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Expo Dubai

Expo 2020 Dubai: supporting electrification targets for the future

Enel X installations and smart meters show the benefits of responsible energy consumption

Published on MARCH 31, 2022
The reach of Expo 2020 Dubai’s vision “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, which showcased cutting edge technologies to promote sustainability, the circular economy and digital architecture, is intended to create a lasting impact, one that extends far beyond the Expo’s closing date on 31 March, 2022. It is within this context that Enel X played an active role in Dubai, both as a premium provider and designer for the Italy Pavilion. Enel X understands that electrification is an effective and convenient answer to customer needs that enables the energy transition. In fact, enabling the electrification of customer energy demand is the decisive tool to complete the energy transition and the mandatory process of electrification, expanding access to the benefits of sustainability to all areas of use and all consumer targets.
Electrification

Electrification

The process driving the energy transition for a sustainable world

As noted by CEO and General Manager, Francesco Starace: “We are proud to bring the Group's innovation and technologies to lighting and consumption monitoring as examples of our commitment to electrification, new uses of energy, digitalization and network resilience. These are elements that, together with the development of renewables, see us committed to the transition towards a sustainable energy future in line with the UN development goals.”

Enel X’S spectacular installations light up the path of responsible energy consumption

Expo Dubai

Connecting Minds, Creating the Future

Enel is a Premium Provider for the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, which runs from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022

As part of this technical partnership at the Expo, Enel X provided two smart LED light installations, called Second Sun and Second Moon, which by interacting with the environment, simulate the daily progression of sunlight, creating breathtaking spectacles for visitors. Enel GI&N equipped the exhibition area with a smart metering system integrated with IoT solutions to monitor consumption and lighting levels. Thereby showing that technology and innovation can be creative and beautiful. Particularly at a time when the increase in energy bills due to gas prices is causing concerns for Italian families, the adoption of renewable energy to reduce the dependency from gas, is gaining more traction as a concrete solution to become energy self-sufficient while saving money.

Supporting clients to meet their electrification targets

Enel X, a key player in the energy industry and an enabler of solutions in line with sustainability goals, is a leader in the energy transition on the global scene and in local contexts, transforming models of energy consumption, business and development.  Enel X is positioned not as a mere service provider, but rather as a player able to cover four specific roles:
  • Partner: Enel X has the technical, technological, and operational skills to form collaborative relationships with the targets, unlocking the opportunities of electrification to them;
  • Enabler: the solutions offered by Enel X provide the targets with an ecosystem that allows them to achieve complete electrification and access added-value services;
  • Facilitator: Enel X, by providing “turnkey” solutions and managing all related aspects,  from contracts to installation, allows its partners to enter the world of electrification simply and quickly;
Innovation and Sustainability

Innovation and Sustainability

Leading the way to climate-proof technological transformation

  • Service Provider: Enel X is not limited to the mere supply of products and services that are ancillary to the commodity, but is a proven player, able to accompany the target throughout the entire process of activation and management of electrification solutions.

The two main events at the Italy Pavilion: ‘Smart Cities’ and ‘Future Lab’

Finding the most efficient solutions for our clients is one of the essential reasons our services are selected. By offering companies convenient solutions that allow them to reach their electrification targets we enable their businesses’ efficiency. Two discussions at the Italy Pavilion highlighted this aspect. The first by the title of “On the Road to a Sustainable City,” gave companies the opportunity to discuss smart cities, an area in which Enel X has been working for several years, while the second was a “Future Lab” in which speakers and members of the audience were invited to imagine “the Wise Cities of 2050.”
Cities are the future of humanity, seeing as how much of the world’s population they house and how much of its resources they consume. Smart cities are the answer and the only way to create them is through electrification from renewables, which will have numerous benefits. By creating a more resilient system, in which storage plays a key role, countries can reduce their dependence on energy imports. But the electrification of consumption also makes sense in more stable times: it can reduce the cost of energy by 40% and the carbon footprint by 80%. Electricity is, quite simply, the most efficient energy solution: it is clean, cost-effective and has high-performance levels. In the case of smart lighting, the use of LED and remotely controlled adaptive lighting can reduce electricity consumption by 90%, while a municipality’s budget can be reduced by 40%. Electric buses are similarly cheaper to run on a per kilometer basis than their fossil fuel counterparts. The same is true of another key aspect of the smart city: smart and efficient buildings. Electric heat pumps are cheaper than the traditional version. Furthermore, as pointed out during a presentation on architectural lighting, smart cities also have the advantage of being beautiful places to live.
Lastly, if that is an encouraging vision of tomorrow, then the Future Lab session tried to imagine the “wise city” 30 years from now: a place where electrification will play a dominant role. The benefits of the smart city were explored in detail, such as an open digital platform that can manage all aspects of urban life including traffic.

Citizens can play an active role, providing information to city managers via mobile apps. The mass of data gathered on open platforms can also help city managers redesign cities. The cities of the future will be smart, sustainable, connected, digital, livable and efficient. There are encouraging signs for the future, thanks to the attitude of the younger generation, whose members seem to prefer sharing cars to owning them; they are also more open to the idea of repairing and reusing products, rather than throwing them away and buying new ones. This fits in perfectly with the circularity model, which is essential to the city of the future.


A most pressing issue today for the international community, was the theme of the forum entitled  “On the Road to a Sustainable City,” organized by the Italy Pavilion in partnership with Enel X.  Michele Crisostomo, Enel Group Chairman, while addressing the audience presented a strategy meant to guide consumption towards an ever more sustainable energy future, an essential element for future smart cities.