With the ramp-up in the installation of heat pumps and wall boxes, grid operators are facing a new challenge: each of these systems must be controllable in the future. Previous concepts often envisage complex hardware installations at this point in order to dim a system in accordance with Section 14a of the German Energy Industry Act (EnWG). This usually requires the installation of a separate control box and associated cabling. This presents further challenges for field technicians. Space in the meter cabinet is limited, installation time per customer increases, and the availability of additional hardware components is a cost factor. The difficulty here? If a new physical device has to be installed for each controllable consumer, the mass rollout is slowed down by the amount of material and time required. Successful integration of consumption devices must therefore reduce complexity on site\u2014and map control processes digitally as far as possible.<\/p>\n
This is precisely where the SMGW control concept comes in. PPC implements this in the form of SMGWplus \u2013 taking the functionality of existing PPC Smart Meter Gateways to a new level of integration. The key advantage: the control function is no longer performed by a separate control unit, but is handled directly by the Smart Meter Gateway. A software update enables PPC smart meter gateways to forward control commands directly to the customer’s system using the digital interface. The PPC smart meter gateway forwards the control signals from the distribution network operator’s backend to controllable systems in the EEBUS protocol.<\/p>\n
For network operators and MSBs, this means a massive gain in speed and resource efficiency. Instead of having to deploy new control hardware in the field, the edge computing capabilities of the installed smart meter gateway are utilized.<\/p>\n