ST får stor ordre på 'power meter' teknologi

STMicroelectronics skal levere teknologi til 13 mio. elektroniske 'power metre', der skal installeres i Spanien (in english).

STMicroelectronics  has been chosen by Enel, Italy’s largest power company, to provide the semiconductor components for new electronic power meters destined for distribution in Spain. The power meters are key elements of the new remote management solution to be installed by Endesa, the largest electricity supplier in Spain.

Traditional electromechanical meters are based on a technology that is over a hundred years old and is unsuitable for further significant development. Electronic meters offer many significant advantages for the utilities and consumers, including lower costs for manufacturing, calibration and maintenance, greater accuracy and, most important, the ability to provide the consumer with detailed information based on their own real consumption and the electricity supplier with punctual service quality data.

The benefits to both parties are concrete: consumers can more accurately monitor and control their consumption (for example, by using appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers or electric showers at times when the cost is lowest) and energy providers can generate and distribute power more efficiently.

Over a period of six years (2010-2015), Endesa will complete the replacement of more than 13 million traditional electricity meters, installed in its customers’ houses, with the new generation of Enel smart meters. The new system is the result of the combined expertise of Endesa and Enel, its parent company, which together form the second-largest group in the European energy market. Enel has already successfully implemented a similar remote-management system, also using chips from ST, to serve more than 35 million customers in Italy.

ST will provide a complete smart-metering solution that includes a breakthrough power-line communication System-on-Chip (ST758x), which is the heart of the system, a powerful 32-bit microcontroller (STM32), and an innovative power-supply device, as well as MOSFET and EEPROM memory devices, as the basis of the new electronic power meter for Endesa.

Moreover, as announced by Enel, the Power Line Communication protocol (SITRED), applied in this new generation of remote meter management solutions, will be open to the market. In this way, the Enel Group will make available to all stakeholders, the first and unique remote meter-management solution, reliable and proven on more than 50 million meters worldwide. This is a fundamental and tangible step towards the standardization process launched by the European Community towards Smart Grid development.  

The upcoming meter roll-out by Endesa places ST first in the line to exploit this new scenario, thanks to its long-standing relationship to provide Enel with innovative components.