Technology Trending: The metering edition – 100 million smart meters, smart meter data in Japan, Kaifa

100 million smart meters and counting by Gridspertise, a new era for smart meter data in Japan and Kaifa going OSGP and Sigfox are on the week’s technology radar.

100 million smart meters and counting …

Since the early 2000s and Enel’s leading role in the development and manufacture and large scale rollout of a first generation of smart meters, the technology and its subsequent evolutions has been incorporated in 100 million smart meters.

Those smart meters have been deployed in Italy, Spain, Romania, Republic of San Marino, Malta, Brazil, Peru and Chile.

Making the announcement, Robert Denda, CEO of Gridspertise, who coordinated Endesa’s rollout of the technology in Spain and has led its subsequent development from effectively a communicating digital counter to an intelligent grid sensor, described it as “a key milestone in our journey towards the new era of sustainable and reliable smart grids”.

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It also comes coincident with the second anniversary of Gridspertise, Enel’s grid technology subsidiary, jointly owned with CVC Capital Partners, which has established itself as a key supplier of a growing portfolio of technologies for DSOs for the digitalisation of the grid.

As a reflection of this Gridspertise is introducing what it describes as a new flexible and future-proof smart meter into its portfolio, with the facility to exchange or adapt the communication technology directly in the field.

Depending on customer needs and location, it allows choosing the most appropriate solution among several communication protocols, including hybrid PLC and RF, cellular LTE and cellular NB-IoT.

Look out for its introduction at Enlit Europe 2023 in Paris from 28-30 November.

New era for smart meter data in Japan

Restrictions on the use of metering data by third party corporates have been dropped in Japan, the publication Nikkei Asia has reported.

Until now only utilities have had access to the data from the smart meters, of which there are approximately 80 million in operation in Japan – but now other companies may use the data for a fee to enable them to develop solutions for example for decarbonisation or another that Nikkei Asia highlights, monitoring of the elderly.

The publication reports that around 20 corporate groups are poised to introduce services.

Among examples quoted is Daiwa House Asset Management with plans to calculate carbon dioxide emissions based on electricity use by residents of about 240 properties owned by the group.

Another is Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions looking to help companies adjust their power usage with demand management.

A third is Tokyo-based startup Girasol Energy intending to monitor for broken solar panels remotely by comparing actual output with anticipated output based on sunlight and other data.

Among the quality of life services, Mitsubishi Corp. and the utility Chubu Electric Power are teaming up on a service that detects abnormalities in the routines of elderly relatives in real time, with potential to generate 1 billion yen ($6.7 million) in annual revenue in three years.

The first data provided will be from the service area of Tokyo Electric Power, with expansion nationwide by 2024. The data will be day old initially, but real-time data is expected to become available in 2025.

Kaifa goes OSGP and Sigfox

Kaifa, the electronics and metering solution provider, is expanding its offerings on two fronts with the choice of the OSGP architecture for its intelligent smart metering and the Sigfox 0G technology for advanced water metering solutions.

In selecting the OSGP, Kaifa believes that interoperability standards are needed to guarantee innovation in terms of adopting new technologies and open standards as they become available, a statement reads.

“The digital era brings new opportunities, and Kaifa is ready to take advantage of this with a key focus on the sustainable innovation in energy management.”

In joining the OSGP Alliance, Kaifa intends to work with other industry stakeholders to provide solutions and services to create more value for their customers and society.

The Sigfox 0G technology opportunity, which includes bringing to the market the Sigfox 0G and LoRa dual-mode hybrid solution, is through a partnership with Sigfox owner UnaBiz and is expected to see the development of solutions that are “not only accurate and reliable but also cost-competitive, scalable and environmentally friendly to the water metering sector”, the company states.

The two companies have collaborated previously and most recently on the rollout of 120,000 smart water meters powered by Sigfox 0G technology by Brazilian partner network WND Brazil for the water and sewerage services supplier Iguá Saneamento.