December 29th, 2009
Simon
From coverage
Major European Telecoms Operators partner up to provide smart meter/smart grid services to German market. The companies will work together to develop an “extensive offer” for the German market meant to provide consumers with real-time information about their energy and water use. Both subsidiaries will market the offering as a managed service through their respective sales organizations.
The companies said the deal matches each firm’s core competencies. Alcatel-Lucent will provide its Smart Metering Management System, an IP-based software platform for real-time monitoring of utility meters, as well as services to help integrate the new smart meter services with an energy provider’s existing back-end systems, such as those for resource planning and data management. Vodafone will provide the communications connection between the smart meters installed at homes and Alcatel-Lucent’s metering management system. That connection will be provided over Vodafone’s network using either a fixed-line DSL or wireless GPRS connection, according to the release.
The companies said their partnership will enable German utilities to meet EU rules related to the smart grid, including the requirement to bill customers based on their actual energy usage (as opposed to flat rates) and the call for adoption of technologies to provide the “same open-access principles” that apply to the Internet today. The partnership has already inked at least one German deal, with municipal utility Stadwerke Pasewalk, to monitor and control its smart meters and integrate related systems. As part of the deal, Alcatel-Lucent will give the utility’s customers devices to monitor their energy use in real time.
Type/Role: Utility
Headquarters/Base: Stockholm, Sweden
Website: http://www.vattenfall.com
Smart Metering: in Sweden, Vattenfall has installed smart meters for 850,000 customers. Nearly 600,000 of these have been supplied by Telvent.
Markets: Sweden, Germany, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Great Britain
Parent: Swedish state
Subsidiaries: Nuon
Vattenfall is Europe’s 5th largest generator of electricity and the largest producer of heat. It operates throughout the electricity supply chain, from generation to bill.
Since the 1990′s Vattenfall has been acquiring and rebranding utilities across Europe – including the municipal utilities in Hamburg and Berlin, distribution companies in Finland and Poland and renewable power (mainly wind) companies, particularly in Great Britain.
In 2009 Vattenfall began a phased acquisition of the Dutch utility Nuon.
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September 8th, 2009
Simon
After running several google alerts through the google translate function, here are some themes emerging from recent Germany internet mentions of smart metering:
- there are considerable concerns over data privacy
- there are also concerns that some of the solutions being implemented by utilities rely upon a customer having an internet connection in order to be able to see detailed consumption data. Only 75% of Germans have an internet connection, and only 55% have broadband
- in a customer survey in March, less than 40% of the German population knew what a smart meter was, and even when told about it, only 46% were willing to have one (probably due to being quoted a cost of 80 euros for the meter).
- with regulations requiring smart metering in new homes (and renovations) from January 2010, builders are not sure what they have to do
- some concerns have been voiced over a lack of clarity on interoperability, leading to the potential for meters to be needlessly replaced when a customer switches energy supplier. The regulator has been asked to report, by January 2010 on the progress the industry is making on interoperability
- Energy savings projections in the articles run from 5-10% as being realistic, with up to 40% as possible(!)
September 4th, 2009
Simon
From notes
Pilot exercise by municipal utility using Landis+Gyr metering and ecometer home display units.
Runs from Q4 2008 to 2010, includes 1000 customers and 10 PLC concentrators
Press Release
Description: National market
Metering Conditions: (regulated, competitive, by network businesses etc.)
Population:
Households:
Meter Populations:
Electricity:
- Total:
- Domestic: 42,000,000
- Industrial/Commercial:
- Prepayment:
Gas:
- Total:
- Domestic:
- Industrial/Commercial:
- Prepayment:
Water:
- Total:
- Domestic:
- Industrial/Commercial:
- Prepayment:
Heat: 12% of homes heated using District Heat metering
- Total:
- Domestic:
- Industrial/Commercial:
- Prepayment:
Smart Metering Notes: (Collected from a Variety of Sources)
- As at February 2008 – German Government Carbon plan includes electricity smart metering, but not gas.
- Meter functionality requirements are not framed in policy
- Utilities are working independently on smart metering
- Multi Utility Communications (MUC)
- Smart Meter Initiatives (SMIK) – includes 13/14 companies providing gas/water and electricity
- Figawa – meter manufacturers group
- These initiatives are beginning to come together
- July 2009 Update
- Energy Act Update
- all new homes and renovations from 2010 have to be equipped with a smart electricity meter
- introduction of demand response and Time of Use tariffs from 2011
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