Significant events for the 2019 financial year

Gala

With Resolution 50/2018/R/eel of 1 February 2018, the Authority approved a mechanism for recognising charges otherwise not recoverable due to the failure to collect general system charges.

At 31 December 2019 the total receivables accrued by the Company amounted to € 73.7 million, including billed interest. Such interest was excluded from the mechanism for the reinstatement of general charges by Resolution 300/2019/R/EEL and subsequently readmitted to the mechanism by Resolution 495/2019/R/EEL.

By 31 January 2020 CSEA will prepare a method for adding the applications already submitted in order to also include the portion relating to interest on arrears invoiced in accordance with the initial provisions of art. 1.4, letter a), number iv) of Resolution 50/2018//R/EEL.

On 27 December 2019 Resolution 568/2019/R/EEL was also issued, which provides for the recovery of the portion relating to network tariffs similar to the model for the recognition of uncollected general system charges. In particular, taking into account the comments received during the consultation, it confirms access to the mechanism each year n if the amount of non-collectable receivables relating to network tariffs not yet covered – calculated considering the cumulative amount in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 – exceeds 0.75% of the revenues allowed in 2018, with the application of a deductible equal to 10% of the total amount of non-collectable receivables. The first application of the mechanism is scheduled for 2020 with a request to be submitted during the year according to a method to be defined, and with a subsequent measure to be adopted by 30 April 2020. The Gala portion will amount to about € 11 million.

It should also be noted that with resolution no. 583 of 20 November 2018, the ARERA rejected the complaint presented by Gala Power Srl, a company of the Gala Group, regarding areti's refusal to stipulate a transport contract with it given the established existence of a single decision-making centre subsisting between Gala Power and its parent company Gala, in light of the significant debt exposure accrued by the latter with respect to areti. Gala Power appealed against the Authority's decision before the Lombardy - Milan Regional Administrative Court, Section I, judgement no. 1936 published on 2 September 2019 and not served. This judgement was appealed before the Council of State on 29 November 2019.

It should also be noted that with resolution no. 181 of 14 May 2019 ARERA rejected the complaint submitted by EEMS Italia SpA, also a Gala Group company, against areti's refusal to enter into a transport contract with that company, deeming the claim made by the complainant unfounded on the grounds that since it had not established any direct or indirect relationship with at least one end customer, it did not meet the mandatory condition laid down in the regulation for the validity of the transport contract. On 27 August 2019 EEMS Italia again requested to enter into a transport contract. In response to the request for clarification sent by the Company, EEMS Italia SpA filed a new complaint with ARERA on 5 December 2019.

Finally, it should be noted that with sentence no. 270 of 6 February 2019 the Lombardy Regional Administrative Court fully rejected the appeal filed by Gala SpA against ARERA Resolution 109/201/R/EEL of 6 March 2017 concerning guarantees for the collection of general electricity system costs.

Technological innovation projects

2G digital meter project

In an increasingly advanced technological and energy context, the "2G Digital Meter" project was launched by areti with the aim of replacing the first-generation electricity meter system with the 2G Smart Metering system in compliance with the requirements of ARERA resolution 306/2019/R/eel. In this regard, on 5 April 2019 areti launched the procedure for the selection of the supplier of the field equipment (meters and concentrators) and the related Central Purchasing System (Management Centre) which ended on 12 September 2019 with the publication of the award. Following the conclusion of the tender procedure, on 14 September 2019, the Request for Authorisation to Recognise Investments (RARI) was submitted to ARERA. The start of the mass installation plan is subject to the approval of the RARI, expected by March 2020. The installation of the concentrators will start in May 2020 and the mass replacement of the meters will start in October 2020. At the same time as the start of the tender procedure, areti initiated the re-engineering of the business processes impacted by the 2G Project preparatory to the adaptation of the application map and the needs of the new CG2G system. Tenders are currently under way for the procurement of services to install 2G concentrators and replace 2G meters.

Smart Grid Intelligence platform evolution (SGI - Electrical data)

During 2019, activities continued to optimise the integration of the SGI system with the source systems (SCADA, GIS, etc.) through the creation of appropriate data tools that allow the identification and correction of misalignments between the source systems.

An acquisition level of 99.3% and an entity integration level of 96.14% were achieved.

These tools have made it possible to improve and certify the quality of the data, thus increasing the quality of the output of advanced analysis, like the calculation of impact metrics on all elements of the network that is now available on 100% of the nodes/branches of the network.

These metrics have been used to support planning and network developments.

