Echelon ready for full-scale roll-out of its NES System in Germany

Echelon Corporation is ready for the first full-scale roll-out of its Networked Energy Services (NES) System in Germany.

The public utility of Hassfurt awarded the contract to Echelon’s NES value-added reseller partner EVB Energie AG to provide all of its approximately 10,000 customers with an advanced metering infrastructure over the next three years.

Germany recently proposed a new energy law requiring all new and remodeled homes to be equipped with smart meters by 2010 to promote energy conservation and efficiency.

EVB Energie AG highlighted that for the public utility of Hassfurt, smart metering is not only a digital metering system, but an instrument for process optimisation and customer relationship management.

“The management of Stadtwerk Hassfurt sees this instrument as an enabler of a new business segment. Only by using innovative technologies will medium-sized utility companies be able to survive in the German energy market,” said Johannes Alte-Teigeler, chairman, EVB Energie AG.

The NES advanced metering infrastructure from Echelon comprises integrated, advanced electronic electricity meters accessed via a web services based network operating system over an IP networking infrastructure.

Multiple NES meters can share a single IP connection through the use of Echelon’s power line networking technology. This drives down the per-point connection cost and enables the system to easily and cost-effectively incorporate new wide area networking technologies over the life of the system.

The system’s open interfaces allow the system to be cost-effectively expanded, adapted, and customised in ways unlike any competing system, shared the company.