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Meeting SAIDI/SAIFI requirements to improve grid reliability more on page 08
Customer Projects TAURON Distribution S.A. rolls out Gridstream CONVERGE in Poland Page 04
Product Updates Distribution Automation solution helps Dutch DNO radically reduce average outage duration Page10
Special Reports Andreas Umbach listed as one of most influential people in Europe’s smart grid industry Page 14
Editorial
Dear Customer, Driven by the urge to improve, in 2014 we conducted our second Customer Survey based on more than 1,300 interviews with customers in 15 countries. The results provided us with key findings and quite a few positive changes since the initial customer survey in 2012. It proves that our efforts in working to understand your feedback and initiating respective action programs have been met with a positive reaction. We are convinced that customer input is essential to our success. With a response rate of 18%, customers are still committed to give us information on both what we do well and on areas that require improvement. We are especially proud that our customers stated that Landis+Gyr – as the only company in the industry – has managed to achieve a significant improvement in the customer statisfaction index. This benchmark is a great confirmation that we are headed in the right direction, yet enables us to be keenly aware that we still have a way to go in some markets and in specific areas. Landis+Gyr is perceived as a reliable partner and we are pleased that our customers rated their counterparts very well. After all, how effective are best-in-class products if they do not fit to individual needs and requirements? The results of the survey emphasize that the intensive collaboration we have had with our customers over the years establishing solutions that match our customers’ needs is the key to building long-term partnerships. As continuous improvement is part of our DNA, the information shared provides us with valuable insights for our future strategy. We will take immediate action on an EMEA level, especially in the areas related to product functionality, delivery aspects and complaint management. At the same time, our local entities will work on the aspects related to the customer relationship on a local level. Plans are already in place to measure our performance when we conduct the next survey in 2016.
Andreas Brun Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing EMEA, Landis+Gyr
Table of Contents Customer Projects TAURON Distribution S.A. rolls out Gridstream CONVERGE in Poland
Page 04
Liechtenstein’s energy provider makes smart metering available to their customer base
Page 06
Product Updates Meeting SAIDI/SAIFI requirements to improve grid reliability
Page 08
A Success Story: Distribution Automation solution helps Dutch DNO radically reduce average outage duration
Page 10
Gridstream GWA – Meeting German standards
Page 12
Special Reports Andreas Umbach listed as one of most influential people in Europe’s smart grid industry
Page 14
Landis+Gyr recognized as 2014 AMI Company of the Year by Frost & Sullivan
Page 16
Webinar: Delivering distribution intelligence with MV/LV network supervision and control
Page 18
In Brief Worldwide News
Page 19
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Customer Projects
TAURON Distribution S.A. rolls out Gridstream CONVERGE in Poland Between September 2013 and November 2014, Landis+Gyr worked closely with Polish distribution network operator (DNO) TAURON Distribution S.A. to expand their Gridstream® CONVERGE advanced metering management (AMM) system to five branches of the utility in the cities of Jelenia Góra, Legnica, Opole, Wałbrzych and Wrocław. Using CONVERGE, overall AMM system efficiency within the DNO is achieved since CONVERGE introduces common and standardized solutions for energy measurement. This enables easy benchmarking and comparison between the five branches. Gridstream CONVERGE meets the requirements of TAURON with regards to data management, which is to shorten the transfer time of measurement data to both external and internal clients and enable fast reporting to the Energy Regulatory Office (URE) and the Energy Market Agency (ARE). Ultimately, the system will cover the acquisition of data from meters installed in measuring units of both MV/LV balance and auxiliary stations. The solution will also eventually be able to obtain data from 65,000 measuring points, which will require the calculation of 910,000 load profiles within a 15-minute-long averaging period. TAURON Distribution also needed to implement changes in their measurement systems that are used to measure and report power usage and quality. CONVERGE enables the DNO to improve the efficiency of data acquisition and management required for billing, shortening this process to couple of hours, whereas previously it took a couple of days. 4
Additionally, the CONVERGE system carries out the acquisition and processing of measurement data from boundary points, 110kV transformations and business customers from three tariff groups. Marcin Pastuszka, Project Manager, TAURON Distribution, explains: “We needed immediate changes in measurement systems and looked for a solution that could help us meet the growing demands of our entire organization. The CONVERGE measurement system performs all the requirements.” TAURON is planning future extensions of the measurement solution to more of its network, ultimately making it the biggest measuring system, not only in Poland but also in Europe. According to Andrzej Szymanski, CEO, Landis+Gyr Poland, “Landis+Gyr is ready and prepared to support the utility’s ongoing activities in this area.” n
