Echelon Corporation, a provider of smart grid solutions to utilities, announced that it has shipped its two-millionth Networked Energy Services or “NES” smart meter. The meter is part of the smart grid installation currently being deployed by Eltel Networks A/S for the Danish utility SEAS-NVE.

 

Danish utility SEAS-NVE, according to Echelon, is Denmark’s largest smart grid project with over 390,000 smart meters. The project utilizes the smart grid technologies from world-leading companies to serve Denmark’s current and future needs, from electric car charging, to automated demand response programs and time-of-use tariffs, all while improving customer service, according to Peter Iversen, CTO at SEAS-NVE.

 

“Denmark is well-known for embracing technology to promote energy efficiency. Denmark is the world-leading producer of wind energy, and now we’re building a truly smart grid to better use and conserve energy and provide new services for our customers,” Iversen said.

 

Echelon has won multiple smart grid deployments in the Nordic region, company officials said. The NES system from Echelon offers utilities a highly scalable, future-proof solution that increases customer service and energy conservation programs, and reduces overall operating costs.

 

Echelon’s NES smart metering infrastructure solution enables a highly scalable, feature-rich and integrated system of advanced electronic electricity meters accessed via a Web services based network operating system over an IP networking infrastructure, according to company officials.

 

The system embeds intelligence in the existing grid to make it smarter and adaptable to future expansions, new demands and able to respond to new regulations, company officials said.

 

NES system is a complete, advanced metering infrastructure. It also lays the foundation for extensions to the grid by the utility or other third parties. For example, Panasonic (News - Alert) Europe recently announced collaboration with SEAS-NVE to start pilots of a smart energy management system that will pave the way for the eco-homes of the future in Europe.

 

“We are confident that we’re offering utilities the best solution available when we propose the NES system,” Sonny Nielsen, Eltel's CEO for Denmark, said in a statement.

In January, Echelon announced partnership with ELO Sistemas Electronicos or “ELO” in Brazil under which ELO will develop and market smart electricity meters which are based on Echelon’s NES smart grid infrastructure solution. Read the full report here.