5) RegModHarz for regenerative model region of Harz coordinated by RegenerativKraftwerk Harz GmbH & Co KG
6) Smart Watts for model region of Aachen coordination by utilicount GmbH & Co. KG

Germany has mandated that all the building in the country should be equipped with Smart Meter starting with 2010 and will roll-out Demand Response program or Time of Use (TOU) features from 2011. Apart from the government push, companies like Siemens AG, ABB, Cisco, and others are collaborating with utilities like Yello Strom for Smart Grid projects, overall, Germany alone represents €40 Billion Smart Grid investment opportunity by 2020.

United Kingdom : The Prime Minister of UK, David Cameroon laid out strong vision for Smart Grid in UK in 2009. His government plans to invest £1bn in Smart Grid which includes putting Smart Meter in every UK home. Prime Minister Cameroon visualizes Smart Grid as the internet of the electricity that may help transform UK into low carbon economy. In total, £10 billion will be injected in the UK economy between 2010 and 2020 on a full smart meter roll-out, smart grid trials, and deployment under the Low Carbon Networks Fund and electric vehicle infrastructure. The Electricity Network Strategy Group (ENSG), which is jointly chaired by The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), is the primary nodal agency working for Smart Grid action plan and development.

UK Smart Grid Plan Layout

According to the ENSG, carbon reduction, energy security, and economic competitiveness & affordability are the three broad objectives of UK Smart Grid. Between 2010 and 2012, the UK will develop detailed prospectus and design through coordination between government, private companies, and other stakeholders. It will start full mass scale smart meter roll out from mid 2012 that it plans to complete by 2020.