SAN JOSE, CA /PRNewswire/ -- Echelon Corp., one of the world's leading energy control networking solution providers, and ELO Sistemas Eletronicos, one of the largest meter manufacturers in Brazil, announced that ELO is completing the deployment of a 3400 unit pilot—the Parintins City Project—with Eletrobras, This utility is one of the largest in Latin America, serving over 3 million customers. ELO's solution consists of a dual-mode smart meter that communicates over power line (PL) or by radio frequency (RF) through Echelon's exclusive multipurpose expansion port feature. Echelon is providing smart sensor and metering sub-systems to ELO, leveraging its proven energy control networking platform.
This project is part of an innovative plan aimed at improving the everyday lives of the customers served by Eletrobras in the Amazon region. Installed smart meters will act as sensors in the distribution network, allowing the detection and immediate intervention in the event of a power failure or line tampering. Eletrobras will monitor the data from the smart meters, such as time consumption and cost per kWh at different times of day, and can change rates throughout the day, encouraging consumption during off-peak demand. By the end of 2013, ELO will deploy another 12,000 smart meters as part of this project.
"We are excited to provide ELO with the solution that enables a grid modernization path for Eletrobras," said Michael Anderson, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Markets, at Echelon. "Delivering safe, reliable energy is the main mission of the smart grid, and utilities like Eletrobras, with grid modernization projects, lead the way for other Brazilian cities and towns."
The project is located in Parintins, a city on an island in an isolated portion of the grid. It will allow monitoring of system performance, from generation to distribution, and provide customers with status using the new technology. To integrate the entire area, meters with both PL and RF communications were required to reach all customers. Another technical requirement was to secure the information and sense any tampering, as this territory has one of the highest rates of nontechnical losses, largely because enforcement is difficult. To date, 3400 meters have been installed, and the project is meeting its goals of reduced technical and commercial losses, increased security and improved quality of service.
"Meeting or surpassing the Eletrobras Parintins project goals for reduced losses and improved quality of service has been extremely satisfying," said Marcos Rizzo, Vice President of Business Development of ELO. "Parintins will be the first Brazilian city with 100% of the customers with a smart meter installed. Echelon and ELO are able to offer the Parintins project unmatched flexibility and time to market advantages, based on the industry standard Open Smart Grid Protocol (OSGP)."
About ELO Sistemas Eletronicos
Founded in 1980, ELO Sistemas Eletronicos is a leading metering provider for the South America market. With offices in Brazil and Chile, ELO is recognized as a key supplier of quality electronic equipment and systems to the Brazilian and South American electricity supply market. ELO provides integrated product and system packages to utilities to automate processes, such as the collection and treatment of metering data. In 1993, ELO introduced the concept of electronic metering from C&I applications to energy metering in Brazil and is a recognized leader and innovator in the Brazilian energy market.
About Echelon
Echelon Corp. is an energy control networking company, with one of the world's most widely deployed proven, open standard, multi-application platforms, selling complete systems and embedded sub-systems for smart grid, smart city, and smart building applications. Our platform is embedded in more than 100 million devices, 35 million homes, and 300,000 buildings and powers energy-savings applications for smart grids, smart cities, and smart buildings. We help our customers reduce operational costs, enhance satisfaction and safety, grow revenues, and prepare for a dynamic future.
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About OSGP
OSGP is a family of specifications published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute used in conjunction with the ISO/IEC 14908 control networking standard for smart grid applications. OSGP is optimized to provide reliable and efficient delivery of command and control information for smart meters, direct load control modules, solar panels, gateways, and other smart grid devices. With over 3.5 million OSGP-based smart meters and devices deployed worldwide, it is a widely used smart meter and smart grid device networking standard.
Echelon and the Echelon logo are registered trademarks of Echelon Corp. registered in the U.S. and other countries. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.