results Giuseppe Mauri*, Diana Moneta*, Silva De Assis Carniero Juliano*, Salvatore Pugliese**, Stefano Frati** CIGRE’ Session 43 Parigi, 22-24 Agosto 2010 *RSE SPA **A2A S.p.A During the last decade, the penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) in the electric network has constantly increased. Nevertheless, power utilities still rely on the classical “fit&forget” approach to simply connect DER to distribution grid without actually integrating such resources. Clearly, this policy cannot exploit the full DER potential and it frequently leads to inefficient operation and costly distribution infrastructure. According to the SmartGrids concepts, the operation of future electric systems will be supported by bulk power plants as well as distributed generators. These distributed generators will need to be aggregated to form microgrids or ‘virtual’ power plants to facilitate the integration both in the physical system and in the market. Customers will be part of the “network loop”, both producer and consumer of electricity (“prosumer”). In order to make the best out of SmartGrids deployment, the prices of resources (gas, heat, electric power) need to be carefully managed and promptly made available to prosumers. In addition, the diffusion of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) will offer further opportunities to the grid, but it requires complex control strategies for both user premises and aggregators that manage millions of PEV to offer ancillary services to the electric network. In such a scenario, smart metering will have to accomplish the important role of providing prosumers not only with appropriate fiscal reading of relevant parameters, but also with the possibility to exchange market and network signals. It may also be necessary to provide nomadic metering for plug-in electric vehicles. A dedicated test facility has been set up to experiment Demand Side Integration using network and price signals, but also to study the interaction between prosumers and electric grids. Available commercial devices have been used to develop the communication infrastructure, which allows an effective energy management of customer premises and supports the interaction between active customers and the network. Active customers can take advantage of Local Energy Management (LEM) applications, which are able to receive signals sent by energy retailers and DSOs, as well as manage generators/loads according to customer’s preferences and power exchange plans with the network.