Overview and goals of the clusters of smart grid demonstration projects in France

Demonstration is a key step for the deployment of smart grids. Several demonstration projects have been launched in France and others are under preparation to validate both technical solutions, and their economic and social hypotheses. This paper gives an overview of existing and future demonstration projects on smart grids in France in which EDF and/or ERDF are involved. More specifically, three main types of projects are described: (i) on-going demonstrations, like the PREMIO project in the Provence region; (ii) national projects submitted to calls launched by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency); (iii) French smart grid demonstrations to be carried out in the context of the 7^th Framework Research and Development Programme of the European Commission.