Smart meters for the dynamic grid

Smart meters are necessary as the grid is becoming more dynamic with DERs. Additionally, both utilities and consumers need the better information smart meters provide, said Werner Lieberherr, CEO of Landis+Gyr.

On top of that there is the energy crisis, for which the utilities also need good information, Lieberherr commented.

Speaking in a Connect interview at Enlit Europe, Lieberherr welcomed the European Commission’s drive to accelerate the rollout of smart meters across the region, saying that while some countries such as the Nordics are at the “front end” of the energy transition, others such as Switzerland and Germany are further back.

However, one of the main challenges is legislation, which needs to be changed. Another issue is disruptions in the supply chain with the demand for chips, although this is underway to be resolved.

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“We keep rolling out smart meters because utilities don’t stop [their rollouts], which is very positive, so a moderated supply chain environment is a good thing for us.”

Lieberherr also highlighted the importance of smart water metering, particularly in countries with water shortages in for example Africa and others such as Australia. He cited as an example the Victoria utility South East Water, which is losing on average about one-sixth of its water.

“With ultrasonic water meters, we are able to detect leaks, and really help to make water management much more efficient.”

Turning to the company’s newest product, the Revelo range of meters, Lieberherr said that it is a grid edge sensor and is currently being deployed in the US where the grids are generally older than in Europe and often not connected to one another.

“There you need better information and the Revelo senses the power system sin curve 15,000 times per second for anomalies for power quality, cybersecurity, etc. That’s important for the utility but also for the end consumers when they can quickly run up a bill of $300-600 per month and with the Revelo they can see their power consumption in real time on their iphones.”

Meters of the future

Looking to the meter of the future, Lieberherr said that the meter of today is already a highly capable computing power module and in the future there will be an increase in accuracy as well as in the information that is available to the utility and end user.

He added that the data management also has to be thought about with the increased data flows. Landis+Gyr has a current seven-year partnership with Google for cloud-based energy analytics.

“My view is that it will increase with the increased urbanisation and changing energy demand from EVs and heat pumps, which means the requirements for the grids are becoming more challenging. For that we will need more efficient solutions and I believe that within ten years there will be a grid edge sensor that is highly capable in terms of managing these different resources together with a huge amount of software to really do the best for the utility and for the end customer.”

Watch the full interview with Werner Lieberherr on Enlit World.