Finland’s Vaasa Sähköverkko to instal 65,000 smart meters
Vaasa Sähköverkko Oy (Vaasa Electricity Network) has contracted Landis+Gyr for a 10-year smart metering project.
The initiative in the Finland west coast city of Vaasa includes the supply and installation of 65,000 smart meters, IoT network communication and a 10-year managed service agreement.
Over the coming years the network company’s entire metering fleet will be replaced with Landis+Gyr’s E360, E360 CT and E660 smart meters, which meet the requirements of the new metering regulation, including a 15-minute or shorter metering period, power quality monitoring capabilities and interfaces with home automation.
The telecommunication solution will migrate to NB-IoT and LTE M1 mobile IoT technologies.
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“The new comprehensive service will enable us to meet current and future metering needs for both electricity consumption and small-scale generation,” says Juha Rintamäki, managing director of Vaasa Electricity Network.
“The system will also provide up-to-date information on the status of the electricity network down to the individual connection level, which will improve the customer experience and make fault management more efficient.”
The agreement extends what has been a long standing metering service cooperation between the two companies, with its aim to meet the future needs of the new metering regulations.
Finland was one of the first countries to introduce smart metering on a large scale. Under the new regulation, installed devices must act not only as electricity meters, but also as smart endpoints capable of managing advanced power quality measurements and automated controls at the edge of the grid.
The metering programme takes place alongside a €13 million (US$13 million) investment by Vaasa Sähköverkko in its network during 2022.
Actions include the undergrounding of 160km of power lines, the addition of network automation and intelligent fault management and substation modernisation with environmentally friendly replacements.
