The smart meter roll-out in Europe – a success story?

Tapping the benefits of machine learning on smart meters

During E-world Energy and Water 2023, Sense participated in the Smart Metering Forum hosted by ESMIG. The forum aimed to explore the challenges faced in achieving widespread smart meter deployment, with a particular focus on Germany’s progress.

As Germany expands and accelerates its smart meter programme, it is crucial to avoid the risk of being locked into legacy technology for the next two decades. Distribution System Operators (DSOs) should explore global metering trends, including the opportunities presented by advanced technologies. By doing so, they can maximize the potential impact of smart metering across Europe, ensuring an efficient and sustainable energy future.

Globally, next generation smart meters have emerged as crucial catalysts in propelling the green energy transition forward, promoting energy efficiency and affordability for consumers.

Sense delved into a couple of use cases demonstrating the importance of leveraging advanced technologies like Sense for future initiatives.

The Untapped Potential of Smart Metering

Having missed the 2020 target for an 80% smart meter roll-out in the European Union, only 10 countries have completed their deployment at 90-100%. Germany is lagging but is finally set to catch up with a binding roadmap for deployment, and rolling-out smart meters is just a starting point.

Next-generation smart meters, with embedded machine learning technology, offer a progressive approach to driving the energy transition in Germany. By providing a platform that reduces consumption, enables demand flexibility, and unlocks insights at the grid edge, network operators can effectively manage the complexities of a greener grid.

OhmConnect

Our recent collaboration with OhmConnect demonstrated the impact of real-time consumer engagement with demand response savings. Householders lowered their home energy usage by 18%, compared to 6% in typical demand response programmes. Shaving an average of 0.3KW off the peak per home across this study which would be the equivalent to 12.6GW across Germany – the equivalent of a dozen coal power stations!

These brilliant results show the transformative powers of Sense at scale.

National Grid

Advances in technology and AI mean that this long heralded technology is a compelling proposition. Testament to this is that in North America, National Grid will deploy 1.7 million advanced electricity meters that are powered by Sense home intelligence. This brings the total to 3.5m meters so far across that region. This is on course to lower their costs, enhance margins, and improve customer satisfaction.

Final thoughts

The widespread adoption of smart meters in EU Member States is a positive step towards a greener and more digitally advanced energy landscape. As Germany expands and accelerates its own Smart Meter programme, opportunities afforded by advanced technologies like Sense can facilitate energy data access, enable demand-side flexibility and create a consumer-centric energy future.

To discuss how to bring Sense to your rollout, please contact Dave.Johnson@sense.com

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