beginning of 2006, there were approximately 244 million electricity meters and 101 million gas meters in the EU plus Norway and Switzerland (EU23+2). Electricity reaches virtually every household and business in the whole of Europe, while gas is most widely used in the
Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Germany, France and Poland. Metering practices are undergoing
radical changes in the wake of the liberalisation of the European energy markets. The new
situation will require that the utility meters of tomorrow are connected to data communication networks.
Automated meter management (AMM) is a generic term for intelligent metering services based on two-way data communication. AMM could be considered as the third generation of metering technology.
Drivers:
1. Energy consumption patterns and tax policies
2. Regulatory and competitive environment in each country
3. Technology development
4. Energy market reforms and growing public interest in energy conservation has set the market for AMM solutions in motion in Western Europe
The basic elements of the AMM infrastructure are meters, communication networks and metering systems.
Communication technologies:
- PLC is essentially a narrowband communication media with limited range. Low voltage network reaches to the nearest transformer station - a concentrator unit continuously collects data signals from LV networks and forwards data packages to the central collection system over a conventional data network (generally GPRS). This solution is best suited for urban areas.
- Point to point GPRS communication is today the main alternative to PLC/GPRS for new AMM deployments. GPRS is clearly a versatile technology, PLC becomes highly competitive in densely populated areas (if 10 or more meters can be connected to a concentrator).
- RF communication over unlicensed frequency bands
AMM and vehicle telematics are the primary applications for wireless M2M technology. With hundreds of millions of potential data connections, they represent massive growth opportunities for the mobile industry. Today, metering equipment accounts for about 40% of the total number of active wireless M2M connections
Source: Berg Insight