Echelon Corp.'s Networked Energy Services (NES) System has been chosen for the first advanced metering project in Switzerland. The utility EV Energieversorgung Biberist (EV Biberist) has awarded a contract to Echelon’s NES value-added reseller partner GÖRLITZ Schweiz AG to provide advanced metering infrastructure to all of its 5,000 household customers over the next three to five years. GÖRLITZ is a supplier of automatic remote reading, data transmission, and data gathering and preparation systems for utilities serving the European commercial and industrial sector.

“Building on a successful pilot program, we now look to expand the NES system to all of our customers. We expect a rapid return on our investment as we will save the cost of labor for the manual meter reads, and having more precise data regarding customer’s energy demand will allow us to save money in the process of energy procurement,” said Peter Kofmel, CEO at EV Biberist.

The NES advanced metering infrastructure from Echelon consists of a family of highly integrated, advanced electronic electricity meters accessed via a web services based network operating system over an IP networking infrastructure. Unlike systems with a dedicated radio per metering point, multiple NES meters can share a single IP connection through the use of Echelon's proven standards-based 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.

As shown in this project, the NES system is more than just an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system; it is the backbone of a smart grid solution. Unlike AMI systems, which focus primarily on billing related applications, the NES system provides the utility with detailed information on the health and quality of their grid. With this information, utilities can more efficiently operate and maintain the grid, reducing cost and increasing reliability and quality in the process.

The NES system’s powerful web services based network operating system provides a standards-based platform for enterprise applications and integration. The EDW3000 software application from Görlitz uses the services of the NES system software to provide a full-featured meter data management system (MDMS) and a rich set of utility applications.