Arrives Enel Open Meter, the electronic meter 2.0. The second generation smart Meter was presented today at Triennale di Milano da Livy Gallus, director of the Global Infrastructure and Networks Division Enel and by Michele De Lucchi, one of the most successful architects and designers in Italy, creator, 15 years ago, of the first Enel electronic meter and today also of the second generation one.
The counter is one of the key elements of the strategy Open Power of Enel which has launched a renewal program towards an accessible, technologically advanced and sustainable energy concept. It will be installed in 32 million homes and companies starting next fall and will gradually replace the first generation electronic meter (which took over from the electromechanical one in 2001) over a five-year period.
POTENTIALITY AND NEW SERVICES
Among innovative features the new smart meter stands out for the faster change of supply, the overcoming of the current 3 predefined time slots (F1, F2 and F3), the availability of data every 15 minutes to monitor one's own consumption and therefore focus on an energy behavior oriented towards a greater savings. Collecting customer data every 15 minutes will allow for an increasingly updated picture of daily energy withdrawals and customer consumption behaviour.
The new meter is an "open and public" model and it will be possible to connect it with mobile phones and home automation tools: turning on the heating, starting the washing machine, turning off the oven and so on, will therefore become easier. The new device will make it possible to obtain the history of consumption or production (for example that from renewable sources) and will therefore be an indispensable tool for guaranteeing the flow of information on the network linked to the use of discontinuous green energies (sun and wind) but also for all applications related to the smart city (lighting, traffic lights, etc.).
The potential is therefore high and Enel confirms its role as a trailblazer: customers in Rome (Acea monopoly), Milan (A2A) and the other cities in which the multiutilities that have taken over Enel's distribution network will not benefit from the new meter . However, we will have to wait a little longer to find out which value-added services Enel intends to launch: for now they are still top secret but they will be a significant part of the electricity group's proposal in view of the full liberalization of the market expected on 1 January 2018.
INVESTMENTS AND FIBER OPTIC OPERATION
“The overall investment – Livio Gallo explained on the sidelines of the presentation – is approx 2,5 billion euros“. "The new meter - continued Gallo - is a device capable of synthesizing the quality of service with technological innovation and of enabling the smart home of our customers".
According to Michele De Lucchi, “For a designer, designing a meter is a very special thing because it is an object that has represented the company for years and acts as an interface with customers. In addition to the technical features, its symbolic strength is fundamental. And designing objects that have to live for a long time is a big challenge. For this I also made use of the help of a team of young designers and their new sensitivity to understand the needs of the community”.
This is another innovative project for Enel, which goes hand in hand with that for the optical fiber Enel Open Fiber, which left last May 25 in Perugia. The project, which brought the new 1000 Megabit per second fiber services to the Umbrian capital, will continue in Catania, Cagliari, Bari and Venice, before expanding to Florence, Genoa, Naples, Palermo and Padua
