Pioneering Smarter Metering in Gas — The Gas Natural AMM Project Case Study

MILAN, Italy and FRAMINGHAM, Mass., October 23, 2009 – IDC Energy Insights recently released a new study that provides an in-depth look at Gas Natural's implementation of its Advanced Meter Management (AMM) pilot project, which covers 10,000 meters installed in the Spanish territory. The report identifies objectives, major drivers behind the company's decision to undertake this project, a description of the implemented solution, the business value, and major lessons learned.

"Smart metering deployment has the potential to be one of the most significant changes in the energy world, not only for utilities, but also for consumers," said Roberta Bigliani, research director for IDC Energy Insights EMEA. "Not surprisingly, the majority of attention is dedicated to electricity. However, interest is also increasing for applying automated meter management (AMM) solutions to the gas and water sectors. However, not many gas pilots are observable across Europe (and worldwide) and Gas Natural is definitively a pioneer in this field."

The Gas Natural Group is a Spanish energy services multinational focusing on the supply, distribution, and commercialization of natural gas in Spain, Latin America, Italy, and France, where it has more than 11 million customers. In 2005, Gas Natural began a long process of evaluating, testing, piloting, and selectively deploying an AMM system for gas.

After defining its specific requirements, Gas Natural carried out two distinct demonstrations with a total scope of 10,000 meters. Each demonstration was defined to test AMM under different conditions: town typology, density of clients, gas network configuration, and communication technologies. Through the demonstration phase, Gas Natural was able to build a business case for future deployments. However, the company's current near-future plans are not for a full rollout for all residential customers, but for a deployment of 300,000 meters in locations where reading costs exceed €4/year.

In this study, IDC Energy Insights highlights all the most relevant steps of this implementation, as well as a ROI analysis on it. The project represents a very relevant and helpful reference for other gas companies. While the pilot's business transformation impact can be considered medium, it has a more significant transformational impact on the industry.

This IDC Energy Insights study, Best Practices: Pioneering Smarter Metering in Gas — The Gas Natural AMM Project Case Study (Doc #EIOS06R9, Sep 2009), by Roberta Bigliani and Gaia Gallotti, is available for purchase at www.idc-ei.com.

Roberta Bigliani will cover these and other topics in the energy supply industry at the European Commission's Sectoral e-Business Watch Conference 2009 – "ICT and e-Business for an Innovative and Sustainable Economy", 29 October 2009, at the Hotel Bloom, rue Royale 250, 1210 Brussels, Belgium. Participation to this event is free and registration can be done online at http://www.ebusiness-watch.org./events/subscribe/subscribe.htm

For media enquiries and for information on how to obtain a copy of this report, please contact Cinzia Rinelli, marketing manager for IDC's European Vertical Markets and IDC Insights EMEA, at +39 02 28457 367 and crinelli@idc.com

About IDC Energy Insights
IDC Energy Insights, part of IDC, is a leading global provider of research-based advisory and consulting services to the energy and utilities industry. Staffed by senior analysts with decades of industry-specific business and technology experience, IDC Energy Insights provides full coverage of the energy industry value chain – from upstream to retail activities. IDC Energy Insights provides a portfolio of offerings that are relevant to both IT and business needs. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company.

Contact
For more information, contact:Cinzia Rinelli
crinelli@idc.com+39 02 28457 367

Source: http://idc.com/getdoc.jsp?pid=23571113&containerId=prIT22053109

First deal outside the United States with two Australian utilities

Deux utilities australiens vont installer 1 million de compteurs intelligents d'ici 2013. Les différents marchés internationaux offrent des défis différents pour le déploiement de compteurs intelligents. Une petite revue des acteurs et des techno par région. Selon cet article EDF deployerai une solution CPL propriétaire.

15/04/2009

The smart meter networking and communications provider lands its first deal outside the United States with two Australian utilities planning to install 1 million smart meters by 2013. Different international markets offer different challenges for smart meter deployments.

Silver Spring Networks has landed its first contract outside the United States – a deal to enable an eventual 1 million smart meters in Australia with its networking technology.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based startup announced the deal with Australian utilities Jemena Electricity Networks and United Energy Distribution on Wednesday. The utilities hope to have 1 million Silver Spring-enabled smart meters from U.K.-based meter maker PRI installed by 2013.

The news adds an international contract to the many Silver Spring has landed with U.S. utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Florida Power & Light and American Electric Power among them – to enable two-way communication between utilities and customers, thus making the meters "smart."

It's a booming business in the United States, which has an estimated 140 million traditional power meters that could be upgraded, though so far the number of smart meters installed is in the low millions, according to recent estimates (see Smart Meter Installations Grow Nearly Fivefold). Canada has another estimated 10 million endpoints.

But North America is far from the only market. In fact, Europe likely holds the current lead, with at least 27 million smart meters installed by Italian utility Enel and millions more in other nations, according to a March report from ABI Research (see Notes From a National Smart Grid Experiment).

Australia, with a population of about 21 million and an estimated 14 million "end-points," or homes and businesses served by power meters, isn't such a large market by comparison, noted Ben Schuman, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities.

Still, landing the contract "validates that their solution can be applied to markets outside North America, which opens up a huge incremental opportunity for them," he said.

Specifically, he noted that the Australian deal indicates that the nation is a good candidate for Silver Spring's radio frequency mesh technology.

Silver Spring equips meters with radios that mesh together in a 900-megahertz frequency range and send data to central collectors for "backhaul" over utility wide-area networks -- a typical means of smart meter communications in the United States (see Smart Grid: A Matter of Standards).

In contrast, European utilities have mostly opted for power-line carrier technologies that send data over existing power lines, Schuman said. Italy's Enel, which uses technology from Echelon Corp., is one example, he said. French utility EDF plans to use its own power-line carrier technology to link an eventual 35 million endpoints in a massive smart meter project, he said.

