Poland’s Tauron mulls technology for next phase of smart meter rollout
Krakow-headquartered DSO Tauron Dystrybucja has reported the rollout of smart meters to over 950,000 customers.
By 2031 it is envisaged that all of the company’s energy consumers will be billed via remote reading, but the question on executives’ minds is what technology should be employed for the next phase of the rollout.
The majority of the smart meters in place were installed by Tauron as part of the Smart City Wroclaw project in the years 2014 to 2017 and are using PLC communications based on the OSGP protocol.
As a result, the utility has built up extensive competencies and knowledge in the field of PLC technology.
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As part of the AMIplus programme, Tauron is testing various technologies that could be used in the next stages of the implementation of smart metering, including G3-PLC and GSM.
The G3-PLC technology was tested at the Tarnów Branch, where several thousand meters with data concentrators were installed in partnership with Landis+Gyr and Iskaemeco, the former providing the remote reading system with data concentrators and the latter the meters.
During the tests, the impacts of various types of electromagnetic interference occurring in the network on the functioning of the infrastructure and data transmission were evaluated.
In the second pilot, the possibilities of using GSM communication technology on a mass scale will be tested at various locations covering both urban and rural areas, including m.in katowice, Kraków, Legnica, Dąbrowa Tarnowska, Bukowina Tatrzańska and Mykanów.
The tests also will evaluate use in multi-family buildings and will assess variations in signal strength and interference within the coverage areas of different operators.
“The choice of standard and communication technology for remote reading meters is one of the key elements affecting the effectiveness of the entire process of implementing intelligent metering,” says Robert Zasina, President of TAURON Dystrybucja.
“In the next stages of meter replacement, we will choose communication technologies and meters that best suit our needs. It is about the most advantageous technological and communication solutions and favourable price conditions.”
Under Polish legislation, smart meters are required to be installed with at least 80% of end users, including 80% of households, by the end of 2028.
