Eandis, a Belgium-based electricity and gas grid company, has deployed components of Elster's EnergyAxis portfolio of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) platforms to power integrated smart metering pilot in Belgium.
As part of the smart metering pilot, Eandis will install 4,200 Elster smart electricity and gas meters, along with EnergyICT data concentrators and a hosted EIServer meter data management (MDM) application, in the towns of Leest and Hombeek near Mechelen, Flanders. The deployment also includes Elster power line carrier (PLC) technology and Coronis radio technology.
Eandis is working to meet the increasing demand for improved energy efficiency, and move towards a flexible smart grid that can incorporate alternative energy sources, the company said.
The company is using elements of Elster’s EnergyAxis AMI platform based on European PLC technology to enable real-time, remote, two-way communication between the smart meters and a central MDM system.
Data collection will be conducted through data concentrators to a hosted version of EnergyICT’s EIServer, a market data management application. EIServer will process the data and supply consumption information to Eandis.
In the future, Elster is expected to provide Eandis the ability to monitor energy consumption and load in real-time, while managing fluctuations in supply and demand. This pilot is also expected to help Eandis determine its strategy for future smart grid deployments and support of energy efficiency and future technologies such as electric vehicles.
Frank Hyldmar, executive vice president of Elster, said: “EnergyAxis provides the full suite of end-to-end solutions that electric, water and gas utilities need to modernize infrastructure and experience marked improvements in efficiency and conservation. In this case, Elster and EnergyICT’s capabilities have been combined to provide the solution that perfectly fits the needs of this project.”