Cooperativa Electrica de Alginet (Electrical cooperative of Alginet) is an electrical energy supplier installed in Alginet (Valencia – Spain) in the year 1930. Nowadays, it supplies 45 million Kilowatts per year (5.700 consumers) with 18.000 Kilowatts installed power capacity thanks to 35 transformation centres. A new electrical energy substation has being built, with 40Megawatts to guarantee the current and future energy demand in the whole town. The substation, with a budget for the implementation of more than 3.5 million euros, will be of exclusive use of the cooperative. Initially it doubles the available power, but in long term, it quadruples this power. With the construction of the new facility, the electric cooperative of Alginet is the first cooperative that manages a substation in property.
Additionally, a pioneer system of smartmetering has being implemented in the electric cooperative of Alginet. The consumption of each user can be metered automatically via these smartmeters. Alginet is the first municipality in Spain implementing a smartgrid, based on a technology called PLC – Power Line communications-. Another advantage is that the periodicity of the data collection, that could be weekly, daily or even every 15 minutes, can be programmed. By means of these smartmeters the estimated readings and errors could be avoided.
Competencies: The electric cooperative of Alginet, being a non-profit organisation, will protect their own infrastructures and equipment of different attacks offering better services to their clients.
Main tasks: Suministros Especiales Alginetenses, Coop. V. will participate in the project mainly as end-user, contributing to the requirements specification and as a pilot site in order to demonstrate the project results in its own facilities.