Claims that future-oriented metering is basis for smart grids

At this year’s Metering Europe conference and exhibition in Vienna, Siemens presented, what it called ‘a holistic smart metering solution’ as a key component for setting up smart grids. The announcement was made by the Energy Sector, Power Distribution Division of Siemens. The solution consists of an AMIS automated metering and information system and an Energy IP metering management system, it said.

Siemens explained that a data hub Energy IP integrates existing utility IT systems via a SAP-certified interface into the smart metering infrastructure. Utilities can thus utilise smart metering across their business – from metering to billing and from operations control to network planning. The smart metering solution provides a future-oriented basis for tomorrow’s smart grid applications, which will help handle the increased feed-in of renewables-based power, Siemens claimed.

The core tasks, according to Siemens, include remote reading and management of all meters in a supply area. Gas and water meters communicate bidirectionally via smart Siemens AMIS meters. It added that existing ripple control systems can be replaced with the new technology. Furthermore, utilities can utilise the system to record network parameters such as over and undervoltage, short-term and long-term failures, and power quality indicators from the medium-voltage network and to the end-customers, the announcement said.

It further claimed that network operation, as a whole, can, thus, be optimised on the basis of detailed information, such as, ground-fault and short-circuit displays, and measurable asset indicators. Additional services, such as gas and water metering are also possible, along with a range of solution modules that support network-wide process automation. This, said the announcement, includes integration of the meters, data concentrators and transaction servers of the AMIS automated metering and information system, and the linking up of utility IT systems to the Energy IP data hub – the metering management system of Siemens’ partner eMeter. Solutions for telecontrol of the low-voltage network, monitoring of network quality and support for mass installation of electronic meters complement the portfolio, it added.

According to the announcement, at Metering Europe in Vienna, a demonstration showed how Siemens integrates the Energy IP metering management system as part of a holistic smart metering solution via the SAP-certified MDUS (Meter Data Unification and Synchronisation) interface into an existing corporate IT environment. The announcement further explained that it applied both to Siemens AMIS smart meters and to the meters supplied by other manufacturers.

Siemens added that with its network planning tool Sincal, it was able to demonstrate in Vienna, how the metering management system can use cumulative measured data, instead of statistically postulated consumption data as real consumer load profiles for network planning and simulation in order to provide a more precise basis for computations. The use of actual consumption data will become even more necessary, the more the renewables-based power fed into the grid and increased amounts of energy are drawn at night, for example, to charge electric vehicles, explained Siemens.