CONVERGE
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Customer Projects
Liechtenstein’s energy provider makes smart metering available to their customer base Liechtensteinische Kraftwerke (LKW) is a publicly owned utility with more than 190 employees, responsible for the energy supply of the entire principality of Liechtenstein. LKW implemented Landis+Gyr’s Gridstream® end-to-end solution to optimize customer service, enhance awareness of power quality, facilitate outage detection, and enable multi-energy measurement. After the successful software integration in LKW’s system environment and the completed test phase with 850 meters, over 23,000 residential meters were replaced with E450 integrated smart meters. The integrated E450 MBus interface of Landis+Gyr’s smart meter enables multi-energy measurement: gas, water and heat can also be read out without using additional hardware. “We only need to connect the E450 to the existing meters to enable smart metering for all types of energy,” says Stephan Krähenbühl, Senior Customer Project Manager, Landis+Gyr EMEA. Currently, more than 3,000 gas, water and heat meters can be read out remotely, but there is potential for 9,000 more meters being connected to the smart metering solution.
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Remote access enabled A VPN remote access to the Landis+Gyr Customer Support Center allows for quick and efficient support without incurring additional travel expenses. During a number of training sessions, both onsite and in the Landis+Gyr Training Center, the responsible LKW professionals learned how to deal with software, installation and maintenance of the field devices, such as smart meters and data concentrators. They also familiarized themselves with the structure of the PLC communication network. The E450 is equipped with a three-phase breaker and can be remotely switched on and off. This option supports the collection process and saves LKW the cost of installing dedicated payment terminals. The integration of the whole system into LKW’s IT environment is managed via multiple dedicated interfaces. The data exchange is handled via XML and CSV files. One of LKW’s main benefits from the rollout is accurate billing which reflects actual consumption. The bills are sent out on a monthly or quarterly basis, depending on the customer group. LKW appreciates the flexibility when changing the billing intervals, which has paved the road for potential new future pricing models. n
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Product Updates
Meeting SAIDI/SAIFI requirements to improve grid reliability Landis+Gyr is working with Nordic grid operators to deploy smart meters and smart grid technologies to enhance power distribution quality. Power distribution quality is typically measured in terms of the duration and the frequency of outages, using System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI). Over the course of a year SAIDI indicates the average duration of outage while SAIFI quantifies the average number of interruptions, for each customer. Ageing network infrastructure, increased deployment of renewables and potential integration of e-vehicles are some of the challenges that are driving utilities to increase grid visibility and secure its stability. In addition, recent harsh winters that left parts of the low voltage (LV) distribution network without power for substantial periods have led regulators in the Nordic countries to adopt SAIDI and SAIFI criteria to diligently monitor power distribution quality in their markets. Some of these countries have also implemented regulations that set out requirements for Distribution System Operators (DSO) to financially compensate their customers in case of longer power cuts. However compensation, which is part of a reactive approach to addressing grid reliability, can become very costly. In Finland 3.4 million customers are connected to the grid.
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As an example, during the 2011 winter just over one percent of customers were without power for over 120 hours, with each paid, on average, €98 by DSOs to compensate. For the last year and a half, Landis+Gyr has been working with utilities in Finland, Norway and Sweden on projects to show how smart meter and smart grid technologies can be deployed to detect and minimize outages, and create ‘self-healing’ solutions through automation of the LV network. In addition to automating the process of meter reading and billing, smart meters include a functionality that enables them to act as nodes at the ends of the network, registering when power to the customer drops off and relaying this information to the utility provider. DSOs can nowadays remotely check if end-customers are connected to the network or not. Smart meters ensure that when engineers are sent out to correct faults in the LV network, the issue is resolved for every customer. The visibility that DSOs have over their networks is further enhanced with smart grid technology at the medium voltage (MV) transformer station level. Network digitalization not only localizes and minimizes the impact of the fault – reducing the number of customers affected – but also helps to locate where on the cable the problem is, improving safety of engineers and saving maintenance time. n A Success Story – Enexis, a Major Distribution Network Operator (DNO) in the Nordics, is a prime example of how distribution automation can help reduce outage duration. Read more about this success story on the next page.
