E.On, Netze BW, Robotron, Landis+Gyr and PPC are testing an intelligent, registering load profile measuring system for industrial smart meters.

The intelligent measuring system is an essential component for the energy transition in the network. However, intelligent measuring systems must find their way not only into households, but also into industry, commerce and large generation plants.

Around three quarters of the energy consumed in Germany is recorded at these measuring points via the registering load profile measurement (RLM). At the same time, however, the number of RLM measuring points is very small at around one per cent of the total 53 million measuring points in Germany.

The proportion of RLM measuring points that are equipped with an intelligent measuring system will increase significantly in the coming years. To advance development in this segment, five companies from the industry have come together: E.On, Netze BW, Robotron Database-Software, Power Plus Communications (PPC) and Landis+Gyr.

They have tested a method in which the connection of RLM meters uses smart meter gateways and looked at the technical and economic conditions of this market segment. The partners have proven this is marketable, offers a high level of security and is available in a timely manner.

By linking an RLM meter with a smart meter gateway (SMGW), they have implemented an intelligent, registering load profile measuring system. More specifically, an RLM meter from Landis+Gyr was connected to Robotron’s backend system via the CLS interface of PPC’s smart meter gateway. This not only meets all specific RLM use cases, but also makes the measured values available for subsequent billing through a meter reading cycle formation in the meter, even if the communication connection to the meter is temporarily interrupted. The latter is of particular importance due to the large amounts of energy to be measured, especially for balancing.

Therefore, the measurement data are also stored in the RLM counter. In addition, local interfaces of the meter can be used as a high-performance interface for optimisation tasks in industry and let users efficiently automate processes. It therefore takes into account the requirements of users in this market segment, which differ fundamentally from those of normal households.

The RLM implemented by the partners is available in a test environment by using the existing secure CLS communication channel. This means more complex RLM measuring points can benefit from the cyber-secure infrastructure on an ad hoc basis.

The tested system corresponds to the approach that is also followed by the standardisation committees. It will be further optimised as the specification work progresses. Interoperability and standardisation as well as short-term availability are important to all partners.

“With this, we are taking a further step towards digitising the RLM measuring points with smart meter gateways and are continuing the work along the guard rails that are defined in the standardisation work,” said Jürgen Kramny, head of metering at Netze BW (www.netze-bw.de).

Malte Sunderkötter, managing director of E.On Grid (www.eon-gridsolutions.com), added: “For a consistent, digital energy transition, we also need intelligent meters in industry and commerce. It is therefore important that we work together to test a secure and interoperable solution in practice that has the potential to become a new industry standard. To achieve this, we rely on broad acceptance among customers, users and manufacturers.”

And Janosch Wagner, CTO of PPC, said: “One of the central added values of the cyber-secure platform is that new applications such as control, sub-metering and RLM can easily benefit from it and are made possible in the short term.”

Christian Hofmann, head of the IoT energy industry at Robotron, added: “Our system landscape is optimally prepared for the solution now being tested. This avoids duplicate structures and ensures a uniform level of security.”

For Landis+Gyr (www.landisgyr.eu), managing director Olaf Abbing said: “By using the CLS interface, international RLM meters can also be used for the German market and can actively contribute to supporting the energy transition in a timely and concrete manner.”