Power-line carrier is more cost-effective in Europe because utilities there tend to serve more homes per transformer than in the United States, he said. Because those transformers interfere with power-line carrier signals, they must be bypassed with repeater devices, at costs that tend to be too high in U.S. markets, he said (see Will Smart Grid See a Push for Power-Line Networking?).

Silver Spring's Australian presence could grow, said Eric Dresselhuys, vice president of markets. The Australian state of Victoria, which the utilities serve, has mandated that 2.5 million smart meters be installed within its borders, he said.

"There is now a national plan for smart meters in Australia," he added. "We suspect that all of the large utilities throughout the country are going to work to be in compliance with those requirements."

Other Australian utilities are trying different smart meter technologies. San Francisco-based Grid Net, which has developed technology for installing WiMax Internet routers in smart meters from partner General Electric, is testing them with SP AusNet and Energy Australia (see GE Offers WiMax Smart Meter Solution).

The utilities are also considering power-line carrier and cellular networks for their smart meter deployments, according to ZDNet Australia.

Silver Spring has raised about $160 million since 2007, including $90 million since October (see Silver Spring Grabs $75M and Green Light posts here and here).

The company expects to see about 2 million meters with its technology deployed by the end of 2009 (see Green Light post). PG&E, its biggest customer, had installed about 150,000 Silver Spring-enabled electric smart meters as of February, and plans to have 5.3 million electric meters installed by 2011, most of them using Silver Spring technology.

As for PRI, the U.K.-based smart meter maker is involved in projects in Europe, the Middle East and New Zealand as well as Australia, and also makes home energy monitoring devices.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/silver-spring-heads-down-under-6051.html

Smart meter delay may hinder 2020 green target #market #uk

Les services publics du Royaume-Uni mettent en garde des retards dans l'ajustement de la technologie des smartmetering. Les objectifs en matières de changement climatique prevu pour 2020 pourrait être retardé de 4 ans.

LONDON (Reuters) - Smart meters are set to make estimated energy bills a thing of the past, but utilities are warning that delays in fitting the technology could hinder the country's progress in hitting its 2020 climate change targets.

Some industry players claim that unless ministers allow firms to begin work soon, the UK could even miss 2020 by four years.

They also say government funding may be needed to meet the estimated 6-12 billion pounds cost.

"There is a target, but the problem is that the starting gun hasn't been fired," the director of smart metering for British Gas, Petter Allison, said.

Smart meters provide data on energy use, allowing utilities to send customers accurate bills without using traditional metre readers.

The government aims to install the meters by 2020, the same year in which ministers are trying to meet a target of generating 15 percent of energy from renewable sources.

Experts say the technology will help Britain achieve its goal by allowing people to cut their energy use, reducing the need for new power stations and wind farms.

Millions of households in other countries already have the meters -- Italy fitted 30 million in four years -- but the UK has yet to decide how best to fit the 47 million needed in homes and businesses.

Ministers approved the principle of the rollout last year, but an announcement about how it would be done is still awaited.

British Gas, owned by Centrica, wants a structure allowing utilities to fit and run them for their existing customers, backed up by a central communications system.

It said an alternative system being considered, under which new regional franchises would do the work, could stall the process and put it back four years.

"If (the government) chooses the regulated way, with bids for regions, then everything would stop because we don't know who would be doing what," Allison said. "We can make up delays, but we just need them to make a decision."

FUNDING

Utility support service group Spice, which fits water meters in homes and businesses, said government support may be needed to offset potential funding difficulties.

Chief Executive Simon Rigby said smaller energy firms may be reluctant to invest in fitting meters for customers, only to see them switch to a rival supplier later.

"The pay-back is sketchy at best," he said. "Smart meters can't come soon enough, but I think they're years away."

The Energy Retail Association (ERA), a body representing utility firms, said it was keen to see the meters rolled out as soon as possible and was expecting a decision "fairly soon".

"Timing is of the essence," a spokeswoman said. "Companies are keen to get this programme off the ground because the 2020 deadline is fast approaching."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC) said the aim to complete the metre rollout by 2020 was realistic. "That's what we're hoping to achieve."

"We're confident, which is why we need to make the right decisions so it can be done within the timescale," she said.

"It (involves) a massive overhaul in every house, so it needs to be done correctly."

She said ministers hoped to publish a consultation document in the next couple of months.

The document will set out options including whether energy companies should do it in their areas, whether it should be done by third parties on a regional or national basis, and the type of communication system needed.

Ian Parrett, an analyst at energy consultancy Inenco, said ministers needed to encourage industry co-operation in fitting the meters, rather than setting targets and penalising firms if they fail to meet them.

Ensuring homes and businesses used them to control their energy use was as important as fitting them, he added.

"It's all very well installing the meters, but if you don't use the information (they provide), it won't make any difference."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKTRE53134720090402?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

02/04/2009

10 Monitoring Tools Bringing Smart Energy Home #product

L'année 2009 sera l'année de lancement des displays sans fil

Thanks to funds from the stimulus package and renewed attention to energy savings, 2009 is the year companies are planning to launch wireless energy dashboards that will sit in your home, monitor energy data from your electricity meter and let you know if you’re being an energy hog. While tech firms have been trying to sell you on the “digital home” for years — complete with wireless networks that can do everything from control your entertainment equipment to operate high-tech security systems to roast a chicken — the new energy management firms are keeping it simple by using low-cost hardware and open standards to monitor energy data.

This year is particularly important to these mostly young companies, as President Obama has pledged to help utilities install 40 million more smart meters (basically digital meters that create a 2-way connection with the power grid and the utility). Smart meters installed at homes can unleash data about the fluctuating price of electricity throughout the day, enabling consumers that have energy management tools to shift energy consumption to the time of day when power is cheapest. For utilities, that can mean better management of the power grid and eliminate the need to build out expensive power generating systems.

