Greentech Lead Europe: Sensus, a utility infrastructure company, has been selected to support the rollout of electric and gas smart meters to ten million locations in the Northern region of Great Britain, subject to contract.
The project, one of the world’s largest smart metering projects, is part of the UK government’s plan to put smart meters in millions of homes and small businesses by 2020.
Sensus technology will support the rollout of electric and gas smart meters to ten million locations in the Northern region of Great Britain, subject to contract.
Peter Mainz, Sensus CEO and president, said the technology provides financial and energy savings for utilities and consumers by improving operational efficiency and enabling the public to make informed choices on their energy use.
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced today that communications company Arqiva has been selected as preferred bidder to provide the smart metering communications service for Northern England and Scotland.
In conjunction with Arqiva, Sensus will provide the long-range radio technology for a private, secure and resilient communications network.
With proven results in North America and successful deployments in Europe, Sensus is uniquely qualified to bring its FlexNet communications technology to a project of this magnitude. The open standards-based communications network is currently in more than 16 million endpoints, including smart meters and other devices.
“With more than 475 electric, gas and water utilities adopting Sensus advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technologies, we have proven that our solution works,” said Mainz. “The scope of the Great Britain initiative serves as a benchmark for future projects around the world.”
Recently Sensus also announced it is expanding the demand response (DR) portfolio with the launch of an advanced load control module (LCM) for use in residential and commercial applications.
The Sensus FlexNetLCM enables electric utilities to shed load by controlling power to energy-intensive appliances, without the need for a ZigBee-enabled meter. Load shedding typically involves HVACs, pool pumps, water heaters and irrigation pumps.