The challenges of the electricity distribution network in the face of the energy transition

We wake up flipping a switch and turning off the alarm on a mobile phone that has been charging its battery all night. Electricity is present in practically all our daily activities, but we know very little about the electrical infrastructure that brings electricity to our homes, businesses, shopping centres, industrial complexes or even the new electric vehicle chargers.

The distribution network forms a meshed system feeding into all supply points, wherever they may be, both those in large cities and those in the most remote rural locations. This particularity means that at Endesa we manage 130,000 transformation centres and 315,000 kilometres of power line layout, a distance equivalent to eight times around the Earth.

As an essential service, the supply of electricity, each and every one of our facilities must be fully operational 24 hours a day 365 days a year, whether it is hot, cold, raining or snowing, or amid the most adverse weather events of recent decades.

Recently we have learned to operate our networks in the face of a natural phenomenon unknown to us, the eruption of a volcano that has buried more than 1,500 supports and 130 kilometres of power lines.

The energy transition requires a greater electrification of our economy, based on electric mobility solutions, sustainable electric air conditioning systems such as aerothermy etc. All this will result in a greater dependence of society on the distribution network that will require more information, more data, better quality of supply, the opening of new communication channels with our customers etc. In this regard, digitalisation is the lever that is preparing us for this great challenge in three main areas: consumer centrality, asset management and asset operation.

Digitalisation at the service of the customer

Digitalisation enables better communication with the customer, and the implementation of new communication channels. Consumers already have relevant information about their supply. For example, remote management meters provide consumers with their individual consumption over all 8,760 hours in the year and the website of our electricity distribution company, e-distribution, provides real-time information on incidents and disruptions to our network. To all this we are adding the implementation of artificial intelligence techniques to respond more quickly to the complaints we receive.

Digitalisation allows us to implement new ways of managing our assets through predictive maintenance techniques based on Big Data and Machine Learning, advanced monitoring of our network, personalised logging and pruning techniques according to the potential growth of vegetation at each location, the design of new electrical facilities using BIM technology (Building Information Modelling) and complete traceability of our materials from manufacture to recycling.

Operation of our assets is also being completely transformed through the implementation of a system that estimates the possible impact of inclement weather conditions on our network to anticipate reconfigurations, minimise their possible impact on customers, and even the need to activate resources in advance on the ground. In the face of adverse weather scenarios, supply is replenished automatically through the LARS system that is capable of leaving an electrical section out of service and replenishing the supply for the other customers in a minimum timeframe.

At Endesa, we plan to invest €2.9 billion in distribution networks until 2024 to continue improving our quality of supply, to advance in greater digitalisation and automation of our network, as well as in the implementation of advanced solutions to anticipate the future needs of our consumers.