Carlo Pignoloni, Enel Romania: The future of energy is electric and about empowered consumers

Enel has several business lines in Romania such as electricity distribution, electricity supply, green energy generation, and most recently the service division Enel X, says Carlo Pignoloni, Country Manager, Enel Romania.

“It’s a happy coincidence that we are also celebrating 15 years in Romania next year, which means that we have so much experience and so many achievements in the country that it is extremely difficult to single out just one,” he tells The Diplomat – Bucharest. “We are the largest energy supplier on the competitive market; we have the best service quality in distribution and the largest number of installed smart meters, and our green power operations account for 2% of the total energy demand. Given that I need to choose one, I would say that becoming the largest energy supplier in Romania is one of our greatest achievements, because when Enel came to Romania, it was in the second place on the market.”

Digitalisation for better services

Enel continues its investment programme and the installation of smart meters in order to further improve service quality for the benefit of the consumers, according to Pignoloni. “We will announce in a few weeks more details about our strategic plan, but our main pillars remain the same: investments and digitalisation of the grids for better service quality, innovative services for energy supply, the highest availability of our green generation assets and the first projects of Enel X,” he explains.

“We have been talking for quite some time and we are still talking about the disruptive changes brought about by the technological innovations, the paradigm shift – including in the energy sector. But now we are talking about realities, not fantasies. Out of the top technological innovations of the past few years, so many are related to energy – Perovskite solar cells, new batteries, blockchain, 2D materials, and autonomous vehicles. And these technologies are coming into our lives, maybe sooner than we expected, united by one single denominator: Digitalisation. Digitalized distribution grids are the key enabler of the future power eco-system. Smart meters are at the base of a smart grid. The future of energy is about consumers, the empowerment of consumers, who will become much more important in the energy paradigm. We want to be a part of this change and be a driver of this change.”

The main concern for Enel is to offer the best quality services to Romanian customers and be an innovative, sustainable and responsible investor in the country. “This means that we hope to see an environment which is friendly for investments in digitalisation, and encourages new technologies in the energy sector, in order to allow Romanian consumers to make the most of the country’s opportunities,” Pignoloni explains. “Our vision is for the longer term, but we will surely see evolutions in this respect also next year, including in Romania. We will no longer have just consumers, but members of a future power eco-system, which not only consume energy, but can produce energy or can provide services such as balancing during peak demand, energy storage and others. Many people want to become prosumers; we see more and more electric vehicles on the street. Technologies are already in place and tested in Europe and elsewhere – Vehicle to grid, home to grid, etc. All they need in order to develop is the right regulatory framework and they will surely develop, because the technology is advancing so rapidly.”

Carlo Pignoloni underlines that the future of energy is electric and about empowered consumers.

(From the print edition)