Itron announced that its customer, U.S. electric and natural gas company Xcel Energy, has deployed 2 million Gen5 Riva distributed intelligence (DI)-enabled electric smart meters.
The meters are a component of Itron’s end-to-end Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and industrial IoT (IIoT) network solution.
Itron’s solution, including the DI-enabled smart meters, aims to streamline field operations and reduce truck rolls. Each meter is connected to Itron’s Gen5 IIoT network and is embedded with DI capabilities that provide real-time visibility and data at the edge.
Xcel Energy is using DI-enabled smart meters to share information about electricity usage with consumers in near real-time. With better visibility into energy usage, customers can manage their energy consumption and decrease emissions related to their energy, Itron says. Xcel Energy also uses smart meters to identify outages.
“Xcel Energy’s vision is to deliver carbon-free electricity by 2050 across the states we serve, and energy efficiency is a key part of the clean energy transition. We’re excited to install smart meters for our customers, giving them more insight and control over their energy use,” said Michael Lamb, Xcel Energy senior vice president, distribution and gas. “Technology is advancing in every area of our lives, and the advanced grid – which smart meters play a role in – will allow us to better serve our customers into the future.”
Itron recently introduced its Active Transformer Load and Voltage Monitoring (ATLM/ATVM) applications, which are meant to give utilities more visibility into the low-voltage distribution grid to optimize capacity and resolve issues, which the company says will extend the usable life of transformers.
These distributed intelligence (DI)-enabled applications are part of Itron’s Grid Edge Intelligence portfolio. The ATLM/ATVM applications analyze data from service points to calculate transformer loading and voltage statistics in real-time and relay information and events to utilities through DI-enabled endpoints, Itron said. The greater visibility provided by ATLM/ATVM is meant to enable utilities to quickly identify and anticipate transformer loading and voltage issues.
