SmartMetering
Withsupplierrequirementsforthesmartmetering(SRSM)projectnearingcompletion,andan
announcementofthegovernment’splansforsmartmeteringimminent,TomFryers,ofSenteclooks
atwhattheUKcanlearnfromdeploymentsincountriesthatareaheadofthegameandasks
whetherwearereallyontherighttrack.
By Tom Fryers
A
sk a politician about reducing the country’s carbon helpful, excessive rigidity in system design and inflexible
emissionsandit’snotlongbeforesmartmetersare specification is not appropriate. In this case, one size most
mentioned.Eventhegloomiesteconomicnewsdidn’t certainlydoesnotfitall.
deflect UK Conservative Party leader David Cameron from Standards can be stipulated for various elements of the
making the opening environmental salvo of 2009 by system. The hardware at each stage in the network, the
promisingadvancedmeteringforeveryBritishhousehold. communicationprotocolsandinfrastructure,datainterfaces,
Cameron’s outlined vision of an interactive ‘internet of formatandlevelofinteroperabilitycanallbesubjecttostrict
electricity’mayhavere-ignitedhisparty’sgreencredentials, specification.WiththeSRSMbeingdrawnupbytheEnergy
butasanumberofothercountrieshavedemonstrated,the RetailAssociationnearingcompletion,andtheUKgovernment
drivetoadoptsmartmeteringisnotalwaystheenvironment. poisedtoannouncefinalplansforthenationwideroll-outof
The US for example has a very large installed base of smart meters, the basic structure of the UK programme for
Automatic Meter Reading one way meters, and is rapidly smartmeteringisallbutinplace.Butbetweenthem,thesetwo
deployingtwowayAdvancedMeteringInfrastructure(AMI) pillarsofthesystem’sarchitectureappeartohavecreateda
meters. But it has what might best be described as an numberofpotentialproblems.Putbluntly,currentplansmay
interesting relationship with environmental issues, and one wellbetakingusdownthewrongpathbyforcingastandard
that changes from state to state. Here, smart metering has whichisnotnecessarilytherightone.
generally been driven by the desire to AquicklookacrossattheUSprovides
reduce the costs associated with manual
...thedrivetoadoptsmart
ampleevidenceofwhatworksandwhat
meterreadingand–followingthehighly
damagingseriesofbrownoutsinstateslike
meteringisnotalways
doesn’t. The extensive smart metering
schemesdeployedintheUSgiveusaview
California–thedesiretoreducepeak-load
theenvironment
ofanumberofcostmodelsfromvarious
andenhancesecurityofsupply. designs of smart metering systems. They
Ontheotherhand,de-couplingsupplyandtransmissionin show, categorically, that there is no universally applicable
certainEuropeanmarkets,hasledtoasearchforcompetitive solution and that the most cost effective system for a
differentiationofwhatisnowacommodityproposition.Smart metropolitanareacanprovetobefarmoreexpensiveandfar
metering will probably be deployed in this context to lesseffectualinthesparselypopulatedruralheartlands.The
strengthenlong-termcustomerrelationships.InItaly,which mostsuccessfulimplementationsarecompletelybespokeupto
has more than 30 million installed meters, one of the key thepointofinterfacewiththerestofthesystem.
driverswastacklingenergytheftandthecostofmanaging ButtheSRSMdoesnotappeartohavetakenthisintoaccount.
meters.InOntarioitwaspeakshavingandthemovetowards Instead,itproposestofixpreciselywhatdatacomesoutofthe
time-of-usepricing. meterandhowitneedstobeprocessed,ratherthanallowing
Ofcourse,theenvironmentalrhetoricdoesplaywellwith utilitiestotranslateandstandardiseitonceitreachestheirback-
certainconsumers,andenergysuppliersaremorethanhappy office.Thisloadsunnecessaryfunctionality,andhencecost,on
to exploit growing eco awareness among the general thehighvolumeelementsofthesystem–themeters–rather
population.Andevenifthegreenmessagesfailtoengagethe thanthemuchsmallernumberofback-officeinterfaces.
consumerbase,thecostsavingbenefitsofsmartmetersare Excessivestandardisationalsodiminishescompetition,and
likelytoproveattractive.Particularlywhenpursestringsare inhibits innovation. In Italy, for example, the regulator
beingtightenedacrosstheboardinthefaceofrisingcommodity mandatedboththetypeofmetertobeusedandtheextracost
prices,andthefearoffuelpovertyhauntsthecorridorsofthe thatcanbecharged.Utilitiesgetalltheirmoneybackfromthe
DepartmentofEnergyandClimateChange. consumer,regardlessofthesystemdesignormetersused.The
In other words, most companies and most governments result? No incentive to design a future-proofed system. So
haveamixedbagofmarketdrivenrationales.Infactthereare althoughthesmartmeteringprojectmetitsinitialobjectives,
normally at least three aims behind smart metering andeasilyexceededpay-back,thecountryisnowfacingthe
deployment.Butifsmartmetershavethepotentialtoaddress possibilityofahighlydisruptive,wholesalereplacementofits
a number of issues, that potential can only be realised by smartmeteringinfrastructure,ratherthanstaggeredupgrades.
appropriate system design and deployment – as close IftheUKistoavoidsimilarproblemsthenweneedtotake
examinationofsystemselsewhereproves. into account the fact that current smart meters are the
Firstofall,althoughsomedegreeofstandardisationcanbe gatewaytoanumberoffuturefunctions.Justasbarcodesat
94 worldPower2009
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