#IoT4TheGrid: protecting the territory through the grid

Veneto, where security, the environment and the internet meet. The agreement signed on 18 February by Terna’s CEO, Luigi Ferraris and the governor of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, is a significant one. It consists of a memorandum of understanding that makes technology available to the administration and citizens of Veneto which has been developed by the company in recent years to monitor and prevent the events that occur in the area, contributing to its economic, social and environmental sustainability.

Grid innovation and digitalisation are two of the cornerstones of Terna's industrial plan and, with this memorandum, the Veneto region will become one of the first areas to test the use of an integrated system of IoT sensors (named after the technology involved) installed on the grid to enable real-time data collection and analysis for the safety and management of the regional electricity system. But that's not all. It may also potentially make it possible to monitor the territory to prevent or reduce the environmental impact of adverse weather conditions such as the forceful winds which decimated entire provinces of Veneto in 2018.

“The agreement signed today with the Veneto Region represents a further opportunity to increase the security and sustainability of the regional electricity grid”, said Terna Chief Executive Officer Luigi Ferraris. “The current energy transition imposes new challenges and makes grid management increasingly complex. Making these innovative systems available to the institutions that work to protect the region means creating a new technological awareness, with enormous advantages for the electricity system and local communities”.

In technical terms, the technology involves a digitising apparatus connected to various sensor devices, such as those connected to “IoT boxes”, collection infrastructure from which data then converge into monitoring dashboards. There are currently 500 monitoring and data collection devices installed by Terna on its regional infrastructure, distributed across 26 lines and using the special features of fibre optic grids and the Internet of Things for a dual purpose. This involves, on the one hand, collecting and processing data in order to make maintenance more efficient, manage flows, limit disruptions and increase network security and, on the other hand, monitoring areas prone to landslides and promptly detecting adverse weather events which could cause damage to the area.

Therefore, it is all the more crucial that these IoT sensors, in which Terna has already invested € 3 million across Italy, are currently concentrated mainly in Belluno, Verona and Vicenza, the cities most affected by what has been considered one of the most serious natural disasters recorded in Italy to date, Storm Vaia, which, in October 2018, caused three casualties and dozens of injuries. The incessant rains and extreme winds—which the mountaineer Reinhold Messner compared to those recorded on Mount Everest—destroyed 8.6 million cubic metres of trees, causing € 1.7 billion in damage to the Veneto region.

Terna’s sensors will allow these areas to be monitored in real time, while the information collected by the company that manages Italy’s national electricity grid will be shared with the Italian Civil Protection department, research institutes and local protection and control bodies in order to facilitate fast response to and management of events. Terna and Veneto are also committed to collaborating on the development of further strategies aimed at creating “use cases” of collective interest.

“Strengthening environmental monitoring systems to protect safety has always been our priority, and even more so after Vaia”, stated Luca Zaia, President of the Veneto Region. “In this case, thanks to the agreement with Terna, data updated and integrated in real time will be collected and made available to regional departments, first and foremost, the Civil Protection Department, which will be indispensable for planning interventions, especially in the case of particularly high-impact emergencies".

The agreement with the Veneto Region, which was preceded with a memorandum of understanding signed last month, is part of the Innovation and Digitalisation Plan, which Terna plans to invest over € 700 million in over five years to develop initiatives aiming to promote a smarter, more innovative and flexible approach to managing the electricity system. Among the projects promoted are the implementation of new digital systems for grid management and infrastructure diagnostics, using drones, robots and satellites to remotely monitor power lines and substations, and the processing of big data. In 2019, within the same context, three Innovation Hubs were also created in Turin, Naples and Milan, laboratories where collaboration with institutions, universities and companies leads to the creation of new business projects able to support the technological development of the company and, therefore, of Italy as a whole.