In recent years, Electric vehicles (EVs) are receiving significant attention as an environmental-sustainable and cost-effective substitute of vehicles with internal combustion engine, for the solution of the dependence from fossil fuels and for the saving of Green-House Gasses emission The present paper deals with an overview on different types of EVs charging stations and a comparison between the related European and American Standards. The work includes also a summary on possible types of Energy Storage Systems (ESSs), that are important for the integration of EVs fast charging stations of the last generation in smart grids. Finally a brief analysis on the possible electrical layout for the ESS integration in EVs charging system, proposed in literature, is reported.

Photovoltaic systems have played a key role over the last decade in the evolution of the electricity sector. In terms of safety design, it’s important to consider that a PV plant constitutes a special system of generation, where the Direct Current (DC) presence results in changes to the technical rules. Moreover, if certain electrical faults occur, the plant is a possible source of fire. Choices regarding the grounding of the generator and its protection devices are fundamental for a design that evaluates fire risk. The subject of the article is the analysis of the relation between electrical phenomena in PV systems and the fire risk related to ensuring appropriate fault detection by the electrical protection system. A description of a grid-connected PV system is followed firstly by a comparison of the design solutions provided by International Standards, and secondly by an analysis of electrical phenomena which may trigger a fire. A study of two existing PV systems, where electrical faults have resulted in fires, is then presented. The study highlights the importance of checking all possible failure modes in a PV system design phase, to assess fire risk in advance. Some guidelines for the mitigation of electrical faults that may result in a fire are finally provided

In the last years the European Union has actively promoted the renewable energies and the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) also for residential and tertiary buildings. The exploitation of renewable sources and cogeneration seems hampered by the regulatory wall that prohibit for residential, tertiary and commercial buildings the constitution of users clusters. In fact, the unification up to a threshold value of some tens of kVA, at least, can facilitate the installation of renewable energy power plants as solar PV modules or CHP systems (cogeneration) or CCHP systems (tri-generation), overcoming technical and economical barriers and combining several load profiles. The actual distribution system for low voltage LV customers appears inadequate to comply with these goals. At this aim the authors propose the design of a Sustainable Energy Microsystem (SEM) for the integration of different subsystems, currently independent, as final users and high efficiency buildings, dispersed generation from renewable and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units and subsystems for the urban mobility: metro-transit, trams and recharging of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles (PHEV) for the surface mobility. The integration is analyzed in the direction of a “smart city” concept, with the optimized and integrated management of many services. These activities are about the general topic of design and construction of nearly zero energy buildings with the use of innovative technologies as home and building automation. The buildings integrated in “energy hub” with dispersed generation and urban mobility systems, constitute the “energy islands” of the future smart grid.

In a smart micro-grid (MG) each generator or load has to take part in the network management, joining in reactive power supply/voltage control, active power supply/frequency control, fault ride-through capability, and power quality control. This paper includes a new concept for building integration in MGs with zero grid-impact so improving the MG efficiency. These aims are shown to be achievable with an intelligent system, based on a dc/ac converter connected to the building point of coupling with the main grid. This system can provide active and reactive power services also including a dc link where storage, generation, and loads can be installed. The system employed for validation is a prototype available at ENEA Laboratories (Italian National Agency for New Technologies). A complete and versatile model in MATLAB/SIMULINK is also presented. The simulations results and the experimental test validation are included. The trial confirms the model goodness and the system usefulness in MG applications.