“Things get even more interesting when you start to think about how smart meters might integrate into the wider smart grid,” continued Thomas. “Potentially they have to communicate with network operators, a whole raft of consumer appliances, electric vehicles, microgeneration units etc., and that integration is where the power of smart meters is unleashed.”
Thomas also said that a major barrier preventing these integrations is a tangled web of regulation and technical barriers. Energy consumers must also be educated about the benefits smart metering offers so they will be properly motivated to become active participants in how they use energy.
Rich Hampshire of Logica, a UK utility, said that smart metering is needed because of the changing climate, population growth, and limited resources. Hampshire believes a sustainable, secure and affordable power supply requires action from world leaders. Renewable generating capacity must increase but there are technological limits – such as how to address the intermittent supply of renewables – that require a major upgrade to power infrastructure.
SAP executive Maher Chebbo addressed environmental issues at the conference. Chebbo offered five “energy insight predictions”: energy efficiency as a priority, integrated distributed energy resources, $70 billion in smart grid spending in 2013, web portals for engaged energy consumers, and power suppliers focused on reducing their carbon footprint.
“The European Commission has clear fixed goals,” said Chebbo. “In Kyoto in 2007 the different goals for energy reduction, for CO2 reduction and the introduction of new renewables were fixed, requiring 20 percent less energy consumption by 2020 compared to the level in 1990.”
“On 7 December in Copenhagen a United Nations conference will again discuss these targets and need to be even more ambitious, not just thinking about objectives for 2020 but by 2050 having reductions of 80 percent compared to 1990,” Chebbo continued.
Chebbo explained that in Europe the energy market has been deregulated since 2007 but this is not the case in the United States. He said that deregulation has led to utilities investing in supporting information technology. However, said Chebbo, utilities do not have the necessary information and communications technology tools that are required by a fully functioning smart grid.
“There has to be a completely new thinking as there will be ten times the data that there is today,” said Chebbo. “So, one major aspect of investment in smart grids is making these processes available to a wide range of consumers – mostly residential. Smart grid and smart metering investments are required.”
Valerie Le Peltier of M2M consultant The Orange Group spoke of how mobile communications will deliver smart grid solutions. “GSM [Global System for Mobile – the world’s most popular mobile phone standard] might not be appropriate in all cases to connect the [smart] meter up to the information system of the utility and also it might not be economically viable to roll out based on GPRS [general packet radio service – the 2G cellular communications system].”
“We have concentrated on the mesh networks that we thought were the most appropriate from a technical standpoint,” said Le Peltier. “We are now working hand in hand with ETSI [European Telecommunications Standards Institute] to make the machine to machine environment more standardized and for such new mesh networks to become available to anyone who should need them.”
Dr. Michael Laskowsi of German utility RWE Energy spoke about smart meter implementation strategy. Laskowski described a full-scale smart meter rollout in Mülheim City where a modular system is being deployed that will by fully extendable. REW customers will have access to a Web portal that provides them information about their energy consumption and carbon footprint. Customers that conserve energy will qualify for rebates.
PracticaPro
http://www.practicapro.co.uk
Pike Research
1320 Pearl Street, Suite 300
Boulder, CO 80302
http://www.pikeresearch.com
Logica
250 Brook Drive
Green Park
Reading RG2 6UA
http://www.logica.com
SAP
Dietmar-Hopp-Allee 16
Walldorf, 69190
Germany
http://www.sap.com
The Orange Group Ltd
The Innovation Centre
78 Heyford Park
Upper Heyford
Oxfordshire OX25 5HD
http://www.theorangegroup.com
RWE
Rheinlanddamm 24
Dortmund, D-44139
http://www.rwe.com
