Endesa is heading and coordinating the INTEGRIS, INTelligent Electrical GRId Sensor communications project to design and develop a robust and flexible telecommunications infrastructure capable of obtaining and channelling, efficiently and in real time, all the information required by the new smart power distribution networks.

This real time information will optimise supply and demand management, minimise losses, improve asset management and streamline the operation of the network in general, offering the customer increased security of supply and the possibility of actively managing demand.

A key aspect of the project is to develop infrastructure with low roll-out costs. To this end Powerline technology will be employed, which uses the existing electric cable for transmission with telecommunications technology typically found in wireless sensor networks, which are cable-free and extremely energy efficient.

The project will analyse distributed energy system technologies, which distribute the process capacity of applications among all the network’s equipment, minimising the information sent to central systems. It will also study the viability of using cognitive systems, which permit the construction of systems capable of learning from their environments, thereby achieving increased independence, reliability and autonomy of operation.

The results of the project should have a direct impact on energy efficiency and enhance the overall quality of electricity supply, providing a simple, low-cost communications system.

The project will last 30 months and has a budget of around Euro 5 million. The European Commission will subsidise over 60% of this amount. It is part of the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission and is one of the six projects approved as part of the 2009 “Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Energy” in the Technologies for Energy Efficiency/Novel ICT solutions for Smart Electricity Distribution Networks section.

The project will be carried out by an interdisciplinary consortium composed of electricity and telecoms sector companies and two universities, marrying theoretical know-how with experience in both sectors. As well as ENDESA, the consortium also includes Indra, Diseño de Sistemas en Silicio, Fundació Universitat i Tecnologia (Funitec/La Salle), Schneider Electric, Current Technologies International, ILight, A2A Reti Elettriche and Tampere University of Technology.