E.ON, Netze BW, Robotron, Landis+Gyr, and PPC are testing an intelligent, recording load profile measurement system (iRLMSys) for industrial and commercial customers and large-scale generation facilities.
Hamburg / Karlsruhe, August 15, 2023: The smart metering system is a key component of the energy transition in the grid. However, smart metering systems must be implemented not only for residential customers but also for industrial and commercial customers and large generation facilities. Approximately three-quarters of the energy consumed in Germany is recorded at these metering points via registered load profile measurement (RLM). At the same time, however, the number of RLM metering points—at about one percent of the total 53 million metering points in Germany—is very low.
The proportion of RLM metering points equipped with a smart metering system will increase significantly in the coming years. To drive development in this segment, five companies in the industry have joined forces: E.ON, Netze BW GmbH, Robotron Datenbank-Software GmbH, Power Plus Communications AG, and Landis+Gyr GmbH have tested a solution in which RLM meters are connected via smart meter gateways, while simultaneously taking into account the specific technical and economic conditions of this market segment. The partners have demonstrated that this solution is market-ready, offers a high level of security, and will be available in the near future.
According to the Act on the Relaunch of the Digitalization of the Energy Transition (GNDEW), at least 20 percent of RLM metering points must be equipped by the end of 2028. That is a short timeframe given the effort required for specification, development, and testing. Therefore, jointly testing the solution to create synergies was a key driving force for the five project partners.
By connecting an RLM meter to a smart meter gateway (SMGW), they have implemented an intelligent, recording load profile measurement system called “iRLMSys.” More specifically, a Landis+Gyr RLM meter was connected to Robotron’s backend system via the CLS interface of PPC’s smart meter gateway. This solution not only meets all specific RLM use cases but also ensures high availability of the measurement values for subsequent billing by generating a time series of meter readings within the meter itself (i.e., even in the event of a temporary interruption in the communication link to the meter). The latter is of particular importance due to the high volumes of energy being measured, especially for energy balancing. For this reason, the measurement data is also stored in the RLM meter. In addition, the meter’s local interfaces can be used as high-performance interfaces for optimization tasks in industry, enabling customers to efficiently automate their processes. The solution thus addresses the needs of customers in this market segment, whose requirements—as described above—fundamentally differ from those of standard residential customers.
The RLM solution implemented by the partners has been deployed and is available in a test environment through the use of the existing secure CLS communication channel. This allows more complex RLM metering points to benefit from the cyber-secure iMSys infrastructure on an ad hoc basis.
This proven solution is consistent with the approach also pursued by standardization bodies. It will be further optimized as the specification work progresses. Interoperability, standardization, and short-term availability are of the utmost importance to all partners. Taking the outlined requirements into account, the partners are prepared to further explore possible solutions with all relevant stakeholders and to continue the constructive dialogue.
“With this technical solution, we are taking another step toward digitizing the RLM metering points with smart meter gateways and continuing the work outlined in the standardization process,” says Jürgen Kramny, Head of Metering Systems at Netze BW.
Malte Sunderkötter, Managing Director of E.ON Grid Solutions and responsible for the smart meter rollout within the E.ON Group: “To achieve a consistent, digital energy transition, we also need smart meters in the industrial and commercial sectors. That is why it is 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 this end, we are counting on broad acceptance among customers, users, and manufacturers.”
And Janosch Wagner, CTO of PPC, notes: “One of the key benefits of the cyber-secure iMSys platform is that new applications such as control systems, sub-metering, and RLM can easily take advantage of it and be implemented quickly.”
Christian Hofmann, Head of the Metrology / IoT Energy Sector at Robotron, adds: “Our system infrastructure is ideally suited for the solution that has now been tested. This prevents duplicate structures and ensures a consistent level of security.”
On behalf of Landis+Gyr, Managing Director Olaf Abbing adds: “By using the CLS interface, international RLM meter solutions can also be deployed in the German market, where they can actively contribute to supporting the energy transition in a timely and concrete manner.”
