MUSE GRIDS Energy Management and technological flexibility assets will be demonstrated in two complementary and advanced demosites. The complementarity is in the size, location, and typology. Besides, the OSIMO case is coordinated by an energy utility; the OUD-HEVERLEE case by market actors with the commitment of the DSO.
CITY OF OSIMO
The demosite is the whole town of Osimo (~35,000 inhabitants), in Italy. This is a historical city (low efficient buildings) on the top of a hill in the Marche Region. Indeed, since it has just one point of connection with the national grid/TSO, it configures itself as a municipal microgrid. Most of the energy networks are managed by the local utility ASTEA or by its subsidiary companies (e.g. DEA, the local DSO). Osimo’s microgrid is characterized by several distributed generation technologies:
- A 1.2 MWe CHP gas engine serving a DH network of roughly 1250 users. It will be coupled from the 2018/2019 heating season with a high temperature Heat Pump to optimize the management of the CHP, making it more flexible and adaptable to Osimo’s microgrid electric load.
- More than 30 MWp of PV 400 kW of mini-hydro.
- A 200 kW plant fed by liquid biomass.
- Two biogas plant for a total power production of 2 MW.
In Osimo, Astea is leading an early-stage EV programme (2 vehicles in the ASTEA maintenance fleet). Besides, programmes focused on the digitalization of the local grid are underway – the focus is on consumption monitoring and interaction with users via dedicated apps. Due to the high penetration of renewable energy generation (mostly PV), the municipal microgrid witnesses a massive variance in the net-load exchange with national grid throughout the year. In fact, it swings from 30 MW of peak absorption, when the renewable generation is not sufficient to cover for the local energy demand, down to 20 MW of peak injection towards the national grid, when the local generation exceeds the total loads (mainly during summer weekends). Furthermore, DHN operates also during the summer to provide DHW to its users. The city of OSIMO is currently part of the Covenant of Mayors and ASTEA is considered a “local excellence company” that provides multi-services to the city: it will be easy to obtain feedback from the local community via interviews, workshops, and so on.