2024 Customer Meeting Recap
The event was once again a great success—both for us as hosts and speakers and for our guests and participants. We were particularly pleased to see numerous partner companies participate for the first time; they took full advantage of the opportunity to connect and exchange ideas with our customers. We were delighted by the high level of interest and would like to thank everyone who attended and actively participated.
Here is a brief overview of the agenda for those who were unable to attend:
A Successful Debut—Light + Building 2024
After six days and our first appearance as an exhibitor with a new booth concept that stood out and was well-received, we can say: The Light + Building trade show in Frankfurt was a smash hit! With over 2,100 exhibitors and more than 150,000 visitors, the energy was palpable throughout the vast, thematically diverse exhibition halls every single day. At this monumental trade show covering every aspect of building and lighting technology, we wanted to make a statement with our debut appearance.
Three Inspiring Days — E-world Energy & Water 2024
[:de]E-world Energy & Water 2024 in Essen came to a close on Thursday, February 22, with record numbers, following a few somewhat quieter years. The trade show was vibrant, well-attended, and busier than it had been in a long time—it set a new record with 923 exhibitors from 30 countries and approximately 30,000 trade visitors. The aisles were packed, the booths were bustling, and the exhibitors’ schedules were jam-packed, confirming once again that the industry is on the rise.[:]
Home power plant experts from E3/DC and SMGW pioneer PPC successfully put §14a standby operations to the test
New requirements resulting from the amended Section 14a of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG) have been in effect since January 1, 2024. For E3/DC’s home power plants, their integrated energy management system, and PPC’s interoperable iMSysplatform, experts from both companies were able to demonstrate in tests that users not only meet the new requirements of Section 14a but will also be able to utilize additional market-related applications as well as grid- and system-supporting applications in the future.
The WARAN Project is driving the heating transition and digitizing the district heating network
While digitalization in the electricity sector has already gained momentum, the heating sector is still proceeding cautiously. There is a lack of transparency in local and district heating networks, a lack of control mechanisms to increase flexibility, and a lack of an integrated, holistic view of electricity and heat. As part of the WARAN research project, EWE NETZ, BTC, wesernetz Bremen, swb Erzeugung, be.storaged, SWR AG, the FfE, and PPC aim to advance these issues in municipal heat supply—specifically regarding sector coupling and digitalization—through a unified and standardized iMSys infrastructure.
TR-5 Adopted
The BMWK has finalized BSI TR-03109-5. TR-5 ensures interoperability for users (end customers/operators) of the SMGW at the CLS interface with other components that control downstream heat pumps, wallboxes, or battery storage systems. It also describes security requirements for applications within the SMGW’s home area network (HAN) as part of the implementation of Section 14a of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG).
Heat meters from Belimo, Robotron, and PPC have been successfully connected to the iMSys via the CLS channel
Mannheim-based PPC and Swiss company Belimo have successfully connected heat meters to the iMSys via the CLS channel. This success demonstrates that even meters and sectors outside the scope of submetering solutions can be quickly and easily integrated into the smart metering system.
Direct Marketing via iMSys: Interoperable, Market-Oriented Control
[:de]Controllable generation facilities are one of the key drivers for a successful energy transition. After all, they allow us to tap into vast, previously untapped flexibility in the grid to integrate decentralized generators and volatile consumption peaks with minimal losses. In doing so, prosumers must not only be integrated into the grid in a way that benefits the grid from the outset, but they must also be brought on board through market-oriented control mechanisms. Synergies between hardware, software, and infrastructure are crucial for the successful, cost-effective implementation of direct marketing. These requirements served as the starting point for the collaboration between Swistec, Next Kraftwerke, MeterPan, and PPC.[:]
This is what 1:n looks like in practice—co.met connects 21 customers in Saarbrücken via a smart meter gateway
[:de]A scalable rollout requires the ability to connect multiple meters via a smart meter gateway. It is crucial that data reception and transmission meet the same quality and security standards as in a point-to-point connection. The advantage of the new “1:n solutions” is that they work wirelessly with over 50 meters, eliminating the need for complex RS485 cabling.[:]
iRLMSys – Smart Meter for Industry Is Coming
[:de]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.[:]