Kapsch concentrates expertise in smart energy management
Integrated smart energy solution for Stadtwerke Feldkirch rolled out with 13,000 meters
All expertise in integrated energy management is concentrated within Kapsch Smart Energy. Together with partners such as Echelon, the world’s leading provider of energy control networks, this subsidiary of the Kapsch Group is realizing state-of-the-art, holistic solutions that meet the highest security requirements. For Stadtwerke Feldkirch, Kapsch is currently operating an integrated solution with 13,000 units for smart metering in private households and businesses. By 2016, this will be increased to 20,000 units. The core of the solution is the Kapsch meter data management system “SEM”, which evaluates the data of the networked meters, enables efficient use of the energy resources and handles the management of the entire technical meter network.
“Kapsch has many years of experience in networking devices and controlling complex systems, such as in road and rail transportation. We are now increasingly applying this know-how to electricity grids,” says Christian Schober, CEO of Kapsch Smart Energy. “The concepts of smart metering and smart grids are still relatively young. From the beginning, Kapsch has focused not only on the technical aspects but also on the legal and organizational factors. With international partners like Echelon, we also bring experiences from other countries into smart energy projects. With its multi-application platform based on open standards, Echelon has the best-established solution in the world.” In the interests of effectively serving the emerging market of smart grids, the two companies have not limited their partnership to software. Kapsch Smart Energy recently became one of the few companies in the world to partner with Echelon as a value-added reseller. “This top level of partnership further secures our lead in this market segment. The strengths of Kapsch Smart Energy and Echelon complement each other optimally,” says Schober.
Stadtwerke Feldkirch as pioneer
Feldkirch was the first city in Austria to employ smart metering on a large scale. Kapsch operates not only the meters but also the network infrastructure, the central control and analysis system and the end customer portal, where households and businesses can view their power consumption in order to individually optimize their power use. In addition to helping individual users lower their energy costs, these solutions also open up new possibilities for energy suppliers, for example in the area of pricing. The roll-out in Feldkirch went very smoothly from the start: “I was pleasantly surprised that integrating the meters was practically plug-and-play from our perspective. Thanks to the mature solution, the system optimally fulfills our smart metering requirements,” says Karlheinz Kresser, project director at Stadtwerke Feldkirch.
Naturally, the entire Kapsch smart metering solution satisfies all statutory and data privacy requirements of the Austrian smart meter ordinances.
The highest security standards
The meters use the existing electricity networks for transmitting data to the nearest network node. Every step of the communication is dynamically encrypted at 128 bits. This is the same level of security employed in online banking, for instance. Corresponding authentication mechanisms for the meters and in the end customer portal prevent unauthorized access.