Together with Supercomputing Systems AG, BKW Energie AG and Bacher Energie AG, the electricity utility for the city of Zurich (ewz) developed a prototype of a smart meter as part of the GridBox project. The meter can detect the state of the electricity network at various locations in real time and help identify heavy loads on the distribution grid early on, writes ewz in a press release.
The measured data will assist in carrying out network expansions where they are needed most. It will also help in controlling production and consumption in an intelligent manner. Potential customers include network operators facing challenges due to the expansion of renewable energy, which is fed into the grid in a decentralised manner and can causes a heavy load on the electricity network.
The aim of the partners is to establish a company to sell and distribute the smart meter. ewz intends to participate in this. To this end, the city council asked the municipal council to increase the already approved credit of CHF 1.82 million for ewz’s participation by CHF 1.78 million for a total of CHF 3.6 million.