Continuous innovationDriving continuous innovation in the areas of customer service, business processes and energy efficiency has always been a key principle for E.ON. The company is among the first to understand that sustaining improvements into the coming decades requires a new level of service that is only possible by integrating energy measurement devices with communications and software technology into a highly functional end-to-end smart metering solution. The Gridstream solution from Landis+Gyr was able to meet this demanding expectation.

The Gridstream solutionThe 390,000 electricity and gas meters are installed in a mixture of residential, commercial, industrial and grid environments. To guarantee the successful implementation of the solution, and to achieve its ambitious deployment goal of almost 12,000 meters per

week, E.ON decided on the turnkey project option from Landis+Gyr.Included in the project are the Gridstream solution components (AIM software, smart meters, communication modules, and data concentrators), deployment services, and meter reading services for the first six years of operation.

Smooth implementation of the E.ON project required a smart metering solution which could efficiently scale up from the smaller pilot of 10,000 meter devices up to the full deployment of 390,000.

Horizontal and vertical scalability inherent in the Gridstream architecture made this possible. The capacity of the system was increased horizontally step by step as the meter device population grew by adding data concentrators organized into geographic and

E.ON reaps the full benefits of smart metering using the Landis+Gyr Gridstream solution

Swedish utility company E.ON Elnät Sverige AB are using the Gridstream smart metering solution from Landis+Gyr to deliver its energy efficiency goals following a 390,000 device smart meter roll-out. E.ON recognized the advantages of Landis+Gyr’s energy industry experience, skilled employees and expert technical know-how for the design, installation and operation of its end-to-end solution.

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communication technology groups (for example PLC and GSM/GPRS), and adding communication servers under the data concentrators.

High performance server clustering and database partitioning techniques were used to introduce vertical scalability as the total smart meter data volume increased.

Combining these scaling techniques increased overall system reliability by reducing the impact of single points of failure on other parts of the system.

Streamlining business processes required data exchange and interoperability between Gridstream and E.ON’s host IT infrastructure. It was vital that different systems (for example the customer information system, billing system and network information service) within the utility environment were able to make use of the energy measurement data.

The XML and web-services technologies used by the Gridstream solution and made available by the AIMIA interface made it possible to design and implement all the required data exchanges with the host systems.

The deployment of the E.ON project required many resources in order to deploy 12,000 meters per week. A deployment on this scale had to be carried out reliably and efficiently and several Gridstream process automation features were crucial to the success of the deployment operation.

• Meters were pre-configured and parameterized before they left the factory for delivery and installation, and the data was uploaded directly into the Gridstream AIM system using data files.

• Meters automatically registered themselves with the AIM system via the communications network as they were installed at customer premises.

• Interfaces to geographic information systems and asset management systems simplified tracking of the meter population.

Gridstream can deliver readings from electricity, water, gas and heat metering sites based on either a fixed schedule or on events.

In the E.ON project Gridstream measures residential energy consumption daily and stores it in the metering data warehouse for bulk delivery to E.ON once a month.

For industrial and commercial customers Gridstream reads energy consumption once an hour, and sends it on to E.ON in bulk deliveries once a day.

Ambitious implementation planThe close cooperation between E.ON and Landis+Gyr during the project planning and implementation phases was essential to meet the challenge of deploying 390,000 meters in a period of only 9 months.

Initially, Landis+Gyr deployed a pilot installation of 10,000 meters to prove that everything, including logistics, was ready to ensure a smooth high-volume roll-out.

Following the successful completion of this exercise E.ON gave its approval for the full roll-out, and the finely tuned logistics process moved into high gear, installing almost 12,000 metering points per week all across Sweden.

250 personnel were deployed across the country using a fleet of 90 newly purchased vans, snow mobiles and even a hovercraft.

Nothing was allowed to delay the installation process, and during the winter months there was a fight against the elements which even required removing snow from the roads to allow quicker and safer access to customer premises.

The value for E.ONThe Landis+Gyr Gridstream solution reduces E.ON’s investment risk and allows it to meet the ongoing requirements for delivering accurate energy measurement data reliably. The company can be confident that it is using a state-of-the-art smart metering system capable of delivering a maximum of business benefits over many years of operation.

“This contract makes it possible for us to reach the target of installing new AMR meters to all our customers on time. Our local partner, Landis+Gyr, convinced us with a good and flexible technical solution that will help us improve our service activities and to fulfil our customers’ demands. In addition, it will boost our efficiency in meter data handling and processing.”

Quote from E.ON

Landis+Gyr AGTheilerstrasse 16301 ZugSwitzerland

Tel. +41 41 935 6000Fax +41 41 935 6601info@landisgyr.comwww.landisgyr.eu

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Landis+Gyr operates according to the principle of continuous improvement. The information in this document is subject to change without notice and is given without any representation, warranty or guarantee whatsoever, including as to the accuracy, completeness or suitability for a purpose. The statements made in this document shall not be deemed to be a guarantee or representation. Landis+Gyr is a trademark of the Landis+Gyr Group. This document is copyright protected. The information is updated at the time of printing (08-2012)