Kamstrup has chosen to focus on wireless communication solutions rather than on PLC based communication. The background to this is that wireless communication in our conviction is a more flexible, stable and safe solution in connection with the smart grid systems of the future.
It is a fact that more and more units such as heat pumps, solar panels, electric cars and low energy light bulbs are installed in the electricity grid which send out noise.This results in a significantly more noisy
electricity grid which at the same time – on an average of 24 hours – is loaded closer to the maximum load. One of the wishes for smart grid is the ability to connect and disconnect e.g. electric cars and heat pumps during peak periods.
The above is a very relevant issue in connection with PLC based communication solutions as the control signals can only hardly be sent through noisy cables.
The same issue is to be expected when sending alarms from meters to systems,
which are to handle such alarms. Simultaneously, PLC systems seem to disturb the electronic equipment of the end consumer where the equipment randomly turns on due to signals in a PLC system.
We can say with great confidence that a wireless technology, independent of the power lines, is going to prevail in the future with much more electronic devices and hence a much greater challenge with electromagnetic disturbances.
Wireless solutions are independent of the condition of the electricity grid, and load problems are therefore completely avoided. A wireless communication system can send and receive alarms on load problems even in peak periods. This enables the utility to react early in case of overload.
We take no reservations regarding electromagnetic disturbances meaning that neither electronic equipment nor the stability of meter readings is affected by such disturbances. With no reservations, Kamstrup guarantees a reading performance of 99.9-100%.
We have invested a lot of our development resources in the data collector, distributing the intelligence of the network solution to the concentrator. This gives the meshed network the capability of responding quickly and an extremely high data capacity.
With a wireless communication infrastructure, costs are reduced as one concentrator can support up to 1000 meters and as the number of concentrators is independent of the number of 10/0.4 kV secondary substations.
This also ensures low data communicationcosts as only one data communication line per concentrator is required. In solutions based on PLC, typically one concentrator is used per secondary substation, and far more concentrators are needed which results in higher maintenance and communication costs.