Canadian broadband powerline (BPL) company Corinex Communications has launched an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system based on the ITU G.hn protocol adopted by utility industry groups.

The system is said to be the first commercially viable BPL system. More than just smart metering, it provides edge computing and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, along with rapid communication among devices, to enable autonomous operation of electric grids.

It was developed in response to the demands for decentralised management placed on grids by the proliferation of generation and storage devices and electric vehicles connected to grids around the world.

“We’ve entered the age of distributed energy, which means we’ve also entered the age of distributed operations and enormous data requirements,” said Corinex CEO Peter Sobotka. “By securely ramping up data and computational capacity, our new system enables operators to apply edge computing capabilities so that they can better manage a highly distributed network, and ultimately create self-regulating energy systems.”

In a highly distributed grid, AI and edge computing capacity can help a distributed energy system, such as a collection of solar installations, continuously learn changes in supply, demand and use patterns, without going through a utility’s data centre. This edge data processing can prove vital to providing reliable power in a distributed grid, but it is not possible under most existing advanced metering systems.

Corinex’s technology leverages existing electrical wiring, turning power lines into conduits of both energy and high-speed information. This self-contained energy-information network offers cost-effectiveness and security to energy management companies and their energy end users.

Most current metering deployments use narrowband communications that do not have the bandwidth to manage data about distributed energy resources at the scale that will be required as the power sector copes with the changing demands placed on the grids it must manage.

“At Corinex, we’re working to enable decarbonisation by helping utilities create self-regulating, automated energy systems in their grid network, to accommodate the explosions in renewable generation, storage devices and electric vehicles connected to the grids,” Sobotka said. “Our new product line enables utilities not only to better manage distributed energy resources, but to maximise their efficiency to deliver cost effective, reliable and clean power.”

Corinex offers utilities and energy service providers a suite of networking products and software, enabling high-speed and secure connections for millions of devices over existing powerline infrastructure. Handling millions of messages per minute enables utilities to monitor performance, predict usage, optimise network performance, and provide required information to consumers and decentralised producers of electricity.