Algorithms for the precise estimation of electrical loads by secondary cabin nodes and MV branches have also been developed. Appropriate procedures have been prepared to populate a database with data gathered from different source systems (TESS, GIS, STM) for all MV failures from July 2017. These data were used to build a statistical model of the failure rate of network elements. Appropriate procedures have been prepared to populate a database with the maximum daily and annual branch currents from July 2017. Finally, the usability of the monitoring and navigation tools made available to the user has been improved. The technological upgrade of the platform is nearing completion, updating Netezza, Datastage and Cognos with the related migration of existing reports, as well as the installation of SPSS analytics.

San Saba Project

The project consists in the redevelopment of a portion of the LV and MV networks in a public and private metropolitan setting and in the simultaneous preparation of a fibre optic network to support the electricity service. These new systems allow the use of technologically advanced equipment, above all aimed at guaranteeing greater flexibility in the manoeuvring and protection of the portions of the network supplying power to final customers, with the aim of improving the quality and continuity of the service provided. The joint construction of electricity and fibre optic networks makes it possible to optimise authorisation and installation (sharing road licences, permits in private areas, excavations and restoration work) and provides a useful context for experimenting with new system engineering technologies.

DRONES project

With regard to the Drone Project, in 2017 the use of remote-controlled aircraft was experimented with for inspections of overhead power lines to detect partial discharges on overhead lines, the patent relating to the "Ultrasound Sound System" being filed on 6 June 2017. Further efforts were made to define solutions using lightweight drones for simplified mass inspection, and photogrammetry tests were carried out on overhead lines with lightweight fixed-wing drones. In particular, in 2019 detailed photographic surveys were carried out at the Acea headquarters for structural verification of the cornices, experiments with 3D reconstruction of buildings and participation in "Exercise 2018" with the Civil Protection Department, searching for missing persons.

A test was also prepared and completed with ENAC and ENAV for flight missions in BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line Of Sight) mode, i.e. long-distance flight without visual control of the vehicle. Finally, the land drone prototype (rubberised) was developed and released for automatic inspections in primary cabins and/or other sensitive sites. In the first half of 2019 data acquisition tests were carried out in preparation for final testing.

Finally, during H1 2019 a pilot experiment was launched with Acea Produzione for the radiometric thermography of the district heating network in order to identify the integrity of the pipelines. The activity was carried out using a lightweight drone with the support of the Pick-up (mobile laboratory).

New Secondary Cabin Project

The New Secondary Cabin Project was launched in 2018, starting with design development.

During 2019 the first set of functions to be implemented in the RTU was defined, and the specifications were drafted for the production of the LV switchboards with latest generation switches that can be remote controlled by means of a serial bus used in the first prototypes.

The prototypes were tested in the laboratory and subsequently installed in four secondary booths to monitor their correct operation, both for the remote control aspect and for the operation of the new automatic reset on overcurrent trip.

At the same time the technical specifications for LV switchboards and RTU were issued. The tender for LV switchboards was awarded, and the tender for the new RTUs for the installations planned in 2020 was launched. A further 16 cabins have also been installed to complete the pre-production phase of the project and to prepare what is necessary for the mass installations in 2020.

FIBRE OPTIC Project

During 2018, areti began technological scouting to identify the best telecommunications technology for the creation of a network with high reliability and speed that would allow connecting all the primary and secondary cabins in a smart grid.

The architecture of the new TLC network was defined in early 2019, which will allow areas to control and command all primary and secondary cabins, also allowing additional services useful for network management to be conveyed, and in the future will be able to promote the development of smart cities.

The TLC project provides for the creation of a high-speed and reliable back bone network that will bind all primary cabins to a small part of secondary cabins. These will constitute the main framework of the network – consisting of secondary fibre optics connecting all secondary cabins and relevant points for the power grid – from which will be launched all the smart grid services, followed later by smart city services. This network structure will ensure security and reliability in the transmission of information between the centre and the periphery useful to allow the proper operation of Operation Technology systems and network management systems, also the remote control of equipment installed in secondary cabins and, where possible, the measurement points and other types of sensors in order to convey to the central systems all the information acquired through sensors and field equipment.

Electric recharging and storage systems

The project involves the construction of new structures for recharging the company's fleet of electric vehicles in the company car park in Piazzale dei Partigiani (Acea Car Park) (the recharging system was completed in 2018). The project will also include a photovoltaic generation plant and a storage system. The energy produced will be stored through the reuse of equipment previously installed for experimental purposes at CP Raffinerie.

The design for the construction of the photovoltaic generation system was completed and the process is under way for the outsourcing of the reuse of the CP Raffinerie storage system and the installation of a new storage system at the car park in Piazzale dei Partigiani.

Public Lighting

As at 31 December 2019, 12,000 transformations were carried out (for a total of 182,556 transformations), completing what had been envisaged in the LED Plan. Extraordinary maintenance and modernisation and safety activities agreed with Roma Capitale were also carried out, thus creating 3,110 new lighting points.

