Power distribution network planning in a large metropolitan area

The new rules of the liberalised Italian electricity market have changed the assets of many distributors. Until 1999 the distribution of electricity in Italy was controlled by ENEL (the utility that held the virtual monopoly of power generation and transmission) and some local municipal utilities that carried out distribution activities in some cities. In particular the city of Milan was supplied by two companies: AEM Elettricità and Enel. The EU Directive 96/92 has been implemented in Italy by Legislative Decree No. 79/1999 (the so called ´Bersani Decree´), which entered into force on 1st April 1999 and establishes that electricity distribution must be based on a single license (granted by the Italian Ministry of Industry and Commerce) in each municipality. The transfer of the ENEL´s Milan grid to AEM Elettricità was carried out in 2002. This paper presents the main aspects of the new distribution network plan in which AEM Elettricità sets the necessary approaches in order to integrate two networks with different characteristics.