Endesa : Smart City Malaga receives the first European Living Lab certificate for a power company

• Thanks to this certificate, issued by the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL), Smart City Malaga now forms part of an international association made up of over 150 members from 20 EU countries.
• Smart City Malaga is the first infrastructure and networks laboratory developed in the Enel Group, which has other centres in Milan, Bari and Savona.

The innovation ecosystem being developed by Endesa in Malaga through the Smart City project has received the certification as a Living Lab issued by the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL). Smart City Malaga, which is also the centre of the Enel Group's living lab network, has now become the first project implemented by a power company to be accepted in this international association made up of 150 members from around the globe, including representatives from 20 of the 28 EU countries.

With this certificate, the international association, which includes public and private organisations, recognises Endesa's work in creating an experimental environment for designing the electrical distribution grid of the future.

The main lines of research of the Smart City Malaga Living Lab focus on the development of efficiency measures, energy saving and the active management of the demand of individuals, buildings and large consumers, integrating the generation of renewable energy into the grid, storage, electric mobility (charging points for electric vehicles, electric buses and V2G infrastructures, remote management services or information security.

Since its launch in 2009, Smart City Malaga has become a leader in the design of the energy model of the cities of the future thanks to the introduction of state-of-the-art remote control technologies, digitalisation and network automation, the use of innovative energy efficiency solutions, low-consumption lighting or the integration of renewable energies in the grid. All the implemented innovations have enabled power consumption savings of over 25% and a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions in the area of Malaga in which they were applied, which includes 11,000 domestic customers and 1,200 corporate customers - just within the first five years of operation.

Endesa's Living Lab in Malaga has also helped to develop projects such as MONICA (Advanced Monitoring and Control of Medium and Low-voltage distribution grids), which enables the status of medium and low-voltage grids to be established in real time, thanks to the information provided by the smart meters and a network of sensors deployed in 37 substations, which, until now had only been applied to high-voltage grids. O Smartnet, a European Project in which Endesa participates to develop opportunities that offer a more flexible and collaborative energy model, in which energy consumers also become producers. Smartnet seeks to integrate the figure of this new 'prosumer' and at the same time improve the stability and efficiency of the grid. For example, by analysing how a household battery or a telephone repeater can connect and disconnect to the distribution grid depending on the system requirements.

Obtaining this recognition means the integration within a European network that favours the co-creation, the involvement of users and the use of experimental facilities aimed at innovation in various sectors, such as energy, media, mobility, health, agri-food, among others. A network in which one can share, connect, learn and collaborate with living labs across the globe.

Participation in the ENoLL network, founded in 2006, will enable the exchange of knowledge regarding issues related to cities and smart grids in cooperation with other living labs within the Enel Group (Milan, Bari and Savona) and the relationships with local authorities, companies and professionals with the aim of tackling new challenges in smart solutions for cities.