Landis+Gyr has agreed to supply additional advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to Arizona Public Service (APS) enabling a range of smart grid applications.

The contract extends the original AMI agreement from 2015 and includes the installation of 500,000 meters over the next seven years.

APS began deploying Landis+Gyr’s Gridstream AMI in 2016 and has used the network to support metering and distribution automation technology across its service territory. Based in Phoenix, APS is Arizona’s largest electric utility and provides electric service to 1.3 million homes and businesses in 11 of the state’s 15 counties.

“APS has been a leader in promoting clean, reliable energy generation and delivery over the past decade and we rely on smart grid infrastructure to maintain reliability and enhance customer engagement,” said Scott Bordenkircher, director of meter technology operations at APS. “As we look forward to new opportunities for distributed energy resources and growth in electric transportation, the data and control provided by intelligent grid systems play a critical role in the planning, management and maintenance of our power grid.”

The Gridstream network connects utilities with data from critical points across the distribution system, and interfaces with existing utility systems and applications to manage billing, operations, engineering and customer service more effectively. The network enables communications with meters, sensors, and switches to provide interval load and voltage data, and enable net metering, outage management and remote service connection capabilities.

“This new agreement provides the opportunity for APS to update critical infrastructure throughout its service territory, providing additional opportunities to leverage energy data to build on their ground-breaking clean energy initiatives,” said Jay Lasseter, vice president at Landis+Gyr. “We look forward to supporting this effort and assisting with the clean energy transition.”

•Finnish energy company VaasaSähköverkko is continuing its long-term metering service cooperation with Landis+Gyr. The contract includes the supply and installation of 65,000 smart meters, IoT network communication and a ten-year managed service agreement.

Metering services will be upgraded to meet future needs by replacing the entire metering fleet in use in the coming years with intelligent meters. The selected metering equipment and services will meet all the requirements of the new metering regulation, including a 15-minute or shorter metering period, power quality monitoring capabilities and interfaces with home automation. The telecoms technology will migrate to NB-IoT and LTE M1.

“The cooperation has been smooth, and it is therefore natural to continue and expand it,” said Juha Rintamäki, managing director of Vaasa Electricity Network. “The new comprehensive service will enable us to meet current and future metering needs for both electricity consumption and small-scale generation. The system will also provide up-to-date information on the status of the electricity network down to the individual connection level, which will improve the customer experience and make fault management more efficient.”

Finland was one of the first countries to introduce smart metering on a large scale. Under the new regulation, installed devices must act not only as electricity meters, but also as smart endpoints capable of managing power quality measurements and automated controls at the edge of the grid.

“The current energy situation shows that energy utilities need fast, reliable and secure data transmission and access,” said Tommi Österberg, sales director for Landis+Gyr in Finland. “The ability to monitor and process data on and at the edge of the grid will contribute to better load balancing, power quality and reliability. We look forward to expanding our long-standing relationship with Vaasan Sähköverkko and supporting their technology upgrades with the latest tools and services.”