At the occasion of the CIGRE e-session, Think Smartgrids organized in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD) a webinar to present the latest innovations for smart metering systems and the lessons learnt from recent projects.
Hervé Champenois, Director of the “Linky Program” and member of the Enedis Board of Directors, reported on the feedback from the main French DSO on the deployment of 35 million “Linky” smart meters in France (30,000 meters installed every day). The deployment of smart meters leads to the development of a new communication infrastructure that allows remote operations and new services to be offered to consumers. Mr. Champenois detailed Enedis’ initial feedback regarding the customer experience with Linky, from basic services to new tariff offers and home device management. The deployment of the Linky meter has also had an impact on Enedis’ operations; the experience of the French DSO shows that any smart meter project must be adapted to the stakes of the utility.
The deployment of smart meters also concerns many countries in the southern hemisphere, where they can contribute both to making the network more reliable and to providing universal access to carbon-free energy. Jean-Pierre Barral, Director of the Energy and Digital Transition Department at AFD, presented the French agency’s energy transition strategy, with a focus on supporting smart energy projects and access to energy for all in developing countries. The development of smart metering projects can indeed present many benefits for a utility (reduction of technical and commercial losses, improvement of the quality of service, integration of renewable energies and Demand side management). Mr. Barral illustrated his remarks with the presentation of a smart grid and smart metering project developed in partnership with STEG, the Tunisian DSO.
Nabil Sahri, Vice President and international business development Director at Sagemcom, provided feedback from a vendor perspective, detailing the key success factors of a smart metering project (learning from others, interoperability, scalability…). Smart meters have many applications, and meter manufacturers can offer a wide variety of services: automatic billing, dynamic pricing, load profile, alarm detection, Customer “Smart Info”, Supply Automation, Home Energy Management / Demand side management, outage event management, etc.
Cheikh Ahmad Tidjani KEBE, Head of the Commercial, Smartgrid and Energy Storage Projects Unit at Senelec, presented the Smart metering and Smart Grid program of Senegal’s national electricity company. Senelec decided to modernize its Metering System to efficiently reduce both technical and non-technical losses, which were very high in the country. The main expectations are to optimize the performance of electricity distribution and improve Senelec’s operational efficiency, to secure Senelec’s income and reduce operating costs, to monitor the performance and the state of the network in real time, to reduce undistributed energy and facilitate troubleshooting management. This smart metering project is part of a broader program to reinforce and modernize Senegal’s electricity grid, led in partnership with AFD.
Smart metering is a key step in the deployment of a smart grid and to support the decarbonization of our electrical systems. It allows to effectively reduce non-technical losses, as well as operating and maintenance costs, thanks to improved data collection and remote operations, and also to respond to new challenges, such as the massive integration of renewable energies, and the development of new uses such as the electric vehicle and self-consumption, which are essential to the success of the energy transition.