CONTACT:
Lori Reslock – Vice President Marketing, CURRENT Group, LLC, USA; Phone: +1 301 944-2824
US Release
Metering, Billing/CRM Europe Conference Announcement: Barcelona, Spain
CURRENT GROUP SUCCESSFULLY DEMONSTRATES INTEROPERABLE PRIME SMART GRID METERING SYSTEM • CURRENT Group, along with Iberdrola, one of the world’s four largest electric utilities, and leading global technology partners, successfully prove through demonstration the first fully interoperable and open Smart Grid communications infrastructure for multi-vendor environments • Milestone demonstrates that open and interoperable devices do not just have support for "open protocols" but also have proven interoperability at all levels similar to telecommunications networks • Interoperability milestone supports Europe’s Smart Grid Roadmap and provides guidance to the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards for the United States • Open solutions pave way for lower cost deployment of Smart Grid in Europe in support of energy efficiency and carbon reduction
Washington, DC – October 07, 2009 - CURRENT Group, LLC, a leading Smart Grid company and founding member of the PRIME Alliance, announced at the European Metering, Billing/CRM Conference taking place in Barcelona, Spain this week that it has successfully demonstrated the interoperability of the first ever open metering solution in support of Europe’s Smart Grid Roadmap.
“Legacy metering approaches often required utilities to accept that the communications link between the meter vendor and meter collector was proprietary, in essence locking the utility into a single communications provider solution. The PRIME initiative is designed to define standards that allow meter vendors and meter collector providers to integrate open communications solutions which will speed adoption, reduce cost, and expand the capabilities of Smart Grid solutions for utility customers and CURRENT has demonstrated that such a system works. This will result in lower cost meters, more innovative energy management solutions and a faster realization of the reliability and energy efficiency gains and carbon emissions reductions that a Smart Grid will produce,” said Tom Willie, CURRENT’s Senior Vice President of Product Development and Technology and Vice Chairman of the PRIME Alliance.
“Traditional approaches to metering in the United States tend to lock utilities into a single smart metering vendor by way of proprietary communications between smart meters for each smart network deployed. Europe is moving rapidly to a truly open and integrated Smart Grid reality in accordance with Europe’s Smart Grid Roadmap. Other countries are very serious about achieving increased openness throughout the Smart Grid communications layer which raises the bar for U.S. utilities and technology providers to do the same,” said Patti Harper-Slaboszewicz, Senior Director for UtiliPoint International’s Global Smart Grid Practice.
"Smart Grid development differs around the globe and regional breakthroughs playing out on foreign soil are delivering key insights for the U.S. energy market,” said Rick Nicholson, IDC Energy Insights Research Vice President. “While North America is ahead when it comes to consumer programs such as demand response, Europe is leading with respect to interoperability best practices, automating distribution networks and developing virtual power plants. Asia, especially China, is building smart grid functionality into new infrastructure at both the transmission and distribution levels. Leading Smart Grid technology providers are delivering solutions today that look different across given geographies in lieu of regional market maturity variances. The convergence of regional innovation will provide utilities the opportunity to learn by example, embrace field tested technologies, and ultimately benefit from an accelerated rate of worldwide Smart Grid technology innovation and adoption over the next decade.”
About PRIME AllianceThe PRIME (PoweRline Intelligent Metering Evolution) Alliance was formed to develop an open and future-proofed communications infrastructure to support large-scale metering and other Smart Grid projects. The goal of the alliance is to define, test and develop the framework in which meters and other devices can interoperate using a fully open physical layer (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) specification. PRIME Alliance partners include ADD, Itron, Landis+Gyr, Microsyscom, ST Microelectronics, Texas Instruments, ZIV and the Spanish utility Iberdrola.
CollaborationIn order to achieve this interoperability milestone, CURRENT has worked closely with leading technology partners, such as Texas Instruments (TI), and Iberdrola, a world leader in electric power, through the PRIME Alliance to define, test, and validate the overall solution.
“Our relationship with CURRENT has enabled Texas Instruments to achieve a power line communication solution that is fully compatible with the PRIME standard,” said Emmanuel Sambuis, general manager of Texas Instrument’s metering business. “Texas Instruments is committed to providing solutions that enable smart grid deployment around the world.”
About CURRENTCURRENT Group, LLC delivers innovative and industry-leading intelligent solutions that optimize the distribution system and offer utilities new ways to monitor and manage the health of the grid. Through CURRENT’s distributed sensing, monitoring, communications and analytical technologies, utilities are better able to understand, predict and respond to system disturbances and faults, identify where inefficiencies are, and enable the smartest possible sourcing and distribution of power by the utility to their customers.
CURRENT’s state-of-the-art technologies are being implemented by utilities around the globe. CURRENT is a member of the Xcel Energy SmartGridCity™ consortium that also includes Xcel Energy, Accenture, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Ventyx, GridPoint, OSIsoft and SmartSynch. Xcel Energy’s SmartGridCity™ is utilizing the fully integrated CURRENT Smart Grid™ solution that combines advanced sensing technology with two-way real-time communications, 24/7 monitoring and enterprise analysis software and related services to provide Xcel Energy with location-specific, actionable intelligence on its electric distribution grid. CURRENT is also engaged in European Union-sponsored projects in partnership with Iberdrola, the world’s 4th largest electric utility, among others, to expand the use of smart grid technology in the European Union. This year, CURRENT was honored by the World Economic Forum as a 2009 Technology Pioneer and selected by Dow Jones as one of the Top 10 most Innovative Clean Technology companies in Europe.
CURRENT is a private company that is backed by leading investors including Liberty Associated Partners, EnerTech Capital, Google, Inc., and Goldman Sachs & Co.
CURRENT is headquartered outside of Washington, DC, with offices throughout the United States and in Zurich, Switzerland and has representation in Australia, Brazil and Singapore. Additional information can be found at http://www.currentgroup.com/.
CONTACT:
Lori Reslock – Vice President Marketing, CURRENT Group, LLC, USA; Phone: +1 301 944-2824 ###
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