smart grid data communication: accelerating results in spain

SMART GRID DATA
COMMUNICATION:
ACCELERATING RESULTS
IN SPAIN
, [Address]
, Rev.
© 2014 DNV GL All rights reserved. This publication or parts thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, including photocopying or recording, without the prior written consent of
DNV GL.
KEMA Energy S.L. Parque Empresarial José María de Churruca. Calle Almansa 105, 2º Oficina 2, Madrid,
28040, España NIF B-63204994
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Table of contents
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1
BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................. 2
SPANISH ROLL-OUT PROJECT ........................................................................................................ 4
DNV GL’S ROLE IN THE SPANISH ROLL-OUT ................................................................................... 7
FUTURE LINES ........................................................................................................................... 10
ABOUT THE AUTHOR .................................................................................................................. 11
ABOUT DNV GL .......................................................................................................................... 11
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INTRODUCTION
Back in 2010, when the idea of establishing a smart meter testing laboratory in Madrid was on the table
and the economic crisis in Spain was headline news, no one thought this lab, which at the beginning was
formed by two consultants, would produce such value for the energy community. It was our vision to
establish our strong brand in Madrid and offer high quality and innovative technical services locally in an
exciting and challenging environment. Looking back we were here at the right moment and the right time.
Today the Smart Grid Data Communication Laboratory (SG DataCom Lab) acts a feeder for several energy
advisory services.
The SG DataCom Lab is a boilerplate for innovative smart meter solutions. It is the place where Spanish
utilities can experience an interoperable network of smart meters from different vendors and where
vendors together improve their products and verify that their solution works! Our pioneering efforts made
the Spanish Smart Meter roll-out possible, and enable both utilities and manufacturers to rely on
independent and highly skilled consultants and testers.
In this paper, we will review the Spanish market’s Smart Meter roll-out, and explore how the SG DataCom
Lab accelerated results for local players through innovation, energy industry expertise and critical services
spanning the spectrum of operational, technical and business need. We will conclude with our view of
what is in store for the Smart Metering world in the future.
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BACKGROUND
Consumer meter reading has evolved from manual and on-site reading to Automated Meter Reading (AMR)
and then to Advance Meter Infrastructure (AMI) in real-time. State-of-the art AMI enables the bidirectional
communication to and from meters, providing utilities with the possibility of end-to-end integrity of user
consumption data throughout their network into the Smart Grids, as well as offering the consumer an inhome energy consumption management facility by a direct connection between the Smart Meter and the
HAN load management entity.
A 2009 EU directive mandated the installation of smart meters for 80% of existing meters by end of 2020.
As a result, several roll-outs are ongoing in different European countries, led by well-known utility
companies in cooperation with meter manufacturers and chip designers.
One can confidently say that the Spanish Smart Meters roll-out is the most advanced European example.
As of today, 7 million meters are already deployed and in operation. A European Commission report on the
status of Smart Meter deployments in different countries is illustrated in Figure 1. As can be observed, the
roll-out of the next generation Smart Meters in Spain started earlier than in other countries where smart
metering is still under discussion. The challenge is clear: 27 million residential electricity customers must
have smart meters by 2018.
FIGURE 1: SMART METER ROLLOUT STATUS IN EUROPE
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The dates and numbers outlined in Figure 1 are not the only aspects that make the Spanish Smart Meter
Roll-out a global reference. Spain’s solution is based on a fully interoperable design using multi-vendor
devices, based on open standards, which are interchangeable at any time and any place.
DNV GL (formerly DNV KEMA) was actively involved in the Spanish Smart Meter roll-out from its early
stages. We worked closely with the utility companies to define the framework for conformance testing and
interoperability testing requirements. In subsequent phases, the lab was built to perform these tests and
provide a suitable test-bed for the manufacturers.
We also visualized a layout for the Spanish Roll-out project and introduced the involved parties and
integrated critical technologies.
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SPANISH ROLL-OUT PROJECT
A group of Spanish utility companies (Iberdrola with greater than 10 million electricity customers, Gas
Natural Fenosa with 4 million electricity customers, and smaller utilities: Hidro Cantabrico-EDP Group, Cide
and Aseme) formed the “Spanish Utility Consortium” to establish the foundation of Spain’s Smart Meter
roll-out project in 2009. The consortium was responsible for defining and maintaining specifications for
technical use cases and for selecting the communication protocols.
The international open standard for communication and data exchange modeling, Device Language
Message Specification (DLMS/COSEM), was selected as the common language for the Smart Meters and a
companion profile was developed by the consortium. The functionalities of the next-generation smart
meters used in the Spanish roll-out are not limited to remote meter reading, but also cover the vast
automated functionalities such as demand response control, load management, remote firmware upgrade,
quality control and fraud detection through spontaneous alarm and events, as well as a variety of data
profiles to guarantee personalized user consumption plans.
