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Smart meter communication standards in Europe – a comparison

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  • Erlinghagen, Sabine
  • Lichtensteiger, Bill
  • Markard, Jochen

Abstract

Smart grids and smart meters are central for the integration of distributed, renewable electricity generation. For smart grids to operate smoothly, technology standards are essential. In Europe, a multitude of different standards have been developed, making standard selection a complex task for electric utilities. With this paper we make three contributions: firstly, we identify 17 wired and wireless communication standards for smart metering in Europe. Secondly, we develop and describe a comprehensive set of technical and non-technical criteria for standard selection. Finally, we compare the existing standards against these criteria. We find that none of the standards is superior in all aspects, resulting in major trade-offs for decision makers. Moreover, we reveal the competing nature and missing interoperability of standards, which makes a seamless integration of smart grids across different regions difficult and poses major challenges for the development of complementary smart grid technologies.

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  • Erlinghagen, Sabine & Lichtensteiger, Bill & Markard, Jochen, 2015. "Smart meter communication standards in Europe – a comparison," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1249-1262.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:43:y:2015:i:c:p:1249-1262
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2014.11.065
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    7. Alessandro Pitì & Giacomo Verticale & Cristina Rottondi & Antonio Capone & Luca Lo Schiavo, 2017. "The Role of Smart Meters in Enabling Real-Time Energy Services for Households: The Italian Case," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-25, February.
    8. van de Kaa, G. & Fens, T. & Rezaei, J. & Kaynak, D. & Hatun, Z. & Tsilimeni-Archangelidi, A., 2019. "Realizing smart meter connectivity: Analyzing the competing technologies Power line communication, mobile telephony, and radio frequency using the best worst method," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 320-327.
    9. Dehdarian, Amin & Tucci, Christopher L, 2021. "A complex network approach for analyzing early evolution of smart grid innovations in Europe," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    10. Zahurul, S. & Mariun, N. & Grozescu, I.V. & Tsuyoshi, Hanamoto & Mitani, Yasunori & Othman, M.L. & Hizam, H. & Abidin, I.Z., 2016. "Future strategic plan analysis for integrating distributed renewable generation to smart grid through wireless sensor network: Malaysia prospect," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 978-992.
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    12. Di Foggia, Giacomo, 2018. "Smart metering projects: an interpretive framework for successful implementation," OSF Preprints zcf34, Center for Open Science.
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