The strategy that the European Commission outlined in the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) in light of the five domains outlined nell’Energy Union (i.e. security, solidarity and trust; a fully integrated internal energy market; energy efficiency; decarbonising the economy; research, innovation and competitiveness) must be supported by optimal planning, coordinated at European level, of the investments needed to adapt and improve the transmission grid to ensure a reliable supply in each European country and create an EU energy market. For this reason, the evolution and development of energy infrastructure is one of the priorities of the European energy agenda. At this stage, it is also important to take advantage of the various innovative technologies already available or under development to facilitate the grid integration of energy from non-programmable renewable sources (NPRS), to increase flexibility and to improve interconnections between countries. At the same time, it is equally important to promote the involvement of stakeholders in development processes in order to improve the acceptability of new infrastructure and gain public support. In the Energy Union Package, the European Commission called for rapid implementation of the necessary measures to achieve, in all Member States, the targetminimum interconnection targets by 2020 and 2030 (equal to 10% and 15% of installed generation capacity, respectively), which are the indispensable objectives for creating a common energy market in the European Union. At present, Italy does not yet meet these targets.

The activities of the present project fit into this framework. In continuity with the studies carried out in 2015 and 2016, the research activities addressed the technological and socio-economic aspects inherent to network development, proposing methods and tools that can be used by practitioners to assess the impact of new technological solutions on the interconnected network and to facilitate the authorization processes of new development projects, thanks to the effective and efficient involvement of stakeholdersin decision-making processes. Among the main tools developed are ACRE++, which simulates the optimal operation of a composite generation and transmission system over a variable time horizon, based on an Optimal Power Flow coupled active/reactive computational model and modeling of advanced network technologies to increase system flexibility and support NPRS integration, and participatory web-GISs designed to promote public involvement in authorization processes of grid expansion projects through different levels of participation: information, consultation, and active participation.