25 th International Conference on Electricity Distribution Madrid, 3-6 June 2019 Paper n° 1550 CIRED 2019 1/5 ONLINE MONITORING LEADS TO IMPROVE THE RELIABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY OF POWER GRIDS Doina Vornicu Laurentia Predescu Alessandro Mingotti Lorenzo Peretto CEZ Romania - Romania CEZ Romania - Romania University of Bologna - Italy University of Bologna-Italy doina.vornicu@cez.ro laurentia.predescu@cez.ro alessandro.mingotti2@unibo.it lorenzo.peretto@unibo.it ABSTRACT The paper aims to address the concept of virtualized grid automation. This approach will be developed within CEZ Romania ongoing EU H2020 project entitled “Service Oriented Grid for the Network of the Future – SOGNO”, by combining the application of data visualization techniques, sensor analysis tools, advanced energy measurement and ICT technologies to ensure the visibility and control of electricity grids. The development of advanced distributed processing solutions will solve time-critical issues. INTRODUCTION Distribution system operators (DSOs) are, according to [1], “natural or legal person[s] responsible for operating, ensuring the maintenance of and, if necessary, developing the distribution system in a given area (…) for ensuring the long-term ability of the system to meet” the electricity demand of “end-users [connected to the medium-voltage grid (MV) and the low-voltage grid (LV)] in a secure, reliable and efficient manner”. In order to benefit from current developments, DSOs are required to build up new grid data processing capabilities and to scout new possible solution such as the one developed in [2, 3]. CEZ Romania wants to monitor online the distribution network for the grid operation optimization at MV and LV. This way, with the support of real-time data, it will be able to remotely optimize the operations. Fig. 1 MV sensors, provided by ALTEA, installed at the MV busbars of a power transformer CONCEPTS AND APPROACH In SOGNO project CEZ is responsible of different field trials. In which, a set of advanced sensors connected to Phasor Measurement Units will be deployed in the MV Fig. 2 LV sensors, provided by MAC, installed at a 4-feeder LV network and LV networks (see Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). Such measurement units will send measurement information to the service server located at the DSO premises by using available communications networks and 5G. Appropriate control room displays will be connected to the in-field setups to display the results of the data analysis (data stream coming from the sensors). Preparing for the Future The recent evolutions and requirements in power networks such as: the penetration of the renewable energy sources, the variety of a new equipment connected to the network, the prosumers and aggregators appearance, the users' participation in the electricity market, the conditions for bidirectional circulation of energy flows, inclusion of energy storage systems in the electricity network, etc., represent big challenges for DSOs. Up-to-date electricity distribution management must feature adaptability, intelligent grid operation with proactive voltage and Distributed Generation (DG) unit control, automatic fault recovery, automated reaction to unusual transient behaviour and real-time grid- monitoring driven by ICT-connected measurement devices [4]. By providing tools for monitoring, analysis, prediction, planning, control and automation, the DSO is supported to accelerate the transformation of today's power networks into smart grids. The final goal is the improvement of the networks performance in order to become more flexible and resilient. New functionalities are required for having a smarter and flexible DSOs in the future. The evolution of the energy