Architecture
Typical Smart Metering entails cost-efficient and two-way communication network elements. The Spanish
Smart Metering architecture is designed in a way to both connect the customers and enable the MV-LV
monitoring and control. The Spanish AMI consists of three major nodes:
1) DLMS-talking smart meters located in households are at one end
2) The HeadEnd system, also known as the central data management system, at the Utility end
3) The Data Concentrator (DC) which is located at the secondary transformer stations.
Generally, all meters below the transformer station are connected via a single DC through the PLC-PRIME
network. The DCs are connected to the control workstations at the utility HeadEnd, through VPN, either
with landline ADSL, or via GPRS. The configuration and/or the data collection commands are sent from the
HeadEnd system to the DC using XML-based messages and through WebServices. In addition to on demand
requests, the DC can also be programmed to execute scheduled tasks, such as daily/monthly reading of the
meters.
The main objective of this structure is to provide a reliable data flow based on the open standard protocols
and using multi-vendor network nodes that inter-operate smoothly.
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FIGURE 2: SMART METERING ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN ROLL-OUT
PRIME technology
The name PRIME may be the most ubiquitous word used when discussing
Spanish smart meters. PRIME is an open standard PLC technology defined
and maintained by the PRIME Alliance.
PRIME Alliance is a non-profit association, established in 2009 with eight
companies. Today the organization has more than sixty international
member companies ranging from utility companies (among them are
Iberdrola, Gas Natural Fenosa, EDP and CEZ) Smart Grid Manufacturers
(such as Elster, GE, Itron, Landis+Gyr, Ormazabal, Sagemcom, Siemens and
ZIV) and chip designers (Atmel, ST, TI and others). DNV GL’s SG DataCom
lab is accredited by the PRIME Alliance as the laboratory to use for PRIME
certifications. The community contributes to driving forward the PRIME
specifications and standards. For more information please refer to the
PRIME Alliance Web-page.
The first PRIME meters were deployed by the two main Spanish utilities,
Iberdrola and Gas Natural Fenosa, and later extended to greater Iberian
market and were also utilized by EDP in Portugal. In recent years, the use
of PRIME meters is expanding into other markets such as Poland, Brazil
and Australia.
The PRIME standard specifies the PHY layer, MAC layer and Convergence
layer (IEC 4.32 and IP) for narrowband data transmission over electrical
power lines and operates on CENELEC-A frequency band with a bandwidth
of 47 KHz. Benefiting the OFDM modulation, PRIME provides
up to 128kbps data-rate connectivity on the power lines. It consists of a
tree topology, with a Base node (BN) at the top of the tree and Service
Nodes (SN) that register directly, or through other SN(s) to the BN. Thus,
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“The contribution of DNV GL in
our PRIME Smart Meter rollout
is one of the relevant supports
to implement our leading
Interoperable solution, with
more than fifteen different
meter manufacturers. We have
learned the importance of a
comprehensive definition of a
set of end-to-end testing and
its positive impact on the
project implementation.”
President of the Prime Alliance
and Chairman of the European
Board Utilities
Telecommunications Council
(UTC).
each SN can be an end node or can act as a switch to the other SNs below it in the tree. In sample in-field
studies, the connection line could reach to above 1 Km, with five or more switching levels.
Deployment status
Spain’s next generation smart meter pilots were deployed in 2010, and were followed by massive roll-outs
in 2011. As of today, more than 3 million Smart Meters using DLMS over PRIME are installed for Spanish
residential customers. The commercial use and consumer billing based on the smart meter networks are
also on going for a large portion of the deployed meters.
As a result of the Spanish government energy reformation (2014 Q1), the constant electricity price for
households was eliminated. Consumers with smart meters will pay the market price at every given hour of
the day. The Industry Ministry offers an online tool where consumers may enter their consumption data to
check whether their bill is correct and reflects market prices over that particular billing cycle. Thus, the
energy retailers will start to develop new billing plans and offer them to their clients.
Apart from the 7 million smart meters in place and the planned massive roll-out, the traditional meters are
being replaced with smart ones upon the petition of the individual domestic clients to benefit from new
contract schemes. The meters are owned by the distributor and can be rented or bought by the consumer.
The gradual change is planned free of charge for the end users.