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Product Updates
A Success Story: Distribution Automation solution helps Dutch DNO radically reduce average outage duration With every new smart device, with every program, app and gadget, and with every step towards more comprehensive digitalization, the dependence on a constant supply of electricity increases. Accordingly, supply reliability is becoming more crucial while consumers are becoming less forgiving of interruptions. Enexis, a major Distribution Network Operator (DNO) in the Netherlands, is one of the forward thinking players in the European utility market, which has been acutely aware of this situation for a while. Working together with Landis+Gyr, Enexis is successfully implementing Distribution Automation for its medium and low voltage network. The main goal for the implementation of the solution is to improve the quality of power distribution; in other words, to reduce frequency and duration of power outages. An ambitious goal achieved Power distribution quality is typically measured in terms of the duration and the frequency of outages, using System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI). Over the course of a year, SAIDI indicates the average duration of outages, while SAIFI quantifies the average number of interruptions for each customer. Enexis had set itself an ambitious goal: to reduce the SAIDI number from 87 minutes per customer to five minutes, for 50 percent of client base its who are supplied via automated medium and lowvoltage networks. 10
The cooperation between Enexis and the Landis+Gyr has been extremely effective: The Dutch DNO managed to reduce the outage to not just five, but to three minutes for its customers supplied via automated networks, which at the time of writing is approximately 10% of the client base.
“We are very satisfied with the project’s progress and our cooperation with Landis+Gyr has worked very well.” Ivan Theunissen, Project Manager for Enexis “First and foremost, we wanted to stabilize our future SAIDI figure on 2008 performance-level, taking into account the aging of our assets and consequently an expected increase in outages,” says Ivan Theunissen, Project Manager for Enexis. “Though SAIFI was not an explicit part of the original scope, the advanced Goal achieved: insight into load conditions provides us with the information Enexis’ total for corrective actions, which in turn improves SAIFI. Within the reduction of project this has not yet been quantified.” SADI number In order to achieve its goal, Enexis began working with PowerSense, who developed and produced smart supervision and control systems for the power distribution industry. The solution, designed to retrofit and digitalize existing power distribution infrastructures, was originally a development project for optical fault passage detection by innovative Danish energy provider DONG. In 2006, the development project was spun-off into the company PowerSense A/S in which DONG Energy kept 30 percent of the stocks until PowerSense’s acquisition by Landis+Gyr in 2014. At this point Enexis has rolled out more than 500 Remote Monitoring Units to automate its distribution network and is planning to install a further 300 in 2015. n
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Product Updates
Gridstream GWA - Meeting German standards Landis+Gyr’s Gridstream® GWA (Gateway Administrator) is a new, fully automated, comprehensive smart metering solution. Developed to meet the strict requirements of the German market, the Gridstream GWA is designed for high performance as well as efficient operations in large scale, point-to-point smart grid installations with high privacy and security requirements. The German regulation for smart metering solutions requires a system that includes base meters, a smart meter gateway, the gateway administrator and interfaces to business process management systems as well as multiple market participants. The gateway administrator is an IT system similar to a head-end system, mainly responsible for configuring and managing smart meter gateways for various market participants. Landis+Gyr tackled the challenge by designing a system fitted to the specific requirements of the German market: “We decided to go for a green-field approach and developed a system that would be certain to meet and even exceed the requirements of the BSI (German Federal Office for Information Security) guidelines,” explains Dr-Ing. Markus Bestehorn, Product Manager Smart Energy Solutions, Landis+Gyr. Intelligence remains in the gateway The regulator’s demands for smart metering solutions in Germany have driven two major characteristics: the first being that the German model introduces an AMI infrastructure where the intelligence of the metering data collection remains in the intelligent smart meter gateway. The second defining characteristic is that the German model adopts an end-to-end secure schema in which all players need to make 12
use of specific certificates in order to read a receive meter values or control energy. One of the unique characteristics of Landis+Gyr’s GWA is the system’s fully automated capability to deliver all services needed for installation, mass collection, certificate management and distribution of metering data to the different market participants. The system has a powerful and highly usable solution to troubleshoot exception situations in an environment consisting of several million devices. The user of the GWA is mainly involved in the initiation of the processes that run automatically and in the correction of error situations where automatic recovery is no longer possible.