A half-dozen companies are launching their first energy dashboards this year, and a few others are starting to gain traction with already available online tools. One of the biggest differences between these firms is whether companies will sell directly to the consumer or to utility partners for upcoming smart meter rollouts. Several of the already-available options for consumers bypass smart meters and utilities and just help the interested consumer with a standard electricity meter. They’re cheap and available online, but they provide less detailed data.

The utility-focused tools use smart meter info to provide a deeper dive into energy analysis and can even control smart appliances for utilities to implement demand response events. But the drawback of such tools is that you’ll need a lot of patience and a little luck. To get hooked up with one of these tools, you’ll need to be in the footprint of a utility that’s rolling out smart meters, and at this point less than 6 percent of the U.S. population has a smart meter.

EnergyHub: EnergyHub makes a high-end energy dashboard that will offer Google Docs-style spreadsheets and graphs of resource use. EnergyHub recently raised Series A funding and says it’s working on a 50-home pilot trial in an East Coast city with a yet-to-be-named utility. The device will be sold direct to consumers online and through utilities. Available: Mid-2009.

Tendril: Tendril sells a combo of energy management services, including a wireless in-home energy display, a smart thermostat, a web-based energy portal, smart outlets and cell phone apps that can help homeowners diagnose and cut energy consumption. While the startup, which raised $12 million in Series B funding earlier this year, is now offering its tools to utilities, it’s also considering a direct-to-consumer approach. Available: Now, to utilities

Onzo: London-based Onzo makes a slick-looking energy display and wireless sensor kit that runs on energy harvested from the home electrical cable. The startup has raised £2 million ($4 million) from Sigma Capital Group and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE); SSE has placed an order for £7 million-worth of Onzo devices and services and has exclusive rights to Onzo’s products and services in the UK and Ireland. Available: Mid-2009

Agilewaves: Agilewaves‘ Resource Monitor tracks and manages energy, gas and water consumption in real time from web-enabled devices. The system, custom-designed for larger buildings and higher-end homes, needs to be installed by an electrician and can also be used to dim lights, turn on and off heating and cooling, and adjust smart appliances. The six-person, Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup is actively looking to raise a Series A round of funding. Available: Now

Google PowerMeter: The search-engine giant told us recently that it is trying to bring PowerMeter, its online energy information tool, to market sometime this year. Google is working with device makers — we’ve reported on GE and Tendril — and hoping to launch with a direct-to-consumer product as well as a utility product. Available: 2009

GreenBox: Like Google, GreenBox is focusing on the software side of things with its web-based energy tool. The team, founded by developers of the digital web platform Flash, is already working with utilities, including Oklahoma Gas and Electric and an as-yet-unnamed New York utility, and has also partnered with smart thermostat makers Energate and Golden Power Manufacturing. The company hopes to close its first round of funding by June. Available: Now, to utilities

The Energy Detective: The Energy Detective (or TED) is one of the few energy management tools that’s already available to consumers. The Charleston, S.C.-based company behind TED, called Energy Inc., says its system can save home owners 10-20 percent on their monthly electricity bill. Available: Now

PowerMand: Founded in 2006, Portland, Ore.-based PowerMand makes DreamWatts, a wireless energy management tool that focuses on making smart thermostats effective for cutting energy consumption. The company, which is partnering with facilities maintenance firms and utilities, provides a smart thermostat, an Internet gateway and a service running over PowerMand’s servers. Available: Now

Green Energy Options: Cambridge, UK-based Green Energy Options‘ home energy monitoring system, called the Home Energy Hub, comes in three display options: a small one-panel display, the Solo, which shows real-time pricing and consumption; the two-paneled Duet, which shows energy management of up to six appliances; and the Trio, which is a large touchscreen that can monitor up to 100 sensors. Available: Summer 2009 to consumers in the UK.

Energy Aware: Founded in 2005, the Vancouver, B.C.-based Energy Aware team has developed the PowerTab, a wireless energy display that collects current energy price and usage from smart meters. Demand response company Comverge distributes the device in North America, and the startup has raised close to $2 million in funding from angel investors in the Pacific Northwest. Available: Second-quarter 2009, to utilities

This article also appeared on BusinessWeek.com.

http://earth2tech.com/2009/04/14/10-energy-dashboards-for-your-home/

14/04/2009

Metering 2009 issue1- Some articles

• Metering 2009 issue1 - AMR Technologie in the Asia Pacific Region.pdf
• Metering 2009 issue1 - A Regional study of in-home display units.pdf
• Metering 2009 issue1 - Advanced ISKRAEMECO Management.pdf
• Metering 2009 issue1 - CINTERION wireless modules.pdf
• Metering 2009 issue1 - DLMS.pdf
• Metering 2009 issue1 - Régulation of Gas Smart Metering in Italy.pdf
• Metering 2009 issue1 - STAR ENERGY-water-gaz integrated AMR system.pdf

Z-Wave Alliance in the Smart Metering market with Kamstrup

L'alliance Z-Wave à annoncer l'arrivée d'un nouveau membre Kamstrup, un fournisseur de solution de comptage danois. Selon une autre source (portel.de) Kamstrup prevoit pour le deuxième trimestre 2009, l'implementation de cette technologie dans les modules associés aux compteurs.

The Z-Wave Alliance has announced its newest member: Kamstrup, the Danish manufacturer of metering solutions, which now joins the leading industry consortium in the field of home control solutions. With the addition of Kamstrup, the Z-Wave Alliance further reinforces its major role in the integration of energy-saving and smart metering solutions into intelligent home networks.

