Zug, Switzerland, July 22, 2014 – Swiss smart grid company Landis+Gyr has won a contract to provide smart meters in Poland for energy utility RWE for use inside residential buildings in the capital city of Warsaw. RWE, based in Essen, Germany, is working to meet regulatory targets for smart meter installation and says the Landis+Gyr system will lead to benefits for customers and efficiency gains for its business.
Landis+Gyr says it will begin delivering a total of 50,000 smart meters to RWE in September as well as software that connects directly to the utility’s existing IT infrastructure and supports asset-management needs and billing services. RWE aims to have installed 25,000 smart meters in Warsaw by the end of 2014 and to have completed work on the project by the end of 2015, while Landis+Gyr plans to finish installing the smart grid system by the end of 2014. The contract includes a four-year service contract, said Landis+Gyr in a statement.
Poland has been committed to the widespread deployment of smart meters since June 2009, when the Polish National Energy Conservation Agency and a number of consumer organisations signed a declaration calling for the use of the technology to boost energy efficiency for individual, institutional and industrial customers.
RWE has previously indicated that it expects to spend a quarter of its total investments between 2014 and 2019 – or about €100 million – on the roll out of smart infrastructure. Besides investing in its network, the utility is planning to make improvements to overhead high voltage lines as well as medium voltage cable lines in urban areas.
“Implementation of the smart grid concept in the area of our operation will essentially improve the level of energy efficiency of the system as a whole,” says Agnieszka Nosal, board member of RWE Stoen Operator, the subsidiary responsible for the Warsaw power network. “It will also allow for the development of distributed generation which is to play a major role in the future energy market.”
“Investment in advanced metering infrastructure will bring many benefits to end consumers, providing them with access to actual consumption data, as well as enabling the utility to rapidly identify any interference in the network,” she added. “The introduction of flexible product sales tailored to the lifestyle needs of individual customers will also come in the future.”