“By delivering this high level of automation, we enable a fully smart grid by freeing up manpower for our customers and give the highly trained employees the chance to perform other, more important tasks.” Dr-Ing. Markus Bestehorn, Landis+Gyr Flexible driver concept to ensure interoperability While German legislation and utilities aim at full interoperability, the maturity of standards developed by various bodies (FNN, DKE, BDEW) has not reached a level where devices are fully interoperable. Due to Landis+Gyr’s experience in emerging smart grid markets, this situation is foreseeable and a driver concept has been integrated into Gridstream GWA. This allows customers to install hardware from various vendors despite the lack of standards. Hardware vendors can integrate non-standard functionality into their devices and support these functions through their drivers. “Interoperability is crucial. We have ongoing activities to integrate smart meter gateways from other vendors, not all competitors are finished with their development yet,” says Markus Bestehorn. n
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Special Reports
Andreas Umbach listed as one of most influential people in Europe’s smart grid industry In its 2015 ‘definitive guide to the people driving Europe’s smart grid development’, the editorial board of industry magazine Metering & Smart Energy International named Landis+Gyr CEO, Andreas Umbach, as one of 50 most influential people in Europe’s smart grid industry, and in fact identified him as one of their top 10! According to the magazine, the individuals on the list are the movers and shakers in Europe’s smart grid sector. For more than a decade, Andreas Umbach has led Landis+Gyr’s transformation into a global provider of smart metering, and smart grid technology and solutions. When asked for three key predictions for the power sector in 2015, Andreas Umbach gave the following insight: 1. The digitalization of energy grids will make further headway in Europe The smart grid is here already, according to Umbach. This is reflected by the increase in number of players active in the field. “Now we are seeing a lot more emphasis on the data side of the industry such as data analytics and smart data.”
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2. Convergence of data will link historically separated processes and push smart grid and smart community concepts IT convergence is a very real trend, not a buzzword. There is a wide range of commercialized technologies that are able to underpin IT convergence in the energy sector. As an example Umbach explains: “Renewables deployment has a major impact on a utility’s network because they were originally designed as one way roads, not for bilateral traffic. If you deploy renewables you then have to monitor frequency and voltage in that area of the network. So there are pockets of the grid where there is a real desire, now, to execute IT convergence technologies on the utilities side.” 3. Energy meters will become the communicating interface at all levels in the energy system The European energy industry is in constant evolution, and Landis+Gyr strives to adapt to meet each new development. According to Umbach: “Landis+Gyr is already a leader in smart metering solutions and our ambition is to become the leading smart grid solutions provider. We do this by continuing to add functionality and adding technologies and products that fit well into a smart metering network.” n
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Special Reports
Landis+Gyr recognized as 2014 AMI Company of the Year by Frost & Sullivan Based on its recent analysis of the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) market, Frost & Sullivan, a Growth Partnership Company, has recognized Landis+Gyr with the 2014 Global Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year Award. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in devising a strong growth strategy and robustly implementing it. The recipient has shown strength in terms of innovation in products and technologies, leadership in customer value as well as speed in response to market needs. In short, the award looks at market players in the industry and recognizes their best practices that are positioned for future growth excellence.