Kamstrup is a globally active hi-tech company specialising in the field of system solutions for energy metering. It serves energy suppliers with sustainable technologies that automatically collect and administer data regarding energy consumption in electricity, cooling, heating, water and gas units, in a clear and cost-saving manner.

Z-Wave technology is the leading 2-way wireless communications protocol for smart metering products, with over 300 home control products already on the market. Z-Wave’s Advanced Energy Control (AEC) Framework allows energy providers and smart metering manufacturers to establish an intelligent, forward-looking and environmentally-friendly energy management system for households. Kamstrup is planning to integrate Z-Wave technology into its meter modules in the second quarter of 2009. This will allow energy consumption data to be sent to smart energy displays, home control centres and energy suppliers.

"As a leading international company in the field of metering solutions Kamstrup knows the importance of integrating Z-Wave technology”, says Lis Muusmann, Marketing Manager at Kamstrup.

“Companies like as Kamstrup enrich the Z-Wave ecosystem with Smart Metering solutions, which will bring consumers an important step further towards reducing their energy consumption”, comments Raoul Wijgergangs, Chairman of the Z-Wave Alliance.

Z-Wave as a key to energy conservation
The Z-Wave AEC represents the latest advances in the field of domestic energy management. It is the industry’s largest ecosystem, as it combines and guarantees interoperability between over 300 products from the areas of smart metering and home control. Investments in Z-Wave technology are future-proof, for both consumers and energy utilities. Z-Wave technology lets homeowners obtain a clear overview of the energy consumption of their electric and heating devices. This new level of usage transparency allows consumers to make effective decisions on reducing consumption. Z-Wave integrates functions such as smart metering, consumer notifications, automated load shedding and whole-home control. This enables real-time energy management that reduces consumption and costs, and provides active control of all energy-consuming appliances. The Z-Wave ecosystem makes it possible to view the current status at any time and from any place in order to ascertain, for example, at what time the most resources are used, and allow adjustments as required. Furthermore, homeowners can also make the most of the availability of various billing methods, such as billing in accordance with duration of use or in accordance with certain tariff times. This allows consumption to be reduced at peak times, and also gives energy providers the opportunity to adjust their production levels to actual demand.

Secure transmission to the provider
Assurance of security is central to metering applications: data transmissions to providers contain personal information about consumers along with the readings and settings from the meters. Z-Wave provides a secure, dynamic and scaleable end-to-end data transfer between metering devices and energy provider. The Z-Wave AEC standardises the communication and/or the remote automated meter reading (AMR) process that occurs between the meter in the building and the energy supplier. The method of transmission is specially configured for AMR, which means that the accuracy and security of the data can be guaranteed. AES 128-bit encryption is used to enable provision of secure access to metering devices from any computer via the internet.

Source: Press Z-wave

Ducth specification on smart meter #normalisation

Ci-dessous une sélection des principales spécifications disponibles sur les compteurs intelligents au pays bas. Une mise a jour régulière est réalisée sur le site de l'energiened. Plusieurs technologies sont utilisées notamment: DLMS-COSEM pour les compteurs electrique et M-BUS et wireless M-BUS pour les compteurs sur piles.

(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: Main Document V2.31

(08/07) NTA 8130: Minimum set of functions for metering of electricity, gas and thermal energy for domestic customers. (English version)

(01/09) NTA 8027: Minimum set of function for Smart Water Meters (only in dutch)

(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: IP via Ethernet Requirements V2.31

This document defines the requirements for the IP via Ethernet communication. The main focus of this document is on requirements to be defined for (the communication device of)

the E meter.

(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: GPRS Requirements V2.31

This document focuses on the P3 and P3.2 interfaces for Electricity meters and Data Concentrators since both interfaces can make use of a GPRS connection. The P3.2 interface is

introduced because a Data Concentrator (DC) can be placed between the CAS and the meter(

s). With this, the DC divides P3 into two parts, P3.1 and P3.2. The communication interface P3 (see figure 1.1) is based on the DLMS/COSEM standard and communication interface P3.2 is based on Web Services standards. GPRS meters and GPRS concentrators both contain 3GPP certified communication modules enabling them to connect to a GSM/GPRS network for data transmission. At a later stage, Grid operators might use alternative technologies for communication, for example UMTS, HSDPA, LTE, Wimax, SMS and/or Mesh.

Whenever the term Communication Unit is used within this document this applies for both the

communication unit of the meter and the communication unit of the DC since both can make use of a GPRS connection.

(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: P1 Companion Standard V2.31

The goal of this companion standard is to reach an open, standardized protocol implementation and functional hardware requirements related to the communication between several types of Service Modules and a Metering System. Any specification in this standard is intended to encourage suppliers to develop their hardware and software in a common direction. Standardised protocols and hardware specifications are referred to as much as possible.

(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: P2 Companion Standard V2.31

The goal of this companion standard is to reach an open, standardized protocol implementation and functional hardware requirements related to the communication between several types of meter and an electricity meter. The communication bus is based on the M-Bus and wirless M-BUS

(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: P3 Companion Standard V2.31

This companion standard focuses on the P3 interface for Electricity meters. The goal of this companion standard is to reach an open, standardized protocol implementation based on DLMS/COSEM. This companion standard is the result of a combined effort of the major Dutch grid operators and different manufactures who defined the necessary DLMS/COSEM object mapping.

(01/09) Dutch Smart Meter Requirements: P3.1 Companion Standard V2.31

This companion standard focuses on the P3 interface for Electricity meters. The goal of this companion standard is to reach an open, standardized protocol implementation based on XML/Webservices. This companion standard is the result of a combined effort of the major Dutch grid operators and different manufactures who defined the necessary XML/Webservices object mapping.

