25.06.2020 | On 18th and 25th of June 2020, the Italian Demo partners held the first stakeholder-engagement virtual workshop with the title “Optimized grid management and flexibility market: the prosumer’s role”.
More than 30 participants from 20 organizations joined the first Platone Stakeholder-Engagement Workshop, held in Italy last June 18th and 25th as a two-session virtual event. The remote meeting was a great opportunity to introduce the project and its Italian Demo, which will be implemented in Rome. The two virtual events were attended by a variegated audience of Italian selected stakeholders, coming from sector companies and research organizations. By interactive discussions the safety and flexibility issues that will affect the electricity grid in the coming years as well as new roles in the system were debated.
The workshop was handled by Acea through Acea Energia (playing the role of the Aggregator within Platone) and areti (Italian Demo coordinator) in synergy with B.A.U.M. Consult and BIP. It was the first of a series of initiatives for effective information and active engagement of customers and (end-)users. The objective was to raise their awareness of Platone and Italian Demo’s aims as well as their (future) role in the energy system.
The Italian Demo has the objective to test on the field tools and methodologies for favoring the flexible management of electrical loads. Therewith the stability of the network and the continuity of operation will be improved with a view to the increase in loads expected by 2030, due to the transition to the electric vector and to electric mobility. Within this context, also taking into account the digitalization and technological transformation of the electricity sector, it is expected that the role of end-users will get more and more active and pivotal.
In addition to all the Italian Demo partners (Apio, Engineering and Siemens), the workshop was joined by external stakeholders coming from Local institutions (Rome Municipality), Research centers (ENEA and RSE), sector companies (Acea Produzione - which will take part in the Italian Demo pilot testing with the Cogeneration Plant located in the Tor Di Valle urban district), storage technology providers (Sonnen and Aton), organizations operating in the energy renewables sector (Cooperativa èNostra and Smart Energy Efficiency) Consultancy firms (BIP) and Energy Managers and Energy management experts from the Acea Group.
During the informational session held on June 18th, 2020, attendees were introduced to the solution promoted by the project, to the Italian pilot testing and its solution for enabling local flexibility measures.
During the interactive meeting held on June 25th 2020, participants took the chance to experience the exchange flows between all the actors involved in the Platone model according to the dynamics proposed by the Italian Demo. This happened thanks to a simulation-based learning session in a gamified environment and through the application of the role-play methodology. The virtual event ended with two thematic focus groups dedicated to "The transition towards greater energy awareness” and to the "Ways for remunerating flexibility”, during which all the participants shared their valuable feedback. The debate mainly focused on possible levers to stimulate end-users to adopt more responsible energy behaviors and to approach the flexibility issue.
The workshop helped to take an important step ahead in the progress of the project in view of the next launch of the trial, allowing to gather main stakeholders’ points of view. Additionally, the ground for starting discussion forums to collect field needs and define together an effective prosumers and consumers-involvement strategy was set.
The next workshop handled by Acea is scheduled for coming Fall 2020, with an open event addressed to an even wider target audience represented by consumers.
To get an comprehensive overview on this 1st workshop on stakeholder engagement for the Italian demo please consider also our factsheet (download factsheet).