“Landis+Gyr has been relentless in its pursuit of higher energy management goals through constant innovations in AMI. It delivers cutting-edge solutions to not just utilities, but also energy consumers all over the world.� According to Frost & Sullivan, Landis+Gyr has been highly successful in helping utilities improve the efficiency of their energy networks, reduce energy costs, aid in the sustainable use of resources and ultimately, realize the full potential of the smart grid. In addition to its organic growth, Frost & Sullivan commended Landis+Gyr on its creation of ripples in the mergers and acquisitions space. Soon after Bayard Capital purchased the company in 2004, Landis+Gyr made 14 different investments in the utility sector, channeling more than $1.2 billion in capital to grow beyond 16
the confines of a pure metering company into the networking and communications space. These technologies and capability propelled the company to the top spot in the AMI market, and under Toshiba’s ownership since 2011, Landis+Gyr has remained active in acquiring complementary know-how. “Significantly, in 2014, Landis+Gyr acquired PowerSense, a smart grid technology company, and GRIDiant, a company that specializes in grid connectivity technologies,” said Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst Gautham Gnanajothi. “The integration of industryleading connectivity models of GRIDiant; high-quality supervision and control systems, and the optical sensor technologies of PowerSense; along with the existing portfolio of Landis+Gyr is expected to result in groundbreaking next-generation products.” According to Frost & Sullivan, Landis+Gyr’s success and resonance with customers can be attributed to its unique two-pronged approach to innovation. The first is innovation in its standard product offering, and the second is innovation in customized and tailored solutions. This method helps it achieve a balance between market requirements and customer requirements regarding innovation. “Landis+Gyr delivers an industry-leading ownership experience, starting with research and product development excellence all the way through to high-quality after-sales service and effective maintenance and operation,” noted Gautham. “It partners with the world’s best suppliers to optimize value for its customers, fostering a collaborative, innovative, and sustainable procurement process.” n
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Special Reports/In Brief
Join us for a Landis+Gyr Webinar
Securing smart grid investments Increasing power grid visualization, improving fault restoration and mitigating the impact of growing amounts of renewables on power quality are just some of the challenges utilities are looking to resolve when dealing with ageing infrastructure and costs associated with smart grids. Join Landis+Gyr’s leading expert on MV/LV network supervision and control, Jesper Klingsten Nielsen, in this webinar. He will speak about: andis+Gyr’s comprehensive solution portfolio that allows utilities L to flexibly extend, adapt and change their grid infrastructure in compliance with their smart grid strategy. n How to increase visibility of the power flows or avoid potential bottlenecks in the distribution network. n How to achieve a 60% reduction in CML (Customer Minutes Lost) through a Retrofit Distribution Automation solution strategy implemented by a leading Dutch DSO. n Benefits of an innovative approach to advanced power quality monitoring from a utility in New Zealand. n
Click here to register
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Worldwide news Zug, Switzerland – February 04, 2015
Ericsson and Landis+Gyr partner to empower Smart Metering and Smart Grid projects in the Middle East Landis+Gyr and Ericsson, a global technology communications and services provider, have created a partnership to address the Middle East’s Smart Metering and Smart Grid transformation projects. Under the terms of the partnership, Ericsson and Landis+Gyr will support utilities across the region with solutions that deliver key data required to cultivate active relationships with end-consumers. Read more
Zug, Switzerland and Fredericia, Denmark – December 18, 2014
Landis+Gyr to strengthen DONG Energy’s metering management Landis+Gyr and DONG Energy, one of the leading energy groups in Northern Europe, signed an agreement for a Meter Data Management System, which will be integrated into the utility’s existing IT architecture. The move comes as Dong Energy prepares to start the replacement of its entire metering park in the residential sector. Read more
Zug, Switzerland – December 15, 2014
Landis+Gyr donates to the ‘Swiss Foundation for the Cerebral palsy child’ Landis+Gyr donates to the ‘Swiss Foundation for the cerebral palsy child’. This year, many employees have once again chosen to donate their travel supplement. A record total sum of Swiss Francs 25,000 has been reached and will go to the Swiss Foundation for Children with Cerebral Palsy (Schweizerische Stiftung für das cerebral gelähmte Kind). Read more 19
Editorial and layout: Landis+Gyr AG Seidl PR & Marketing GmbH, 45131 Essen, Germany Photography: iStock.com; marcoscisetti (page 6+7) Š Harvepino/istock/Thinkstock (titel & page 8+9) iStock.com; radoma (page 15) iStock.com; Nasared (page 18) Additional photos by Landis+Gyr/Seidl PR & Marketing GmbH
Landis+Gyr AG Theilerstrasse 1 6301 Zug Switzerland www.landisgyr.eu Š Landis+Gyr 2015