Source: http://www.energiened.nl/

Metering 2009 issue1 Régulation of Gas SmartMetering in Italy

Metering2009issue1-RégulationofGasSmartMeteringinItaly

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Magazines & Newspape smart metering itali

ESMIG, promotes smart Metering in Europe. #normalisation

European Smart Metering Industry Group (ESMIG) est une fondation ouverte aux fournisseurs de produits et de services dans le domaine du comptage. Créer le 21 janvier 2009, cette fondation promeut le développement d'un standard open source et interopérable pour l'électricité, l'eau, le gaz et la mesure de chaleur. Leur devise est 20% de CO2 en moins, 20% d'efficacité en plus et 20% d'energie renouvelable en 2020. L'ESMIG est très impliqué dans l'initiative de l'ESOs. Elle a d'ailleurs signé en fevrier 2009 avec le CENELEC un accord de cooperation pour créer des outils standardisés d'optimisation des consommations en Europe. L'ESMIG est présidé par Landis + Gyr --esa.

The foundation of the European Smart Metering Industry Group (ESMIG) recognises the fact that the relevant industries have a key role to play in

* the general roll out and adequate use of Smart Metering technology,
* a consistent technological roll out in each of the 27 Member States of the EU and
* the provision of maximum benefit from the new technology for users, utilities and the environment.

Traditionally, the primary role of utility metering has been to accurately measure usage of electricity, gas and water. Until now this usage data has been - with some exceptions - manually collected by the utilities. But the metering market is currently undergoing considerable change, and as smarter metering systems become available, they are being viewed as the future for utility metering.

ESMIG will give advice and provide its expertise to key stakeholders and actors, such as the European Union institutions, EU Member States governments and authorities, regulators, consumers and utilities on all aspects related to Smart Metering.

ESMIG has a number of objectives including:

• the pan-European introduction and roll out of Smart Metering through harmonisation and interoperability
• the creation and implementation of consistent standards for metering and communications
• the identification and promotion of best practice solutions for smart multi-utility metering.

The European Smart Metering Industry Group has been created by key players in the European Smart Metering market. ESMIG members are technical experts on all aspects of Smart Metering, i.e. utility metering, installation, consulting, software, meter reading, hosting and all relevant communications’ solutions.

• Actaris
• Cinterion
• Elster
• EnergyICT®
• Görlitz
• Hager
• Diehl Metering
• Iskraemeco
• Janz
• Landis+Gyr
• PRI Ltd
• Sagem
• Sensus
• Wavecom
• ESMIG Members

Source: http://www.esmig.eu/

Echelon Corp. has released a new version of LonWorks #techno #market

Echelon annonce une nouvelle version de son réseau LonWorks 2.0. Cette version devrait notamment reduire le cout d'installation de 50%. L'article rappel qu'Echelon est très utilisé en Europe avec 1.5 millions de compteurs intelligents + 27 millions chez l'italien ENEL avec son réseau CPL . Bien implanté en Europe Echelon l'est assez peu au US malgrès quelques inititatives de déployement en Californie avec Pacific Gas & Electic (PCG) et Duke Energy (DUK). La technologie CPL Echellon et son concurant HomePlug (supporté par l'alliance Zigbee) ne sont toujours pas des standards ouverts --esa.

By Jeff St. John march 03, 2009

Echelon Corp. (ELON) has released a new version of LonWorks, its widely used technology for building automation to better integrate it into the company's smart grid efforts.

Now the question is, will utilities pick up on it?

Echelon's "LonWorks 2.0" platform announced Tuesday is meant to ease the integration of energy monitoring and control systems and devices into existing LonWorks networks, said Steve Nguyen, director of corporate marketing.

Hundreds of thousands of buildings are now using LonWorks as part of building management systems installed by Honeywell (HON), Siemens (SI) and other big players in the field.

LonWorks 2.0 promises to add a host of new products that can be integrated with existing and new systems, adding improvements that will cut the costs of installing those products by as much as 50 percent compared to the old systems, Nguyen said.

How the new and improved LonWorks platform might help the company's smart grid efforts remains to be seen.

Echelon's smart meter business – called Networked Energy Services – is based on smart meters that communicate data over power lines to concentrators that use IP-based communications networks to get information back to utilities.

Echelon's system has been widely adopted in Europe, with 1.5 million of its smart meters installed and 90 pilot projects underway, Nguyen said. Echelon also provided power line networking to a 27 million home smart meter project with Italian utility Enel (see Will Smart Grid See a Push for Power-Line Networking?).

But Echelon's system has been less popular in the United States, where most utilities have opted for radio mesh or other wireless communications to connect smart meters, citing the higher costs associated with power line networking (see SCE Preps $1.63B Smart-Meter Program and Smart Grid: A Matter of Standards).

While Echelon is working with several U.S. utilities to control streetlights, including major California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG), so far Duke Energy (DUK) is the only U.S. utility to use Echelon for a major smart meter deployment.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based utility is working with Echelon in a project in Cincinnati, that has seen 60,000 smart meters installed so far, said David Mohler, Duke's chief technology officer.

Duke also is seeking regulatory permission to bring smart meters to more than 800,000 homes in its service area in Indiana. Nguyen said Echelon hopes to work on that project as well.

Duke plans to spend $1 billion to bring smart meters to its entire 4 million-household area in the next five years, so Echelon will likely be seeking to prove itself in the utility's initial deployments to get involved in those larger projects, according to a January research note from Deutsche Bank Securities analysts.

Could LonWorks 2.0 help Echelon win those contracts? It's hard to say, but given that LonWorks is already deployed in a large number of commercial buildings, "In the back of our mind is the idea of being able to connect some of that stuff" to Duke's smart meter network, Mohler said. The utility hasn't made any hard plans to do that yet, he added.

But Echelon would like to see Duke and other utilities look to commercial buildings as the target for energy savings, Nguyen said.

