A SECURE AUTOMATION SOLUTION TO PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY AT LOW-LEVEL GRID – MIDDLEWARE SERVICES

The digitalisation of the grid at the DSO and consumer
levels has created new challenges for the operators and
stakeholders involved that require significant
coordination and cooperation. More importantly, it
requires secure, scalable and interoperable software
automation solutions. These solutions should be
comprehensive; in essence, that information and data can
be used and traced from the low and medium-level
transformers to the end user's smart meters and energy
management systems. As part of the balance-plus (H2020)
project, an interoperable and secure middleware
framework has been developed and tested in three demo
sites in Italy, France and Denmark. The framework
provides greater observability, monitoring and control
power to the stakeholders, such as DSOs and aggregators,
to utilise the available flexibility from the end-users. The
low-level grid is equipped with IoT devices and control
systems from vendors and manufactures that are not
always interoperable.