Novel smart grids applications for energy management and traceability in heritage cities: Case study for city of Cuenca, Ecuador

• A novel projection of a Smart City for Cuenca of Ecuador is presented. • Results show high potential for renewable energies and Smart Grid integration. • Public companies must be restructured and the Smart Grid is enabled mainly by IoT. • Novel network architecture harmonizes cultural heritage and can be applied worldwide. • Results can be a guide to facilitate government decision-making in heritage cities. Next generation electric power systems and Smart Grids are intensively studied from generation to distribution and in cities with particular characteristics, especially of a patrimonial type, it is important to conserve their buildings squares and urban landscapes, its value is not damaged while also, ensuring the adaption of novel developments to ensure the transition to smart grid systems. In this research, a novel approach and innovative proposal on communication architectures in energy systems applied to the heritage of the City of Cuenca in Ecuador is contributed to this research. In this research, the main sources of strategic renewable energy generation available in the territory are evaluated in a decentralized way. The compositions, technologies, functions, requirements and research challenges of the communications network are included, but above all it shows an improved future in relation to a basic existing technological infrastructure of the city that is adaptable to future energy requirements. The proposed communication networks will be in charge of generating and delivering messages on the most important parameters of the energy system where non-polluting loads are integrated such as the 4 Rios tram, public lighting, electric vehicles, among others. Finally, the novel future implications of a new architecture at the domestic level in an integrated and innovative network environment for the city of Cuenca without affecting the heritage environment in an established legal framework are discussed. It is proven that the methodology and the results can be extended to other similar locations worldwide, showing a combined solution between heritage protection and technological development and considering that Heritage Cities are a different case from conventional Smart Cities solutions. Links can be achieved with minimal uplink latency of 6 ms with payload size <40 bytes. If it is able to transport a greater load, it can reach 11 ms 40-byte payload. Channel utilization can operate at 50 % utilization normally, under unfavorable conditions it would reach 80 %.