"That's really and truly the most near-term alternative energy in the market," as compared to homes, he said. The Department of Energy estimates that 70 percent of all electricity in the United States is consumed in commercial buildings, and 70 percent of that is consumed by lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning, he said.

While Nguyen wouldn't say what new products are coming out in conjunction with LonWorks 2.0, he did say the first would be aimed at the commercial market.

Bringing out a new version of LonWorks could be another way to "kickstart" Echelon's smart meter business in the United States, said John Quealy, managing director in equity research for Cannacord Adams.

"Echelon is at the nexus of two trends – utility communications and building communications," Quealy said. "But so far they haven't capitalized on it as such."

The company saw a slowdown in business in 2008, with a net loss of $25.8 million on revenues of $134 million, compared to a loss of $15.7 million on revenues of $137.6 million in 2007.

But the continuation of Duke's smart meter deployments, as well as the federal stimulus package signed into law this month, could boost Echelon's business in the long term, Quealy said (see Obama Signs Stimulus Package).

The bill contains $11 billion to modernize the nation's electricity grid, along with $4.5 billion in grants for smart grid technology deployments. It also has $5.5 billion for improving the energy efficiency of federal buildings, a market where Echelon's LonWorks has some penetration given that the U.S. Army uses it, Nguyen said.

Of course, others are looking to capitalize on making commercial buildings more efficient as well, including the companies that install LonWorks in their building control systems. Honeywell and Siemens are among those increasingly using their own proprietary networks in place of LonWorks, according to Deutsche Bank Securities' January research note.

And then there's Cisco Systems, which last month announced it was getting into the commercial building energy management business with its EnergyWise product running over its own networks. Schneider Electric – another huge building automation systems installer –has agreed to work with Cisco on that effort (see Cisco Jumps Into Energy Management for Computers, Buildings).

As for home energy monitoring and control systems, Echelon is already working with Samsung electronics for devices that monitor energy use in apartments in China and Korea, Nguyen said. Apartments are natural venues for power line communications, since the distances between meters (often located in the basement) and apartments above make wireless communications difficult.

Whether Echelon's power line signaling technology for carrying data from a smart meter over a building's electrical wiring will win out over competing standards is an open question. Another power line carrier technology is being developed by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, a group of companies that is working with the ZigBee Alliance to integrate their efforts to bring communications technology into homes.

Given that ZigBee is emerging as a front-runner in the race to become the meter-to-home wireless communications protocol of choice for home energy management systems, that partnership could give HomePlug an advantage over Echelon's technology.

But Nguyen pointed out that Echelon's technology is the de-facto standard for building controls and power line carrier technology in Europe. The company's technology has also been accepted by a host of standards bodies including the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), he said.

As for using ZigBee instead of power line signaling, Echelon's smart meters can be retrofitted to carry ZigBee radios, Nguyen said, though no customers have done so yet.

source: seekingalpha.com

Malte, premier Smart Grid grandeur nature pour IBM #market

Malte va se doté d'un réseau d'eau et d'électricité intelligent en 2012, sous le pilotage d'IBM -esa.

Les compagnies d'électricité et d'eau de l'île de Malte, Enemalta Corporation et Water Services Corporation (WSC), ont confié à IBM, pour 70 millions d'euros, le soin de mettre en place un réseau intelligents d'eau et d'électricté pour les 400.000 Maltais .

Le géant américain va d'abord remplacer par des compteurs intelligents électroniques les 250.000 compteurs électriques analogiques de l'île, qui intégreront désormais à la fois l'eau et l'électricité. Ils seront consultables et gérables à distance, et constitueront la première étape d'un réseau intelligent d'un bout à l'autre de la chaîne.

Les nouveaux compteurs permettront toute une série de nouveaux services, tant pour les consommateurs que pour les compagnies de distribution: le paiement de la consommation réelle et non estimée, des tarifs flexibles, la génération automatique des factures, le pré-paiement, le suivi de la consommation via un portail internet, qui permettra de choisir les forfaits les plus adaptés. En outre la consommation d'eau et d'électricité seront optimisées (réduction des pertes, gestion à distance du réseau, analyse en temps réel de la consommation sur le réseau).

Le système doit être entièrement terminé en 2012.

C'est peu sans doute face aux 40 millions de compteurs que Barack Obama veut installer aux Etats-Unis, aux quelques 35 millions que veulent déployer la France comme la Grande-Bretagne pour équiper tous les foyers, sans oublier les 28 millions de compteurs déjà installé en italie, pays pionniers, mais avec ce système intégral Malte servira de test grandeur nature à ses plus grands voisins, et de vitrine à IBM qui se positionne en force sur ce créneau convoité aussi par Google (voir: http://www.greenunivers.com/2008/11/google-un-pas-de-plus-dans-le-secteurs-des-reseaux-electriques-et-compteurs-intelligents926/ ).

IBM: It's All About Smart Grid in 2009
by: Greentech Media December 22, 2008
source: seekingalpha.com

Ethanol and fuel investing exploded in 2007. Solar went bonkers in 2008. And in 2009, the money is set to flow into smart grid companies.

"I'm more convinced than ever that it's just about to happen," said Drew Clark, of IBM's Venture Capital Group in an interview today. "Cleantech may be the only category [of venture investing] that is left relatively unscathed and [VCs] are looking to put new money into traditional IT type of companies and smart grid is exactly that."

Clark in some ways is a human weathervane of VC trends. IBM's VC group does not invest directly in startups. Instead, it meets with startups and VCs, tries to determine future trends and promising companies and then devises out ways to dovetail IBM's strategies and service divisions with these emerging ideas.

IBM then acts as a conduit for bringing these ideas to large customers. Thus, if Big Blue is excited about something, there is a good chance that a channel for bringing a new idea to market is already being assembled.

