Powered by technology from Silver Spring Networks (SSN), a provider of real-time networking solutions for electrical grids, these smart meters are expected to help customers monitor their electricity usage and will reportedly increase Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) ability to identify and correct service issues once the system is fully activated in summer 2008.
The new system will also allow FPL to monitor the performance of its electrical grid in real time, enabling the company to identify and correct service interruptions more quickly. SSN’s technology powers the system by allowing smart meters to talk to other meters and electronic devices to create a wireless mesh network that is claimed to be more cost efficient than other solutions.
The advanced metering initiative combines a number of elements including intelligent meters, a two-way communications network using an internet protocol language and operating systems and databases, that will enable customers to go online and monitor how much energy they have used by the month, week, day or hour.
Marlene Santos, FPL’s vice president of customer service, said: We are taking a disciplined and systematic approach to the evaluation and implementation process to ensure we achieve full value. This began with a careful review of all of the technology solutions available in the market.
