Dialogue on Utility and Local Scale Renewable

Energy in South Africa

2015/04/21

Smart Metering

What is a smart meter?

A smart meter is a digital

conventional meter fitted with

two-way communications

capability so that remote

operations can be carried out;

for instance:

‒ meter reading,

‒ tariffs updating

‒ tampering detection

‒ remote customer disconnection and

re-connection.

Goals for Smart Metering?

Revenue collection

Embedded Generation

Revenue Protection

Peak Shifting

Network Optimization

Policy

Smart Meter Minimum Functionality

Accurate Metering

Remote Meter reading

Pre-Paid & Post Paid billing

Time of Use Billing

Remote disconnect/reconnect

Bi-Directional Metering

Load Limiting

Tamper Detection

Extra Smart Meter Functionality

Quality of Supply

Outage Detection

Remote Firmware upgrades

Customer Information Portal

Other metering (water/gas)

GPS

Home area networks

Value Added by Smart Metering

Time of Use Billing

‒Cost reflective

‒Promotes load shifting

‒Reduces Municipal revenue from

PV.

PV impacts your most profitable sales

Takes sales from highest

inclining block

PV most active during

summer daytime between

08:00 and 17:00

This is where a majority of

profits are generated

Value Added by Smart Metering

Time of Use Billing

‒Cost reflective

‒Promotes load shifting

‒Reduces municipal revenue loss

from PV.

Reverse Energy Metering

‒Meter energy generated by PV

‒ Feed-in tariffs can encourage

sustainable PV development

Theft Protection

‒ Improved information to help

detect tampering

‒Remote disconnect

Load Limiting

‒Can replace load shedding

Demand Side Management

‒Ability to manage load remotely

Constraints to Smart Metering

No national standards

High cost of meters

Poor business case

Limited Capital

Drivers for Standards

Lower Cost

Interoperability

Interchangeability

Drivers for Interoperability

No Vendor Lock-in

‒ Municipalities are not forced to stick

with a certain supplier

‒ Changing supplier does not require

replacement of existing equipment

Future Expansion

‒ Future systems such as outage

management systems benefit from

being interoperable with AMI

Drivers for Interchangeability

Replacement of meters

‒ Technicians only need to know one

meter installation.

‒ Only need to stock one type of

meter

Kiosks

‒ Kiosks can accommodate meters

from multiple vendors

‒ No need to replace all meters in

kiosk

Smart Metering Standards

Appointed technical lead on

NRS 049-2 Standard

Developed a list of minimum

functional requirements

Key focus:

‒ Split-Prepaid Smart Metering

‒ Interchangeable

‒ Shared Coms

Smart Metering Standards

Thank You

Smart Metering Communications

Common Communications Options

APN (GSM, GPRS)

PLC (Power Line

Communications)

Zigbee

RF Mesh

RF P2MP (Point to Multi-

Point)

ADSL

Advantages and Disadvantages APN

Advantages:

‒ Cellular networks already exist, so

low Capex required from the

municipality.

Disadvantages:

‒ Shared use of GSM networks

results in erratic service levels (e.g.

high latency and low throughput).

‒ Possibly poor coverage in some

areas.

‒ Continual Opex Cost

Advantages and Disadvantages PLC

Advantages:

‒ Widely-used and mature. Standards groups such as G3-PLC

‒ Use of existing LV infrastructure lowers the costs of PLC.

‒ 100% coverage where meters are present.

Disadvantages:

‒ PLC is a broadcast technology, so security is critical.

‒ Power lines are noisy and this can cause problems

‒ Low data rates (e.g. 20 Kbps).

‒ The network topology has large impacts on signal quality and data throughput and performance is difficult to model and predict.

Advantages and Disadvantages Zigbee

Advantages:

‒ Uses the free 2.4GHz Frequency.

‒ Ultra low-power.

‒ Low cost of deployment.

Disadvantages:

‒ Low processing capacity.

‒ Interference-prone.

‒ Small memory capacity.

‒ Interference-prone.

‒ Short range, requires high density.

Advantages and Disadvantages RF Mesh

Advantages:

‒ Self-organising and self-healing, self-configuration.

‒ High scalability.

‒ Meters can act as signal repeaters.

Disadvantages:

‒ Limited network capacity.

‒ Attenuation and interference problems.

‒ Limited range, requires fairly high density.

‒ Encryption required.

‒ Subject to routing loops.

‒ Usually need a 3rd party to manage the RF network.

Advantages and Disadvantages RF Point to Multi-Point

Advantages:

‒High data rates.

‒ Low latencies.

‒Good coverage.

Disadvantages:

‒Costly infrastructure.

‒Encryption required.

‒ Interference-prone if unlicensed

frequency bands are used.

Advantages and Disadvantages ADSL

Advantages:

‒ Widespread geographic availability.

‒ High bandwidth and data rates.

‒ Low latencies.

Disadvantages:

‒ May Require communications

cables to be laid.

‒ Might not be available in all areas.

‒ In SA ADSL is still relatively

expensive (unless the customer

already has ADSL).

What/Where APN PLC ZigBee RF Mesh RF P2MP ADSL

Headend –

Concentrator Yes No No No Yes Yes

Concentrator

– Meter Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Meter – CIU No Yes Yes No No No

Meter – Headend Yes No No No No No