Smart grid is attractive on a number of levels. For one thing, a substantial amount of the power in the U.S. is wasted. UC Berkeley's Arun Manjumar recently said that the U.S. consumes 100 quads (or 100 quadrillion BTUs) of energy a year and 50 to 60 quads get lost as waste heat or by other means before it can be used. Smart grid technologies that can help shuttle around power loads over a network conceivably could put a dent in that.

Second, the technology better fits into the VC mold for building companies. Unlike solar or biofuel companies, most smart grid outfits don't need to build huge factories. They develop software or networking devices for controlling various aspects of power transmission or consumption.

Standout smart grid companies that have received VC funding in the past year include networks.com, Trilliant, GridPoint, eMeter, Silver Spring Networks, Smart Synch, GainSpan, Grid Net and Onzo. Smart grid actually passed biofuels in the second quarter in the number of VC deals completed and then passed biofuels in the amount of money and number of deals in the third quarter, according to VenturePower, a newsletter published by Greentech Media.

Third, the grid right now is ... uh ... pretty dumb. It was made to send electrons in one direction and was not designed for two-way communication.

"Smart grid may be the largest cloud," said Clark. "It will be expensive, but that also means it will be lucrative" for companies selling networking gear.

Fourth, because smart grid doesn't really exist yet, the time exists for startups to set standards and practices. Energy storage, for instance, could be a lucrative area. Right now, many companies are talking mostly about planting energy storage facilities where power like solar or wind is generated. But why not put energy storage where it gets consumed, sort of the way Akamai figured out how to cache network data closer to consumers. [Side Note: We hereby reserving the acronym NASE for Network Attached Storage for Energy, for these types of devices.]

The market, however, will likely evolve in a different manner than the computer revolution. The customer base for computers and networking equipment was huge: companies with five to seven people need at least some services and hardware. Utilities, which are fairly finite, will be the main customers for smart grid technologies and they will conduct lengthy trials before massive deployments.

That will be good for IBM, Clark noted. Pacific Gas & Electric is not going to want to deal with a bunch of startups. You can imagine the scene, he joked: Hundreds of people outside of PG&E headquarters touting laptops with business plans. Instead, they will effectively look to large companies that can integrate a bunch of these technologies into a platform.

Source: Energo

European standardization activities for smart meters

La commission Européenne a mandaté l'ESO (European Standardization Organizations) pour développer des standards Européens de communication ouvert et interopérables pour les compteurs. Un premier brouillon est prévu dans 3 mois (~avril 2009), le standard de communication sera présenté dans 9 mois (~oct 2009), les autres standards doivent être acceptés dans les 30 mois (~juillet 2012) --esa.

Note to CIML Members and OIML Corresponding Members 19.02.2009

Dear Colleagues, The European Commission has drafted a mandate to the European Standardization Organizations (ESOs) for the development of European standards on an open architecture for utility meters involving communication protocols enabling interoperability.

At the initiative of ESMIG, the recently formed European Smart Metering Industry Group, CENELEC has taken the initiative to establish a cooperation between the ESOs (CEN, CENELEC and ETSI) and stakeholder organizations (including the OIML) of standardization activities relating to smart metering.

This BIML Circular is intended to inform the OIML community about this coordination initiative and to suggest how the OIML may be involved in these standardization activities.

The EU Commission's mandate

CEN, CENELEC and ETSI are requested to develop:

1. A European standard comprising a software and hardware open architecture for utility meters that supports secure bidirectional communication through standardized interfaces and data exchange formats and allows advanced information and management and control systems for consumers and service suppliers;

2. European standards containing harmonized solutions for additional functionalities within an interoperable framework.

The draft mandate1 calls for a work program to be presented to the European Commission within 3 months after acceptance of the mandate (by the ESOs). The standard for communication is to be presented within 9 months and the other standards within 30 months of the acceptance of the mandate

The mandate:

• specifies that the deliverables shall indicate where they cover the requirements of the MID (Directive 2004/22/EC, notably Annex I points 7.6, 8.1-8.5 and 10.5 2);
• asks that special attention be paid to transparency in the process of developing these standards;
• instructs the ESOs to take 'the utmost account' of any relevant developments in international standardization;
• instructs the ESOs, as appropriate, to invite representative stakeholder organizations as well as WELMEC and the Open Meter Project to take part in the work.

Coordination of standardization activities

At the initiative of ESMIG, the European Smart Metering Industry Group, CENELEC organized an initial coordination meeting on smart metering on 21 January 2009 in Brussels. The meeting was attended by representatives from several TCs of the ESOs, industry, the regulators, the European Commission and the OIML.

SMART METERS Draft standardisation mandate

View more presentations from livemetering.

In the meeting information was given about the European Commission mandate and representatives from the relevant Technical Committees of CEN, CENELEC and ETSI gave information on present standardization activities.

Finally, a proposal was put on the table to establish an ad-hoc coordination group in which the main stakeholders (including the OIML) are represented. This group would not be concerned with the substance of the standards, but only with the work program (“who does what”).

OIML involvement

Several OIML TCs/SCs are concerned with the issue of smart metering:

• TC 5/SC 2 Software (secretariat: Germany and BIML)

• D 31: General requirements for software controlled measuring instruments

• TC 8/SC 5 Water meters (secretariat: United Kingdom)

• R 49: Water meters

• TC 8/SC 7 Gas metering (secretariat: The Netherlands)

• R 6: General provisions for gas volume meters

• R 31: Diaphragm gas meters

• R 137-1: Gas meters. Part 1: Requirements

• TC 11 Instruments for measuring temperature and associated quantities (secretariat: Germany)

• R 75: Heat meters

• TC 12 Instruments for measuring electrical quantities (secretariat: Australia)

• R 46: Active electrical energy meters for direct connection of class 2

Where appropriate, these TCs/SCs should investigate the adequacy of the OIML publications under their respective responsibility and which amendments would be required (if any) to make these publications applicable to smart meters.

