Hosted by VDE FNN, our colleagues from VDE Global Services in Korea gained valuable insights into the ongoing smart meter rollout throughout Germany. The agenda was about tackling the challenges of a distributed rollout based on multiple vendor products, logistics issues, and quality assurance measures coming along with daily practice.
Adapting smart metering technologies to different regulatory and operational environments
Apart from VDE FNN, the delegation engaged with several key players, EMH Metering, Stromnetz Berlin, E.ON, and Netze BW. As Seon-Ah Kim noted “one of the key takeaways from the visit was the importance of adapting smart metering technologies to different regulatory and operational environments. The focus in Germany on energy efficiency through with a nation-wide demand side management for control of renewable energy systems along with distributed loads can inspire the deployment of Smart Metering in Korea. We also see that the potential from KEPCO's smart metering technologies for increased efficiency and reliability in grid management can provide some lessons for the German system.” Overall, a win-win for both countries, sharing similar goals to use Smart Metering to achieve a more efficient power grid.
This was echoed by Karsten Brodowski, Head of Metering at Stromnetz Berlin, who found it "very inspiring to see how the same problems can be solved in different ways around the world". He added: "the German approach is based on a highly secure infrastructure with a separated smart meter gateway, and has been rolled out extensively in a short period of time. South Korea seems to have some advantages over Germany, such as having fewer stakeholders involved in the roll-out and no significant shortage of skilled labour". The interest shown by KEPCO, the Korean DSO, in the German smart metering system shows the strengths of the German approach, which Karsten Brodowski says, "it makes me optimistic that our model can be successful".
Smart meters tailored for various purposes and customers
At EMH Metering, our colleagues learned how an industry 4.0 designed factory can supply smart meters tailored for various purposes and customers, and what the high sophisticated cyber security measures in Germany imply to manufacturing. The following three site visits addressed individual approaches and commonalities for the ongoing smart meter rollout, how to build a reliable vendor portfolio, how to test interoperability for all components of the smart metering system, and how to assure quality not only for the hardware but also for the complex business processes.
Smart meter rollout is a key project in Korea
Korea is working on its own energy transition with the goal of achieving 20% renewables in its energy mix by 2030; more than doubling up from the current share of 7%. The connection of new distributed energy resources to the grid, especially at low voltage, is bringing new operational challenges. As the only network operator in Korea, KEPCO is compelled to reinforce the network continuously to cope with the increasing applications for connection. As well as in Germany, a smart meter rollout is a key project on this agenda.
