Germany’s Devolo targets Irish smart meter market

German powerline products specialist Devolo has entered the Irish market, where the government has set a target of installing 2.2 million smart meters in all households by 2020 as part of its national smart grid strategy. The company is selling its flagship G3-PLC modem 500k, which operates in the 150-500 kHz band, for data communication in the electricity distribution network. Devolo has appointed Ciaran O’Breartuin as its company representative in Dublin.   source: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/devolo-targets-irish-smart-meter-market–1109247

 

Communication for smart energy networks

Future energy supply systems face the major challenge that different participants to a variable extent and at unpredictable times to feed energy, remove or offer and make use of various services (eg, energy consulting, property management). These votes require a reliable and secure bi-directional exchange of information. As a communication channel for this information, the existing energy networks can be used, which is now no longer transmitted only energy but also information (English Powerline Communication PLC). In this way, the existing infrastructure can be used independently of other communication media.

 

Network topology

Network topology is constructed in the way that every house will communicate with the distribution station via the power lines. The energy data is relayed from the smart meter gateway to the 500 kHz PLC access modem made by devolo. From there, the energy data is transmitted to the distribution station. At the distribution station, the media converter collects the energy data of the entire network and relays it in bundled form to the energy provider.

Source: http://www.fliuch.org/germanys-devolo-targets-irish-smart-meter-market/

Global Smart Meters Market Is Expected To Reach $22,177 Million By 2020

The global market for smart meters is expected to reach USD 22,177 million by 2020. Smart meters provide two-way communication and benefits including time-based rates, faster power outage detection and resolution, and dynamic pricing among others. Initiatives by regulatory authorities to establish smart grids and ensure energy efficiency are expected to be a considerable growth driver over the forecast period.

Benefits of smart meter installations resonate across the value chain, which is also a key driving force for the industry. Customers can potentially cut down costs by lowering peak hour electricity demand; additionally, on-site visits and manual readings can be eliminated. Inconsistencies in deployment on a regional level coupled with lack of standardization in technology are expected to pose a barrier to market growth.

Further key findings from the study suggest:

Global smart meter shipments were estimated to be 59.6 million units in 2012, which is expected to reach 165.5 million units by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 9.8% from 2014 to 2020.

Residential applications accounted for 82.6% of overall shipments in 2012, and are expected to remain the largest segment in terms of volume over the next six years. This segment is also expected to be the fastest growing, at an estimated CAGR of 10.0% from 2014 to 2020. However, in terms of revenue, they accounted for significantly smaller market share in 2012. This can be primarily attributed to high technical requirements and selling prices of industrial and commercial smart meters.

Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest regional market in terms of volume and revenue over the forecast period, and accounted for 49.2% of overall shipments in 2012.

Europe is expected to be the fastest growing market in terms of revenue, at an estimated CAGR of 9.4% from 2014 to 2020.

The market in Europe is expected to contribute significantly to global revenue generation, which can be attributed to high selling prices as compared to other regions.The global smart meters market consists of a large number of participants such as Itron, Landis+Gyr, Elster, and Sensus among others.

Mergers and acquisitions and vertical integration have been the key growth strategies followed by industry players in order to gain market share and expand their product portfolio. High demand from emerging markets on account of energy efficiency programs and growing need for enabling smart homes is expected to positively impact profitability.

Other companies operating in the market include Jiangsu Linyang, Holley Metering, Echelon, Aclara, etc.

Original Article http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2710240

Smart Meters, Watching Our Lives

 

Under the guise of climate change advocacy which pretends to save the planet from a non-existent anthropogenic global warming, people across the globe have been forced by utilities and their governments to accept smart meters as readers of their electricity consumption. I called these smart meters in my book, “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy,” drones attached to our homes.

 

Smart meters are being deployed without debate and without the informed consent of homeowners. They inspect homes 24/7 through several pulses a minute and without a warrant, over-bill, cause home fires, result in environmental and health problems, are vulnerable to hacking, and data obtained from such smart meters are sold to third parties without homeowners’ consent.

During peak usage, the utility company can turn off the power several hours a day, adjust the thermostat from afar, or turn off entire grids in an “emergency” situation when they run short of electricity. It is too expensive to build excess capacity storage facilities.

Smart meter removal from one’s home may not be enough. Within a five square mile area there is a collecting point of information from all meters and a transmitter receives information from all the collecting points of information within 125 miles of its location. This transmitter sends all collected data to a master location, the “mother ship,” where everyone’s information is stored, analyzed, and sold to a third party who is interested in the household’s pattern of usage, consumption of electricity, or possibly “illegal” activity in that home.

In addition to electric bills doubling in many places even though consumption had remained the same or had been reduced, customers are being “nudged” via carefully crafted notes added to their monthly bills for their shameless and selfish use of the planet’s resources.

Some individuals and townships have gone to court and managed to obtain permission from their utilities to opt-out of the installation of smart meters, in exchange for a monthly reading fee which can be quite high in various places. Others were not successful and, after seeing their utility bills double, have filed a class action suit against their utilities. Such was the case of California.

In the Dominican Republic, angry customers of Edenorte have ripped their smart meters from their sockets because their electric bills have doubled even though they were sold a false bill of goods that digital meters would give them a more accurate reading of their usage. They were also unhappy that their “electricity was being cut off out of nowhere and they would have no power for a couple of hours every day, sometimes more.” Edenorte was a “free entity,” no longer under government regulation.

A video obtained by Josh Del Sol, the producer of the award-winning documentary, “Take Back Your Power,” shows the public outrage; people are turning over electric company trucks, slashing their tires, breaking windows, and piling up hundreds of removed smart meters in front of the electric company’s offices in the city of Peidro Blanca.

The residents complained that “the lower their consumption, the higher the bills.” The claim is not without merit as utility companies billing schemes tend to punish those who consume less and reward those who consume more. One of the protesters in the video asks, “How is it possible in X days for it to register 1041 kWh?” He continues, “This is why we say that they have rigged these meters to benefit them.”

In San Antonio, KENS 5 reported that “CPS Energy admitted to overcharging customers who recently have had smart meters installed,” affecting hundreds, possibly thousands of angry customers.

K.T. Weaver, of SkyVision Solutions, wrote about the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Board meeting which took place on August 20, 2015, at which meeting, President Rob Kerth said, ”Any efforts or investments made to avoid smart meters are entirely wasted. I know that change can be unnerving, especially when it comes quickly, but giving into hysteria and falling victim to the alarmists and the charlatans of our era will not improve anyone’s lives.”

Failing to demonstrate how charging customers more for the same energy consumption and reducing their access to electricity, affecting their privacy and good health, is going to improve anyone’s lives, it is glaringly evident that smart meters are a convenient way to control our energy use and our independence.

Having attended a utility regulator hearing three years ago, I heard testimony after testimony of Americans who were made really sick by their smart meters, or their homes caught fire and went up in flames.
Smart meters, heavily subsidized by the government, are sold to the public under the false narrative of convenience, modernization, cheaper energy, expedience, and better service.

Smart meters are convenient ways to spy on citizens, charge more per kWh of consumption, reduce consumption by cutting power delivery, replace coal-generated and cheaper electricity with more expensive “renewable” energy, control the population and its health, reduce costs for utilities who no longer have to worry about storing excess capacity in additional storage plants, reduce costs of wire maintenance under and above ground, and eliminating jobs for meter readers.

Unbeknownst to most of us, homes are now fitted with smart water meters, smart gas meters, and smart appliances that communicate with each other and with the “mother ship.”

Article found on http://fliuch.org/smart-meters-watching-our-lives/