The European Commission approves the R&D OPEN meter project

OPEN meter dissemination message,
30 January 2009

The European Commission approves the R&D OPEN meter project, coordinated by IBERDROLA, with public funding of over 2,4 million euros

The Open and Public Extended Network meter (OPEN meter) project, budgeted over 4 million euros and granted more than 60 % funding from the European Commission, has the objective of defining and developing open standard telecommunication protocols and data formats for smart metering.

• The DLMS User Association is committed to develop, promote and support open standards for multi-utility meter data exchange. Its fast-growing membership includes utilities, meter manufacturers, other technology, service and solution providers and organizations with similar interests.

• In order to successfully achieve the OPEN meter objectives, a powerful European Consortium has been created, gathering, among others, the efforts of leading meter manufacturers and some of the largest European utilities into a well balanced Consortium of 19 members from 7 Member States.

• The European Commission has approved the requested funding for the collaborative project Open and Public Extended Network meter (OPEN meter), coordinated by IBERDROLA. The project proposal was evaluated by a panel of independent experts appointed by the Commission and obtained the maximum score among all the proposals presented to the FP7-ENERGY-008-1 call.

The European Commission, in the selection of research topics on smart energy networks, has considered that the large scale adoption of smart multi-metering equipment, potentially covering electricity, gas and any other network service and commodity, is today hampered by the lack of widely accepted open standards capable of guaranteeing the interoperability of systems and devices produced by different manufacturers.

The OPEN meter Consortium has responded to this concern by the Commission with the OPEN meter project, whose goal is totally in line with the objectives of the DLMS UA to develop market relevant data models and protocols for multi-utility data exchange, with a view of international standardization, and promoting open, interoperable solutions. The objectives of the DLMS UA are achieved by involving industry leaders in the development of the DLMS/COSEM specification, driving international standardization and promoting the benefits of these standards to potential users and agencies worldwide.

The IEC 62056 and EN 13757-1 DLMS/COSEM standards have been published in 2002. A second edition of IEC 62056 has been published in 2006. Recently, many new elements have been added to the specification to support smart metering. The revision of the relevant international standards has been initiated.

Members of the DLMS UA work closely with their partners in large AMI projects in many
countries all over the world.

The OPEN meter project will open up the market of smart multi-metering systems, enabling customer participation to energy markets, and at the same time allowing EU industry to take world leadership.

The OPEN meter Consortium consists of 19 members from 7 Member States and is a well
balanced partnership between network operators, equipment suppliers, research entres and standardization bodies. Market penetration of the meter manufacturers that take part in the OPEN meter project, over 80% in Europe, guarantees that the standards developed will have wide acceptance in the industry. The participation of some of the largest European multi-utilities, serving in all more than 100 million supply points, will allow for a comprehensive definition of functional requirements from network operators and energy suppliers.

Having CENELEC on board as a partner of the OPEN meter Consortium will facilitate the
adoption of the results of the project as the European open standards for smart metering. This has already been acknowledged in the recent draft standardization mandate from the European Commission to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI for the development of an open architecture for utility meters involving communication protocols enabling interoperability. The OPEN meter project is taking part in the standardization work, as it is relevant for the development of the standards requested by the mandate.

Interoperability will, therefore, be achieved, and customers and suppliers that wish to directly purchase their meters from different meter manufacturers will be able to do so, thus eliminating eventual Competition disputes that may arise from proprietary solutions that typically keep the customer captive of one single supplier.

The technological and scientific content of the OPEN meter project has already started and is structured in five technical working packages, along with two more working packages for dissemination and coordination, respectively. This simple collaborative working structure, together with a flexible project management, will allow for a quick dissemination of the results of the project as they are obtained and validated, and for an easy roll-out in different European countries.

The OPEN meter project will therefore contribute to the European Union energy efficiency targets and help reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020.

The DLMS User Association through its global presence via its members, can significantly contribute to the success of AMI projects, helping to achieve such important legal, political, business and market objectives, as efficient operation of the energy market, better billing and customer service, better energy efficiency and energy savings.

OPEN meter Consortium members are:

• Utilities: EDF (FR), ENDESA (ES), ENEL (IT), IBERDROLA and RWE (DE). Also Netbeher Nederland (NL) representing all Dutch utilities.
• Meter manufacturers: Actaris (FR), Elster (DE), Landis+Gyr (C) and ZIV Medida (ES)
• Technology partners: Advanced Digital Design (ES), Current (CH), ST Microelectronics (IT) and Usyscom (ES)
• Research centres, universities: CESI Ricerca (IT), KEMA (NL) and Karlsruhe University (DE)
• Associations: CENELEC (BE) and DLMS User Association (CH)

The DLMS User Association, established in 1997, is a non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. It has 125+ members, of which 60% is based in Europe and 30% in Asia. It develops, maintains, supports and promotes the use of the DLMS/COSEM specification. It has certified more than 100 meter types to be DLMS/COSEM compliant.

Source: dlms