Corinex Communications Corp. has launched its next-generation advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system. The new system is the first commercially viable BPL system based on the ITU standard G.hn protocol adopted by utility industry groups.
More than just smart metering, the system provides edge computing and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, along with rapid communication among devices, to enable autonomous operation of electric grids. The new system has been developed in response to the demands for decentralized management placed on grids by the proliferation of generation and storage devices and electric vehicles connected to grids around the world.
“We’ve entered the age of distributed energy, which means we’ve also entered the age of distributed operations and enormous data requirements,” said Corinex founder and CEO Peter Sobotka. “By securely ramping up data and computational capacity, our new system enables operators to apply edge computing capabilities so that they can better manage a highly distributed network – and ultimately create self-regulating energy systems.”
In a highly distributed grid, artificial intelligence and edge computing capacity can help a distributed energy system, such as a collection of solar installations, continuously learn changes in supply, demand and use patterns, without going through a utility’s data center. This edge data processing will prove vital to providing reliable power in a distributed grid, but it is not possible under most existing advanced metering systems.
Corinex’s technology leverages existing electrical wiring, turning power lines into conduits of both energy and high-speed information. This self-contained energy-information network offers unparalleled cost-effectiveness and security to both energy management companies and their energy end users.
Most current metering deployments use narrowband communication technologies that do not have the bandwidth required to manage data about distributed energy resources at the scale that will be required as the power sector copes with the changing demands placed on the grids they must manage.
“At Corinex, we’re working to enable decarbonization by helping utilities create self-regulating, automated energy systems in their grid network, to accommodate the explosions in renewable generation, storage devices, and electric vehicles connected to the grids,” said Sobotka. “Our new product line enables utilities not only to better manage distributed energy resources, but to maximize their efficiency — to deliver cost effective, reliable and clean power.”
