Smart Buildings: energy flexibility in the ENEA Smart Building prototype

Within the "Electric System Research Program," funded by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, ENEA has launched the "Smart Buildings" initiative. This project aims to explore the intersection between emerging technologies and the management of energy efficiency in buildings, establishing a reference pilot plant at the ENEA Casaccia Research Center in Rome. The goal is to highlight the significant role technology can play in making buildings smart, thereby optimizing energy consumption. Through collaboration with Apio, the "Smart Buildings" project has outlined a progressive path for the implementation of cutting-edge technologies and specialized skills in the field of the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced communication protocols, and strategic management of energy efficiency. A significant outcome has been the creation of an innovative technological platform, designed to minimize energy consumption through customized energy use based on the real needs of occupants and the effective integration of renewable energy sources. The project then evolved towards integrating network flexibility mechanisms, allowing the building to dynamically adapt its energy needs. This adaptability is based on the availability of electricity generated on-site through photovoltaic installations, demands and conditions of the electrical grid (such as demand peaks or congestion), and energy prices communicated by the energy market in advance (typically with one day's notice). This strategy allows for the optimization of the building's energy efficiency while ensuring its proactive integration with the dynamics of the overall electrical system, promoting demand management and network balance through the use of distributed and renewable energy resources. A building that, in all its offices, is prepared to dynamically adapt based on the availability of electricity produced by the photovoltaic system, requests from the electrical grid, the price curve, and user behavior. The Use of IoT and Cloud Devices Apio's strategic intervention catalyzed the adoption of cutting-edge solutions in the IoT (Internet of Things) field, leading to the creation of a sophisticated platform for energy flow management, which is the cornerstone of the smart building prototype realized in the F40 building by ENEA at the Casaccia Research Center in Rome. This technological evolution represented a real paradigm shift in the ability to manage and process massive volumes of data in real-time. Strategically placed sensors for monitoring energy consumption and evaluating indoor comfort conditions transmit the collected data to a dedicated cloud database, designed to aggregate, structure, and analyze the acquired data to generate highly reliable performance indicators.

The implemented system possesses advanced capabilities for managing the actuators present in the building infrastructure, allowing for targeted remote control of energy flows between the building and installations. This translates into a significant reduction in energy consumption or an optimized modulation of energy demand based on efficiency and sustainability parameters. The materialization of this prototype faced numerous technical challenges, particularly in integrating wireless and plug-and-play technologies into an existing building. The need to harmonize heterogeneous devices, each based on its standards and communication protocols, necessitated the development of a local gateway. This gateway acts as an interface between the devices and the cloud, ensuring the integrity, security, and efficiency of data flow. The implementation of a unified framework for interpreting different building automation protocols overcame initial barriers, highlighting the effectiveness of the technological solutions adopted in ensuring an integrated, secure, and optimized energy system.

In a practical implementation, operational adaptability was ensured through precise modulation of control parameters (set points) of heat pump units, key tools for thermoregulation of spaces through cooling and conditioning processes. This technical intervention is part of an energy optimization context, where, in addition, advanced automation for managing fixtures in specific areas was implemented, allowing controlled opening during summer periods. This mechanism exploits the significant thermal variation (temperature delta) between the indoor and outdoor environment, activating the automatic opening of windows to stabilize the indoor temperature according to optimal comfort parameters, while simultaneously reducing the energy need for artificial climate control of workspaces. This formulation highlights not only the practical aspect of the adopted solutions but also their inclusion in a strategy for intelligent and efficient management of energy resources, focusing on advanced technologies and automation as pillars for sustainability and energy efficiency in the sector.

Source: ENEA Blockchain Integration to Manage Energy Flexibility The Smart Buildings project, extending research beyond the intrinsic energy efficiency of buildings, explored synergies and potentialities to ensure optimal network flexibility. In this context, the use of Blockchain technology played a key role, providing unprecedented transparency and integrity in energy transactions. The system's structure was designed to be highly reactive to energy demand variations, through the synergistic integration of the photovoltaic system with storage, IoT devices, and cloud and Blockchain infrastructures. This configuration allowed for the development of an advanced energy flexibility management system, prepared to dynamically adjust to Set-Point requests issued by market Aggregators, following a strictly defined protocol. The technical specifications require the transmission of Set-Point requests on a four-hourly basis, with 16 power values for each 15-minute interval, stipulating, for example, that the delivery point