By Rudi Strubbe, Smart Metering & M2M

Rudi Strubbe

Last week I participated to Metering Europe 2009, a three-day conference with some 150 industry thought leaders presenting and discussing case studies on the smart metering business.  With an international audience of more than 3,000 participants, all aspects of smart metering, smart grids, meter data management, energy efficiency challenges were covered.

With more than 10 years of helping utilities transform their operational networks, Alcatel-Lucent – gold sponsor of the event – was there to share its expertise and promote smart metering solutions as a way to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Alcatel-Lucent's booth at Metering Europe 2009

With everyone in the industry trying to figure out what smart metering in the end will look like, Alcatel-Lucent is showing the way towards a world where smart metering will truly leverage the value of the massive data-sets becoming available to optimise use of energy and – thereby – contribute to the 20-20-20 objectives on a world-wide scale.

By replacing traditional passive meters with networks of user-friendly smart meters, utilities have the opportunity to influence their customers’ consumption of power, gas and water.  Smart meters provide comprehensive, real-time

information on consumption patterns — allowing utilities to bill more accurately for energy used and giving their customers the opportunity to change their behaviour to reduce their own carbon emissions and save money in the process.

All of that requires strong data handling capabilities, experience with large, real-time systems and the reliability that we are used to offer to our telecom customers. We definitely can do good business here.

Just recently we announced an agreement that Alcatel-Lucent signed with KELAG, an Austrian power and gas supplier and energy network operator for the deployment and integration of a smart metering infrastructure.  This will make it possible for KELAG to provide its customers the ability to monitor their own energy consumption in real time and optimize it accordingly.  And just yesterday, we announced that Alcatel-Lucent’s research arm, Bell Labs, and the Gachon Energy Research Institute (GERI) of Korea’s Kyungwon University have entered into a joint research agreement to design mission-critical communication infrastructure, comprehensive security systems, and develop innovative businesses models for the next-generation smart power grid (Smart Grid).

At Alcatel-Lucent, innovation is our heritage and it will help us accelerate the evolution to more eco-sustainable power grid systems.  That innovation combined with our 10 years of experience in this field makes us uniquely qualified to help utilities assess the options they have as they consider implementing smart metering solutions.

Find out more:

• Alcatel-Lucent Expands Smart Meter Trials
• EU promotes smart metering in fight against global warming
• White Paper: Smart Metering – Enabling Greater Energy Efficiency
• White Paper: “SmartGridNet” Architecture for Utilities
• Energy Transformation Technologies
• Alcatel-Lucent Cares for the Environment and Climate Change