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Energy systems are evolving into structures in which the role of the consumer is more and more significant. Consumers are no longer the passive entities that in the past had to be supplied in an unidirectional way (from the network to the customer), but can also supply power to the grid through renewable resources, storage capacity through the batteries of their electric vehicles or operating services through the use of their flexibility. However, when discussing on smart grids, electricity supply and consump-tion are the only considered side on many occasions, neglecting other dimensions such as natural gas, sanitary hot water or transport. In this context, this dissertation represents a novel approach to the role of consumers in the natural gas sector. While it is true that electricity consumers have been involved for years in different operation services related to the use of their flexibility (especial-ly in countries such as the United States and more recently in the European Union), the use of demand response resources in the gas sector has been so far non-existent. However, the success of demand response initiatives in electricity systems and their similarity to the gas sector, where their regulatory and technological development has been carried out in parallel in recent years, allows us to expect similar successful re-sults when implementing equivalent programs to gas networks. This dissertation highlights the huge potential that remains unexplored on the demand side of natural gas, which could be used by gas network operators for the solution of technical constraints, balance services or optimization of programming of under-ground storage. This potential is especially interesting at the moment, when the mas-sive installation of smart gas meters has started in some European countries, an infra-structure that would facilitate the use of demand response resources for the better op-eration of gas networks. The dissertation presents, firstly, an exhaustive analysis of the demand response pro-grams currently used in electrical systems around the world, identifying those services that could be equally applicable to the gas sector. The traditional structure based on which gas systems have been developed in different countries is analyzed below. In order to make better use of resources and to optimize its operation, an architecture based on the concept of smart grid is then proposed, identifying the agents that would participate in this structure and emphasizing the role that consumers would play, not only as energy demanders, but also as providers of network services. This active role of demand requires the use of adequate measurement, control and communication technologies, aspect that is also properly analyzed. Based on the results of the analysis mentioned above, this thesis proposes a new meth-odology for the development and evaluation of demand response mechanisms that allow a greater participation of gas consumers in the provision of operating services to the manager of the network, increasing the joint efficiency of the system and reducing the costs associated with such services. The proposed methodology has been successfully applied to the gas network in Italy, where the analyzed operation services have been evaluated in a town of 16,000 inhab-itants located in the central north-Italian area. In that town, consumers have been grouped by end-use, sector and size, which evidences the need to enhance the role of the aggregator for the proper use of the potential of smaller consumers, whether they receive a gas supply directly or through a distributed heat network. The results presented in this dissertation should encourage regulators to empower the use of the consumers' flexibility in order to increase the efficiency of the natural gas system, as it reduces operating costs while favoring the participation of customers in a more dynamic energy structure.

Application of demand response strategies for the management of natural gas systems under the smart grid configuration: development of a methodology for technical, economic and environmental evaluation.