Prior to that, however, it is necessary to identify the “additional functionalities” that make utility meters become smart meters and which of those additional functionalities should be in the scope of legal metrology.

The OIML Seminar on smart meters, which the BIML is organizing in Brijuni, Croatia (2–5 June 2009) provides an excellent opportunity for the OIML to formulate its position as regards smart meters in legal metrology (notably which additional functionalities should be under legal control) and to make proposals for work to be undertaken by relevant OIML TCs/SCs in this field, taking into account the ongoing activities in Europe and elsewhere.

The OIML TC/SC Secretariats mentioned above should be represented at the Seminar and be ready to discuss common issues in drafting requirements for smart meters under legal control. This 'discussion' may be continued after the Seminar and be facilitated by the BIML providing internet tools.

The BIML will continue to represent the OIML in the European standardization coordination


Source: www.kazinmetr.kz

Wireless M-BUS by Texas Instrument #normalisation #techno

Today I just want to give you a brief introduction to WMBUS since the upcoming CC430 will be a good fit for this emerging standard. In short, the WMBUS standard (EN 13757-4:2005) specifies communications between water, gas, heat, and electric meters and is becoming widely accepted in Europe for smart metering or Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) applications.

As you can see from my very simplified drawing, the intention is to use WMBUS inside the home to read different kinds of meters. The E-meter could either be used as a concentrator or a separate concentrator can be used (imagine the E-meter somewhere inside the house but not at a location where you would want to mount a gateway for external communication with the utility company).

Why would anyone want the meters to communicate? Well, it is all about saving energy and cost while increasing reliability:

• all meters can be read without human intervention
• allows status check of any meter for repair/maintenance

Energy displays which shows instant consumption and cost is also easy to add with this technology, and feedback from people I have talked to is that these displays actually have an impact on household powerconsumption (imagine being able to see just how much it costs to turn on that hairdryer or fry an egg on Sunday morning).

An example of an energy company deploying such a display is here:

http://www.scottishsouthern.co.uk/SSEInternet/index.aspx?id=12938&TierSlicer1_TSMenuTargetID=1364&TierSlicer1_TSMenuTargetType=1&TierSlicer1_TSMenuID=6

Who will benefit from this new technology? Here is my take:

1)Politicians: Higher customer satisfaction and CO2 savings

2)Regulators: "Fair" market conditions and consumption transparency

3)Customers: Save money&energy, new services

4)Energy Industry: Process improvement and load balancing (although connecting AC's and water heaters to the network would make things much more interesting as it enables realtime ajustment of peak load on the grid. This functionality can easily be incorporated at a later stage however, and perhaps some countries or companies will add this as a feature.)

Who are the first movers in this space? For now at least Germany, Austria and the Netherlands are moving towards WMBUS as part of their national smart metering solution.

Below are a few links from EnergieNed, the Association of Energy Producers, Traders and Retailers in the Netherlands which describe in detail how smart metering and Wireless M-Bus is being applied in the Netherlands - happy reading!

P3 interface for Electricity meters

http://www.energiened.nl/_upload/bestellingen/publicaties/286_P3Dutch%20Smart%20Meter%20%20v2.1%20final%20P3.pdf

P2 interface for Gas, Gas valve, Thermal (heat /cold), and Water meters.

http://www.energiened.nl/_upload/bestellingen/publicaties/285_P2Dutch%20Smart%20Meter%20v2.1%20final%20P2.pdf

P1 interface for gas, gas valve, thermal (heat /cold), and water meters.

http://www.energiened.nl/_upload/bestellingen/publicaties/284_P1Smart%20Meter%20v2.1%20final%20P1.pdf

By now you might wonder what TI has to offer in this space?

We are active both on chip development and engaging with software development partners. For more information on how to send WMBUS compliant packets with MSP430 and CC1101, take a look at this application note which includes software. http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/techdocsabstract.tsp?abstractName=swra234a

This will of course be updated with CC430 code once the chip is available!

Here are two links to TI development network partners using our technology for "Wireless M-Bus out-of-the-box" solutions - no need for additional RF hardware design, certification or WMBUS software stack development.

http://www.radiocrafts.com/index.php?sideID=328&ledd1=330

http://www.amber-wireless.de/en/produkte/funkmodule/default.php?fnum=122243584339

We would love to hear your comments, feel free to use the comment field on this blog!

Posted on Jan 07 2009 By Erling

Source: https://community.ti.com/blogs/cc430/archive/2009/01/07/wireless-m-bus-and-the-cc430.aspx

Radiocrafts and Wavecom introduce Wireless M-Bus and ZigBee® - enabled GSM/GPRS/EDGE gateway for smart metering #techno #market

Radiocrafts AS and Wavecom SA announced (2008-09-18) the launch of a new GSM/GPRS/EDGE gateway for smart metering which embeds Wireless M-Bus and ZigBee, all in a very compact form factor.

The Wireless M-Bus standard (EN 13757-4:2005) specifies the communication between water, gas, heat and electricity meters and concentrators, whereas ZigBee is a standard for monitoring and control applications using low power radio networking.

The unique new solution is based on Wavecom’s Fastrack Supreme, a programmable application processor with GSM/GPRS/EDGE modem capabilities. The Fastrack Supreme comes with an open-standard interface which allows developers to add supplementary I/O connectivity and features in the form of expansion cards. Radiocrafts has developed a unique expansion card for smart metering which adds Wireless M-Bus or ZigBee to the GSM/GPRS/EDGE communications function.

See the press release for more information.

Source: Radiocrafts