IT & Automation
Getting the best value smart meter for your money
Utilities and governments must think ahead when planning a smart meter rollout – early obsolescence is an expensive error. Customise and build in future-proofing to stay ahead of the game, advises Mark England.
Las empresas de servicios públicos y los gobiernos deben ser previsores a la hora de planificar la implantación de medidores inteligentes: sería un error muy costoso que los dispositivos elegidos quedasen obsoletos demasiado pronto. Mark England recomienda crear modelos adaptados a medida y preparados para futuras mejoras, para estar por delante de los competidores.
Versorgungsunternehmen und Regierungen müssen bei der Planung einer Markteinführung von intelligenten Zählern vorausdenken. Anpassen und auf die Zukunftssicherung bauen, um eine Nasenlänge voraus zu sein, rät Mark England.
Fig. 1. iConA smart electric meter. W
ith some utilities well underway with smart electricity meter roll outs and now turning their attention to the gas market,
and others just starting to look at options for their first smart electricity meters, metrology design and getting the best for your money is an important focus for those tasked with selecting the best option for meter design. It’s tempting, when planning your smart meter rollout to go for the simplest and seemingly safest design option. After all, you have complex issues such as geographical implementation and timescales to deal with, so why wouldn’t you just pick a solution from a long-standing and reputable meter manufacturer? But does that get you the best bang for your buck? Te term ‘smart meter’ has been used (often incorrectly) to represent a variety of products on a spectrum ranging from a dumb meter with a radio attached for remote reading, to a high-tech, high-cost meter with multiple two-way communications interfaces, supporting every conceivable measurement and tariff
option, many of which may not be considered necessary today. Off-the-shelf meters may sound like a quick and straightforward option, but inevitably incumbent meter manufacturers have been forced to make many compromises in the
design in order to make a product that could be used by a wide range of utilities. A good
analogy would be buying a computer made to your specifications from a bespoke manufacturer like Dell, rather than picking up a ready-made one from a high street retailer. Te price would be fairly similar, but the
features are tailored to meet your needs, such
as a high speed graphics card for gaming or extra memory for image storage. Demands on the applications of a smart meter will increase as other technology develops. As such, meters rolled out in the next few years must have the ability to adapt to changes in application that may happen in ten years’ time, or utilities will find themselves with meters that need to be completely replaced every few years just to keep up.
Advances in metrology Utilities investing in smart meters need to take into account the advances made in metrology methodology, production methods and materials, communications technologies, electronic components, firmware and operating systems. For utilities without internal knowledge in this area, the best approach may be to work with an experienced technology development partner to provide the technical insight. Utilities should make sure that the partners they select to help them develop their smart meters have enough specialist knowledge to be able to predict applications that may become necessary in future and future proof the meter accordingly. It is important to remember that different utilities and countries will have different IT systems in place, radically different geographies, population densities and housing stocks, a variety of communication requirements, and different distribution infrastructures. So instead of looking at what’s available now, each utility should be thinking about what are the essential and desirable requirements for their smart meters and considering a bespoke solution to meet these requirements.
Undertsanding of objectives A clear understanding of objectives should lead to a finished product that will provide the highest ROI for the utility and strong benefits for consumers. In many cases a bespoke design will provide the best balance between cost and functionality for the meter, and if executed
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