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centres and European companies, mostly distributors and sales company of elec-
trical energy as well as producers of domestic appliances and electric components.
The research project has developed solutions to let small and medium con-
sumers to actively take part to the energy market, offering modulation services for
their consumptions and selling the energy produced (pro-sumers).
The ADDRESS project aims to study the active participation of consumers in
the new scenario and intelligent networks. This theme is gaining more and more
interest and, in particular, in the last year, saw the birth of new initiatives. The
issue faced by ADDRESS are synergistic with the broader theme of intelligent
networks (Smart Grids).
There are several dimensions addressed in the project:
• operation of the network in the new scenario, with the involvement of con-
sumers, the aggregator and distribution companies;
• socio-economic aspects in order to understand the needs of consumers and look
for the most appropriate solutions;
• telecommunications to study and define an architecture of communication that
makes it possible the real-time interaction between customers and other market
players;
• measurement and management of smart appliances, storage and generation for
domestic purposes;
In 2011, the first tests were performed in the laboratory prototypes, followed by
the real demonstrations that have been conducted with the involvement of con-
sumers in some European countries (Spain, Italy and France).
ADDRESS deals with residential or small commercial exercises, consumers
connected to the low voltage network. The project concerns the habits of European
citizens and has the objective of establishing the application and active partici-
pation in the system by studying how they can change the energy consumption and
user flexibility.
The consumption of this type of customers can be made more flexible from the
point of view of the time, of the amount (consuming less or at different times)
controlling and managing the domestic appliances (for example, the washing
machine, dishwasher, air conditioning, the electric heating).
This project team actually shows the composition of the electricity market in
Europe dominated by the large electricity distribution companies; the idea con-
veyed through the project is that the service deployed by the new actor, the
aggregator, is still a distributor owned function. The aggregator indeed draws up
cheap packages and offers to consumers, playing an intermediation role, between
the consumers and the distributors. The aggregator, in order to predict the power
consumption and the flexibility of its customer portfolio must classify into cate-
gories the consumers. This means knowing how to divide into groups based on
consumption behaviours and flexibility in which they operate.
In this way the aggregator is able to obtain clusters of customers.
The process described is in most parts automated and the core is the Energy
Box, a smart domestic device that receives various inputs. The latter are weather
forecasts, consumption data, interface counters and signals of the aggregator.
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