IBERDROLA HAS awarded seven companies contracts to supply one million Smart Meters with remote management capabilities to advance its Smart Grid projects in Spain.
This award follows others made by the company in the last two years to roll out new distribution technology. With this new award the accumulated investment reaches €300 million.
The companies chosen by Iberdrola to supply these devices are ZIV, Landis & GYR, Sagemcom, Sogecam, Orbis, Elster and GE.
Having successfully completed the first stage of the STAR project (Spanish acronym for Remote Grid Management and Automation System) in Castellón, where 100,000 meters were changed, Iberdrola has started to extend the roll out to all of the regions where it has an electricity distribution grid.
In the Basque Country, the company is engaged in with the Basque Government, via the Basque Energy Entity, based in the province of Biscay. This project involves the adaptation of over 1,100 transformer stations and changing of some 230,000 meters.
Another ambitious project worthy of note is PRICE, in which the company is involved along with other partners. This project will consist of the replacement of some 200,000 meters (100,000 by Iberdrola) and the refurbishment of 1,600 transformer stations in the Henares Corridor in the Madrid region, as well as in Guadalajara.
Iberdrola is also making progress in transforming and modernising its electricity distribution grid in other regions, such as Extremadura, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia and the Valencia region.
This initiative, which will be completed by the end of 2018, will require an overall investment in Spain of some €2,000 million, which will go towards replacing 10.3 million traditional meters with the new smart devices and towards adapting some 80,000 transformer stations, which will be equipped with remote management, supervision and automation capabilities.
Some of the main advantages of Smart Grids are the integration of distributed generation, the possibility of rolling out electric vehicles on a mass scale and improved efficiency in electricity consumption. For the consumer, Smart Meters will allow for the remote provision of services, such as real-time meter-readings, processing contract registrations and cancellations, and altering the power capacity under contract.
The company will also be able to supervise the electricity grid and detect any kind of anomalies, whether the voltage is correct, whether the power is balanced, and whether there are power losses. This information will enable the energy to circulate more efficiently and lead to an improvement in the quality of the electricity supply.
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