Member News
27th July 2010The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) today gave a cautious welcome to the publication of the Smart Metering Prospectus.
The proposals in the Prospectus will not immediately allow for development of a Smart Grid because, as an example, there is no real-time element – data will only be used to 'plan' future network infrastructure rather than utilising the data to actively manage the interface between user and network. However, the IET finds it encouraging that there is recognition of the need for the smart metering system to be capable of future development into a smart grid system. The central data and communications model arguably makes this more difficult by defining a centralised architecture that could produce barriers to much needed modernisation of the local distribution network.
Compared with the earlier consultation documents there is a real appreciation of the scale of the system integration issue and the need to safeguard data protection and system security. But the devil is in the detail and IET experts in Energy, IT and Communications will be collaborating to scrutinise the proposals from a multi-disciplinary perspective over the next weeks.
Martyn Thomas FIET FREng, member of the IET's IT Policy Panel commented "Overall it's encouraging – but there is a lot of detail to get right before anyone starts building and installing meters. Is the timetable realistic?"
Duncan Botting MIET, member of the IET's Energy Policy Panel said "Much progress has been made but a lot more work is needed to take the functional requirements to the next level of technical detail. Integration of electric vehicles and heat pumps is not given much coverage despite these being significant issues by around 2020. These aspects need to be considered urgently and from an international perspective."
An IET background Briefing is available at
http://www.theiet.org/factfiles/energy/smart-grids-brief.cfm
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd