Smart meters are new electricity usage measurement devices, which will be installed in households over the next years. A smart meter can measure electricity usage every 15 minutes and will send the measurements to the electricity network provider periodically. This data is not only useful for end users but also for network operators to plan and optimize the low voltage electricity distribution grid. George works for an electricity supplier and is responsible for planning the modernization of the low voltage grid. In order to gain insight in which parts of town have the most problems, due to old devices and poor network infrastructure, George scans the reports sent by smart meters and analyzes how often the communication was interrupted. Using this information, George is able to localize the cause of communication breakdowns and replace the corresponding network controllers. On a daily basis, the application requests/accesses the load profiles and other metrics (e.g., voltage metrics) from the smart meters. This data is passed on to other applications that can perform simulations and load flow calculations in an automated manner. Thus smart meter readings allow the operator better planning for near-future and far-future of several grid operation parameters. By using the data of smart meters errors can be diagnosed more accurately, and with better location information of the error.

View Smart metering data for planning and optimizing the low voltage grid in OrganiCity