Norway’s smart meter rollout pronounced complete

The Norwegian Energy Regulatory Authority (NVE-RME) has announced that almost 99% of metering points in the country’s LV distribution grid have a smart meter.

Planning for smart meters began in the early 2000s and their deployment by the grid companies – of which there are over 140 – became a legal requirement in 2019.

Three and a half years later, almost all of more than 2.3 million households now have a smart meter.

“We are now in a stable operating phase in which we are harvesting the big gains of the investment,” says Torfinn Jonassen, Sectional Manager at NVE.

Have you read?
New algorithm uses smart meter data to improve power grid reliability
EU and Norway announce groundbreaking Green Alliance

The smart meters installed in Norway automatically transmit hourly consumption values to the grid companies. They can register consumption down to 15-minute intervals, transmit real-time values to the customers and connect to other types of meters.

Alongside the smart meter rollout, the Norwegian smart meter data hub, Elhub, was implemented to enable efficient use of the technology through more efficient communication and data management.

Together the smart meters and the Elhub maintain a highly digitised chain that reduces the overall cost of managing metering data in Norway, NVE states.

With the smart meter rollout deemed to be completed, NVE is now directing its focus towards management of the installed smart meters to maintain the benefits of their implementation.

“It will be important for the grid companies to have a good and secure operation. This includes prioritising corrections when errors occur, ongoing bug-fixes and other improvements,” Jonassen comments.

As the functional requirements for the smart meters were worked out over ten years ago and with the rapid development in technology, NVE also intends to start work on new functional requirements that will lay the foundation for the next generation of smart meters in Norway.