Powering the Peaks with E‑Distribuzione: A resilient alpine energy backbone woven into nature
Customer Story | 5 min read
In one of Europe’s most demanding alpine regions, ensuring reliable and resilient energy is a mission of national importance. Confronted with extreme environmental and operational conditions, E-Distribuzione reinforced critical grid infrastructure to guarantee an uninterrupted power supply where nature imposes its toughest challenges.
With the support of Hitachi Energy, a resilient energy backbone was built, ranging from high‑altitude substations engineered to withstand severe weather to infrastructure designed to blend seamlessly into the protected Dolomitic landscape. Together, these efforts strengthen the region’s grid and safeguard its energy future for generations to come.
Challenges
Securing reliable power across the Alps
For E‑Distribuzione, the Enel Group company that operates in the electrical distribution sector, with activities related to electricity transport and voltage transformation, plant management and operation, strengthening the Alpine network means addressing some of the most complex operating conditions in Europe. High‑altitude substations exposed to snow, ice, and sudden weather changes require robust engineering solutions, while many installations sit in remote areas accessible only through seasonal routes or specialized equipment.
These locations also serve as strategic hubs for both winter ski resorts and summer tourism, where demand can surge rapidly with the influx of visitors. Snowmaking systems, lift operations, hospitality facilities, mobility services, and safety infrastructure can require several megawatts within narrow time windows, precisely when weather conditions and terrain pose additional challenges.
Ensuring grid resilience and continuity in this environment calls for durable, long‑term upgrades capable of withstanding altitude, climate stress, and intense tourism cycles. For E‑Distribuzione, reinforcing these mountain nodes is essential to support local communities, sustain tourism‑driven economies, and protect the delicate alpine ecosystem.
Solutions
Grid reinforcement with minimal footprint
To address these challenges, E-Distribuzione undertook a broad grid modernization and reinforcement program across the area, including the installation of secondary substations and hundreds of kilometers of new underground medium-voltage lines, strengthening continuity of service in a region exposed to extreme winter conditions and seasonal demand peaks. As part of this program, the creation of two new primary cabins in key locations: Livigno and Arabba.
LIVIGNO Primary Cabin
In Livigno, E-Distribuzione delivered a new primary grid connection at 2,177 meters above sea level, the highest in Italy, conceived as an underground hypogeal facility to minimize landscape impact in a highly sensitive Alpine environment. The structure, extending over 1,600 m², required specialized stabilization techniques suitable for building in complex high-altitude conditions.
Extensive revegetation efforts—28,000 seedlings of different species—further restored the surrounding landscape, while the new substation now provides reliable service capacity for up to 20,000 users, including residents, businesses, and tourism infrastructure.
To deliver this strengthened and future‑proofed grid, E-Distribuzione worked closely with Hitachi Energy, which supplied the turnkey primary cabin for the electromechanical portion, complete with a 145 kV gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) system and two 40 MW 66 kV power transformers, specially designed for underground requirements in Hitachi Energy’s Italian factory.
Designed to operate reliably in extreme high-altitude conditions, the transformer units are equipped with plug-in bushings and protective enclosures instead of traditional insulators, ensuring dependable performance during severe winters, heavy snow loads, and significant temperature shifts. This tailored design supports the resilience and service continuity required to support one of the most demanding sites of the Italian grid.
ARABBA Primary Cabin
In Arabba, E-Distribuzione developed another new primary grid connection solution to increase grid robustness in a territory exposed to exceptional weather.
Located at nearly 1,300 meters above sea level, the substation was conceived with careful architectural attention, adopting forms and materials inspired by the traditional buildings of the Dolomites to limit its visual impact and integrate naturally into the mountainous environment.
The high‑voltage technologies installed at Arabba originate from Hitachi Energy’s Italian manufacturing facilities (Monselice and Lodi), including the two main 25 MVA 132 KV power transformers and GIS systems that form the backbone of this new infrastructure.
These components were designed to operate reliably at altitude and under rapidly changing weather conditions, to ensure a stable and resilient energy supply in a territory that is both environmentally sensitive and strategically important.
A step back in time: Zuel substation in Cortina d’Ampezzo
This work builds on a wider infrastructure upgrade program already underway in the Cortina area. As early as 2021, in view of increasing energy demands in this high‑altitude region, E‑Distribuzione began reinforcing the local network, including the works to the Zuel primary substation, as one of several key upgrades designed to strengthen reliability and service continuity across the territory.
The site underwent a major modernization that included rebuilding the medium‑voltage section and installing two new 40 MVA 132 kV digital power transformers from Hitachi Energy. Equipped with advanced digital functionalities, these “smart transformers” enable enhanced real-time remote monitoring and data-driven asset management, helping E-Distribuzione improve service continuity while reducing the need for on‑site maintenance in a challenging mountain location.
Environmental considerations were integral to the upgrade. To reduce visual impact in the Dolomitic landscape, the transformers were finished in a custom green color selected to blend more naturally with the surrounding environment, supporting better integration and helping reduce the perceived footprint in a sensitive setting. In addition, power transformers are inherently high-efficiency equipment, designed to minimize losses over long service lifetimes. The units installed at Zuel are engineered to meet relevant energy-efficiency requirements, supporting lower operational losses and contributing to overall environmental impact reduction through more efficient grid operation.
Impact
Resilience in harmony with the landscape
Together, these substations form a strategic, future‑ready energy backbone for the Alpine region. By reinforcing critical grid nodes in some of Italy’s most challenging mountain environments, the infrastructure now supports an uninterrupted power supply across areas where reliability is essential for both local communities and tourism-driven economies.
Designed with environmental harmony and architectural sensitivity in mind, the Livigno and Arabba substations embody the shared commitment of E‑Distribuzione and Hitachi Energy to deliver resilient, sustainable infrastructure that blends discreetly into the protected Dolomitic landscape.
In this context, harmony becomes tangible: technology integrated respectfully into nature, infrastructure that strengthens communities, and a grid engineered to withstand the most demanding operating conditions while preserving the beauty of its surroundings. The result is long‑lasting value—reliable, sustainable energy designed to serve the region for generations.