The power grid is becoming increasingly complex due to the integration of municipal utilities, renewable energy resources, new substations and millions of smart grid edges like smart meters and EV-charging stations. The majority of this electric infrastructure is located far away from the central control room. Therefore, control is increasingly carried out digitally via remote access. To secure these peripheral systems, distribution and transmission system operators often rely exclusively on firewalls. These might reliably detect known malware. However, with several hundred of thousands of new malware variants each day, cybersecurity limited to identifying known signatures becomes highly unreliable.
Communication is a core component of any smart grid or AMI implementation. Depending on application use cases, geography, rural/urban areas, or existing infrastructure, however, a grid operator may choose PLC, mesh, or cellular communications. With an increasingly diverse and active consumer base that now includes prosumers, electric vehicle charging, renewables, and more, how can utilities ensure that all these segments are served without disrupting their AMI?
Revenue collection and protection is an important aspect that creates challenges for the utility sector in Africa that directly impacts growth and sustainability. These challenges include revenue loss, inadequate infrastructure, and inefficient billing and collection systems. However, in recent years, Revenue Enhancement as a Service has emerged as a powerful solution to help utilities in the African market overcome these hurdles. Explore the advantages of Revenue Enhancement as a Service and how we can support utilities through our service offering.
In an increasingly decentralized grid, grid operators face increasing challenges in grid resilience, asset management, grid balancing, safety, and security. The ability to effectively monitor and control the grid and its assets is vital in identifying issues and taking preventive and corrective actions before grid stability and reliability affected. Thankfully, the digitalization of the energy system through the rollout of smart metering and control equipment opens the door for maneuvering in the next phase of the energy transition.
In the 1970s, it became urgent for companies to improve flow monitoring as Europe and the rest of the world were suffering from the explosion in oil and energy prices. Sensing the urgency for accurate energy measurement, Landis+Gyr introduced their very first ultrasonic meters 2WR2 which could be directly used for billing. Due to their accuracy, durability, low maintenance and robustness, these meters became the future of heat and cooling measurement. Today they are the foundation of our smart heat and water meters.
With the electrification of transportation and heating sectors, explosion of EV charging and a general rise in energy demand and prices, the UK energy network is stressed in numerous ways as we drive towards net zero targets. That is why we organized a symposium on Half hourly metering and Grid Management at our UK office in Manchester.
Bringing together industry colleagues and stakeholders from across the UK made for great discussions around the issues and challenges in grid management - from billing through to power quality management. With the shift from fossil-based to zero-carbon energy sources, grid operators are coming across completely new challenges - and our collective effort is needed in addressing these challenges, not just at the local metering level but all the way through the network.
