[Carlo Gambardella]: «There are currently around one million, four hundred thousand photovoltaic plants installed across Italy. This is a significant and constantly evolving number that is set to grow further in the coming years: partly because public awareness of environmental topics is increasing, but also due to economic factors that are pushing more and more people to turn to renewables to bring down their energy costs. The transition towards a system of “diffused production” from green sources is rapidly modifying the market with the affirmation of a “prosumer” model, gradually replacing the traditional “consumer”, and with the consequent exponential growth of the active resources connected to the grid. By making the energy produced by their solar panels available to the grid, prosumer citizens can become active players in the electricity sector. But when do you actually become a “prosumer”? In this podcast we will demystify the process for connecting a domestic photovoltaic plant to the national electricity grid».
«We are Carlo Gambardella and [Guendalina Demontis] Guendalina Demontis and we work together on the GAUDI platform, the Single Data Management System for Power Generation Plants operated by Terna. Today we're going to talk you through the steps to connect your own photovoltaic plant to the national grid».
[Jingle ith spreaker] Sala Dati, the monthly podcast by Terna that explores the world of electricity consumption in Italy
[Demontis]: «The first step to installing a small photovoltaic plant and connecting it to the grid is to contact your current distributor, who will be named on your utility bill, identifying the POD (point of delivery) code associated with your meter. The POD starts with the letters IT followed by a sequence of a maximum of 12 numbers and letters which identifies the distributor. Each distributor follows a different procedure for connection requests: some of them use a dedicated portal, for example, or a certified email address. But generally, for a domestic photovoltaic plant with an output below 200 kW, there are two possible routes: the simplified procedure or the standard procedure. Carlo, do you want to explain the difference?».
[Gambardella]: «Sure. The simplified procedure has been designed by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security to help citizens through the so-called Single Simplified Model, which replaces and transposes all of the obligations for the connection of plants to municipalities, regions, grid operators, GAUDI and the GSE. For these plants, data is logged onto the GAUDI platform by the distributor and not by individual producers. In the standard procedure, however, the producer can proceed independently with the distributor, following the various phases of the connection process directly.
Alternatively they can use an installation firm which will take care of the bureaucratic and technical stages. This procedure is also open to power plants over 200 kW. In this case, the installer is responsible for fulfilling the GAUDI obligations. So, let’s look at what happens next to monitor the plant and find out when it has been activated».
[Demontis]:
«Once the distributor's connection estimate has been approved and the plant has been authorised, its entire life cycle will be monitored on the GAUDI platform, a single national portal that logs all production unit data for transmission to the market systems. The plant owner can access the platform operated by Terna using their login details to check its status in the market qualification process. In fact, the GAUDI platform features a specific dashboard that marks the various stages of the process, from the “registered” status with a summary of the power data through to plant activation, preceded by an inspection conducted by engineers to connect the unit to the grid. If you want to modify the plant, you’ll need to get back in touch with your distributor to submit a connection change request, to optimise your plant or add a storage system, for example. Once the procedure is complete, to all intents and purposes you are now an electricity producer!».
[Gambardella]:
«Exactly, a prosumer. By requesting and activating the connection you are no longer a mere consumer but also a producer able to provide renewable energy to the grid. According to our statistics, over 340,000 plants have been installed using the simplified procedure since 2015, some 73,000 of which were installed in 2022 - more than a 200% increase on 2021 with a figure that more than doubled! Just think that today, Italy's installed photovoltaic capacity is around 26.5 GW and thanks to GAUDI we are able to manage all of these requests! In the energy transition the platform represents a fundamentally important tool for connecting new renewable plants, benefiting the entire country and contributing to the achievement of our decarbonisation goals».
[Demontis] «We’ve been Guendalina Demontis and [Gambardella] Carlo Gambardella and you’ve been listening to the seventh
episode of Sala Dati, the podcast about electricity consumption in Italy explained by Terna professionals».
