Enel connects over 1 million prosumers to grid network
Italian multinational utility Enel has announced that over 1 million prosumers are now connected to its grid across the globe.
This means that over one million energy producers/consumers are contributing to the reliability and decarbonisation of the grid systems.
The 1 million milestone is a result of increased investments in digital technologies and decentralisation and in consumer appetite for green solutions and smart services.
The announcement comes as global rollout of distributed energy resources is increasing as governments and energy stakeholders seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions whilst ensuring energy affordability, sustainability, efficiency and reliability.
Digitalisation and automation is helping simplify the integration of the distributed resources as well their management hence consumers are inclined to adopt, according to a statement.
At the heart of successful prosumer models is an optimal data-centric business case, hence the need for innovative, secure and reliable data acquisition, management, storage and utilisation.
In addition, consumer awareness of the benefits of distributed resources is driving an increase in the adoption of the prosumer model.
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According to Enel, the achievement drives flexible efficient grid networks and a just and inclusive energy transition with consumers playing a key role in the energy revolution.
The milestone adds 57,000MW of distributed capacity onto the utility’s grid networks across the globe, according to the statement.
The majority of the 1 million prosumers are in Italy: 900,000 adding more than 31,000MW of capacity to the Italian grid. Brazil follows with 62,000 prosumers that are producing a total of 700MW, followed by Spain, which has 37,000 prosumers that are generating more than 21,000MW.
The other countries that are leading in terms of the number of prosumers connected by Enel include Romania, Chile, Colombia and Argentina.
Technologies deployed by the prosumers include energy storage, smart thermostats, photovoltaic panels, microgeneration plants, small wind turbines and electric vehicles with related charging and vehicle to grid solutions.
In addition to ensuring grid reliability, the resources are enabling the development of smart city services, states Enel.
