World Renewables and Smart Grid expert in Australia
Logica, a leading IT and business services provider, has brought their international Renewable Energy and Smart Grid expert to Australia to speak at the National Smart Grid Forum.
José Antunes, Logica’s International Utilities Competency Centre Director, will present a case study on the one of the world’s first major national roll outs of Smart Grid infrastructure, which incorporates successful use of renewable energies. He will present to delegates at 10.45am on Wednesday 24 March 2010, Hilton Hotel, Sydney.
Antunes is the Director for Smart Metering, Smart Grids, and the renewables business at the Logica International Utilities Competency Centre (IUCC) in Portugal. As part of his role, Antunes is the leading the technology program as part of an industry consortium responsible for building Portugal’s national Smart Grid.
The project, aptly titled the InovGrid, is led by state-controlled electricity distributor Energias de Portugal (EDP). The consortium also includes industry specialists from across R&D and innovation, industry solutions providers and Logica as the selected technology service provider. As the main energy distribution provider in Portugal, all of the country’s energy retailers will benefit from EDPs Smart Grid Infrastructure.
The InovGrid project will encompasses smart metering, distribution management and the integration of renewables into the grid as well as consumer micro-generation (solar and wind). The roll out will geographically include all of Portugal and parts of Spain. Logica will also roll out the renewable energy component as a solution to other countries where EDP has a presence, including France, Holland, Poland, Brazil and the US.
By having the Smart Grid network infrastructure in place, Logica and EDP will pioneer the advances in using renewable energy, through extensive use of wind.
“Integrating the use of renewable energies into its energy network will be one of the key drivers for EDP moving to Smart Infrastructure,” said Antunes. “Portugal has already met the EU’s imposed target to have 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 and is now looking to increase this figure to 31% over the next 10 years.”
“EDP is working with the Portuguese Government to engage consumers to take a proactive role in generating sustainable energies. A large amount of consumers will not only generating enough energy to cover their own supply, but also profit financially by feeding electricity back into the grid. They can receive five times more than what they pay for electricity, which means on average these “prosumers” will gain a return on investment in less than seven years on domestic wind and solar generation.”
“Iberia has a strong focus on using large scale renewable energy projects and will make use of wind farms, wave and solar, hydro, geo thermal and bio mass generation to meet its renewable energy targets. In Iberia, the majority of renewable energy is from 100 onshore and offshore wind farms and we have already recorded moments where 44% of the electricity supply for Spain was generated by wind.”
“The key to having a successful renewable energy strategy is to take a multi-faceted approach, that way no one resource is relied upon for supply. This is where Australia can really learn from international projects such as with EDP.”
Antunes has played a significant role in developing the infrastructure and services to enable Smart Grid management for EDP’s distribution network. In his presentation, Antunes will take delegates of the National Smart Grid Forum step-by-step through the roll out of Portugal’s Smart Grid, from vision to reality. Discussing all aspect of the project from design to execution, Antunes will show Australia how smart metering will eventually enable the move to Smart Grids, the importance of “end to end” business process design and how to integrate renewables into the Smart Grid.
Antunes has over 20 years experience in the IT industry, specializing in utilities. Prior to joining Logica in 2005, José has attained roles at various major energy utilities operators in Portugal and Europe including: ACE-SC, S.A, E.I.D and Sistel.
Smart Grid is an intelligent network infrastructure that can help energy companies more effectively and efficiently manage energy supply by integrating all parts of the ecosystem. A Smart Grid employs innovative products and services together with control, communication and self-repairing technologies to:
- Facilitate the connection and operation of producers with different dimensions and technologies
- Allow consumers to play an active role in the operation of the system
- Supply more information and more power of choice to the consumer for electricity supply
- Significantly reduce the environmental impact of the electricity production system
- Improve the reliability and the electricity supply security rates
For more information visit: Logica: Smart grids a gold mine of opportunities
About Logica:
Logica is a business and technology service company, employing 39,000 people. It provides business consulting, systems integration and outsourcing to clients around the world, including many of Europe's largest businesses. Logica creates value for clients by successfully integrating people, business and technology. It is committed to long term collaboration, applying insight to create innovative answers to clients’ business needs.
Logica is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and Euronext (Amsterdam) (LSE: LOG; Euronext: LOG).More information is available at www.logica.com.
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