A Smart Grid for the city of Rome: a Cost Benefit Analysis

In this work, the JRC applies its Smart Grid CBA methodology to a full-scale project rather than only to a small-size demonstrative one. To this end, the JRC and ACEA - one of Italy’s biggest Distribution System Operators (DSOs), in charge of managing the distribution system of Rome - teamed up to study the merits of deploying Smart Grid technologies (preliminarily tested in a pilot project) in a big city like the Italian capital, hosting several million electricity users.

The ACEA Smart Grid Pilot Project (named "Malagrotta" after the area where pilot solutions were first realised) is the starting point for this study, as it displays many of the characteristics of emerging Smart Grids projects and interconnects several diversified generation facilities (like biogas, waste-to-electricity and PV plants) and consumption centres. This study illustrates the outcome of the application of the JRC Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) to a) the ACEA Smart Grids pilot project; and b) the planned deployment of Smart Grid technologies (tested in the ACEA Smart Grids pilot project) to the whole of the city of Rome.

The CBA is conducted from both the private investor’s and the societal perspective, in order to assess whether scaling up the Smart Grid pilot project benefits the distribution operator and the citizens. Finally, this report shows how the JRC's CBA methodology can be effectively used to assess the financial and economic viability of real Smart Grids projects and help the investment decisions of DSOs. (http://ses.jrc.ec.europa.eu/)