Production of electricity

The Acea Produzione production system is currently constituted by a group of generation plants, with an overall installed power of 226.6 MW, comprising five hydroelectric plants (three in Lazio, one in Umbria and one in Abruzzo), 52 photovoltaic plants (with an installed capacity of 8.6 MWp), two so-called mini hydro plants, Cecchina and Madonna del Rosario, two thermoelectric power stations, Montemartini and Tor di Valle, the latter consisting of a modern high-efficiency cogeneration plant, replacing the previous combined-cycle plant. The new plant consists of two high-efficiency methane gas powered engines each with an electrical power of 9.5 MW, for a total of 19 MW, as well as three supplemental boilers and 6 storage tanks. In the current configuration, in addition to selling electricity to the market during the most profitable hours, the plant provides electricity in SEU to the total electricity users of the adjoining Rome South Treatment Plant and the thermal energy necessary for the supply of district heating service in the districts of Torrino Sud, Mostacciano and Mezzocammino in the Municipality of Rome.

In 2019, the Company generated a volume of 516.1 GWh through the directly owned power plants. During the period, the Company's production was subdivided into the portion related to hydroelectric plant production of 417.9 GWh, the share of production from mini-hydro plants of 2.2 GWh, the share of thermoelectric production of 85.1 GWh and the portion related to photovoltaic production of 10.9 GWh. The Company's production mix is mainly from renewable sources with a share of "green" production equal to about 90% of the total. In addition, about 60% of total production is incentivised following investments in hydroelectric power plants or participation in the so-called "feed-in tariff" for the photovoltaic segment.

With regard to district heating, the Company, through the cogeneration module of the Tor di Valle power plant, supplied heat to the Torrino Sud and Mostacciano districts (located in the south of Rome) for a total of 66.75 GWht, for a total of 3,406 utilities served (259 condominiums and 3,147 real estate units).

Co-generation

The operational management of Ecogena focuses mainly on three areas: (i) consulting in the Esco sector and offering services related to obligations to increase the energy efficiency of third parties (inside or outside of the Acea Group); (ii) the supply of energy service through the management of cogeneration (or trigeneration) plants and district heating networks and the sale of energy produced to customers; and (iii) the coordination of Group companies with regard to energy efficiency projects.

The Company's production system is made up of a set of cogeneration plants, combined with district heating networks, for a total of 5.0 MW of installed electric power in Umbria and Lazio. The production of thermal and refrigeration energy is increasing compared to previous years, while there was a slight overall decrease in electricity production. As at 31 December 2019, Company achieved a production volume of around 14.3 GWh (electricity), 28.7 GWh (thermal) and 10.5 GWh of refrigeration.

Also for 2019, the Company requested CAR/CB (High Yield Cogeneration) qualification of all the plants managed, issuing the TEEs for 2018.

With regard to Europarco's trigeneration plant, the expansion of the plant has almost been completed, doubling the cooling capacity installed in the plant with a relative increase in electricity and the addition of a third boiler.

Ecogena also started work on improving the energy efficiency of the air conditioning system of the Acea data processing centre (Cedet), which is scheduled to be completed in February 2020.

In 2019 Ecogena collaborated with Acea Innovation in the electric mobility sector, contributing with the first six installations of charging stations for electric vehicles in preparation for the pilot project for the launch of an electric carsharing service within the group.

Moreover, in line with the Acea Group's mobility plan for the period 2020-2023, the Company is finalising an agreement that qualifies it to operate as system integrator of Acea Innovation (Charge Point Operator).

Ecogena has also started scouting to identify potential partners and customers for energy efficiency initiatives, such as renovation of building exteriors to save energy (so-called thermal cladding). Specifically, following a market analysis of the regulatory instruments known as "Ecobonus and Sismabonus", an internal collaboration with Acea Energia was initiated to identify and process commercial opportunities in this sector.

Also during 2019, Ecogena approved the "Saccir" operation that will enable the acquisition of additional cogeneration plants at third-party industrial/directional facilities (Klopmann and Kordenpharma) with a capacity of over 5 MW.

Finally, Ecogena has earned the following management system certifications: Quality ISO 9001:2015, ESCO UNI CEI 11352:2014 and Safety ISO 45001:2018. During 2019 it also started the ISO 50.001:2018 (Efficient Energy Management) certification process.

New Photovoltaic acquisitions

It should be noted that during H2 2019, in line with the Business Plan, the Acea Group began operations in the photovoltaic market with the establishment of two new companies, Acea Solar for the development of greenfields and Acea Sun Capital for the acquisition of plants. As at 31 December 2019 there were 13 companies acquired for a total installed capacity of approximately 28 MW.