“DNV GL is a key player in the Spanish Smart Meter roll-out since its beginning. DNV GL’s team has been
able not only to certify the smart meters but also has helped to clarify the different interpretations of
some points in the technical specification. This assistance with the technical specifications together with
their testing has allowed us to develop a product with better quality.”- Juan Carlos Sanchez, General
Manager of Elster Solutions Spain
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DNV GL’S ROLE IN THE SPANISH ROLL-OUT
DNV GL worked closely with the utility companies and the PRIME Alliance to define the framework for
conformance testing and interoperability testing requirements. The consulting services DNV GL provided
include:







Participation in specification reviews for both meters and data concentrators
Developing the Test Procedure for T5 Smart Meter functional testing according to the Spanish
DLMS Profile
Participation in Test Procedure definition for PRIME conformance testing of the Service Node and
Based Node within the TWGs of PRIME Alliance
Developing the Test Procedure for data concentrator testing according to STG-DC Specification of
Iberdrola
Developing the official conformance test tool for the data concentrator testing according to
Iberdrola’s STG-DC Specification
Developing the Test Procedure, test setup and test tool for DC-Meter interoperability testing for
GNF
Protocol Trainings and Workshops for manufacturers and utilities.
In addition to energy advisory services, DNV GL’s DataCom lab in Madrid is the accredited lab for meter
and DC conformance testing by the Spanish utilities consortium and the PRIME Alliance.
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Testing organization
When the conformity of a device against a protocol/standard needs to be inspected by testing, the
questions are: What to test? and How to test?
The first question is generally answered by the standards and protocol/functional specifications. The
second question, however, requires additional effort to extract the list of requirements from the specs and
define use-cases, and, based on these, to define the test scenarios.
DNV GL was assigned to develop test books for different nodes within the Spanish AMI architecture. For
each test scenario, the Test Procedure covers: the testing setup, precondition, step-by-step test procedure,
and a clear pass/fail verdict for each step result, also known as fit criteria.
During the different phases of Test Procedure development, from initial review to test scenario definition
and test execution, it’s highly recommended to have periodical meetings as part of a Certification Team to
clarify the doubts and to modify/improve the contents. The Certification Team generally consists of the
experts of the standardization body or final client (that controls the specification), manufacturers and the
certifying body.
Experience shows that expert readers may each interpret the same paragraph in the same specifications in
various ways. This may result in two different implementations for the same functionality, where both
experts can argue that they are valid according to the spec. In some cases, this situation may be
acceptable, while in others it can cause interoperability issues. When releasing the revised versions of the
Test Procedure, the criteria for such cases must be well-defined to arrive at a consistent result verdict.
FIGURE 3: TEST LAB ORGANIZATION
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Smart Grid DataCom Lab services and customers
When DNV GL’s SG DataCom Lab was originally established it was based on a single test setup for DLMS
functional testing of the Spanish meters. Later the PRIME Service Node testing was added as a second
service, and the lab expansion continued with data concentrator testing and interoperability testing. Today
the SG DataCom Lab consists of six different testing stations to cover the end-to-end testing of the Spanish
Smart Meter Project.
The proven technical know-how, international experience and excellent high-level contact were the basis
of establishing a deep relationship with Spanish utility companies to position DNV GL’s lab as the number
one trusted body is it today.
Interoperability is one the key concepts in the Spanish Smart Meter roll-out that resulted in a
multi-vendor market and prepared the area for participation of several local and well-known international
manufacturers. So far, more than sixteen different meter manufacturers are certified for their PRIME and
DLMS implementations by the SG DataCom Lab. Although it faced competition, the SG DataCom Lab
managed to attract more than 80% of the manufacturers to request product certification by DNV GL, due
to the exemplary customer care approach it offers in its Madrid location.
FIGURE 4: DNV GL’S SG DATACOM LAB KEY CLIENTS
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FUTURE LINES
The SG DataCom Lab provides the proper foundation to acquire deep technical knowledge and to confirm
DNV GL’s central position in the Spanish Smart meter/grid market. Our consultants and lab experts work
closely to detect the local market potential and to constantly create and expand offerings its customers
need in the areas of testing and advisory expertise.
Examples of opportunities for the local market are the expansion of services for Cyber Security testing and
consulting, and performance evaluation services by simulation of an in-field testing environment. In
addition, now that the Spanish roll-out project is in its advanced phases, and the meters’ real-time data is
already available, best practice solutions for data management to improve the analytic readiness of the
system are of high interest.
The presence of this data opens up many new opportunities for the Spanish utilities to move from just a
Smart Meter network to a fully operated smart grid, utilizing the available usage data to offer additional
(secure) services and enable consumers to optimize their electricity consumption. DNV GL is committed to
facilitate both utilities and vendors to verify and certify these new features and services in our
interoperability lab.
With the change of scope of IEC 61850 from a pure substation automation standard toward a power
automation standard and the introduction of IEC 61850 for distribution network operators, the foundation
is there for a full integration of IEC 61850 into the Smart Grid. We have been involved in the development
and maintenance of the IEC 61850 standard since 2005 and we are ready to lead the integration of both
worlds into an interoperable multi-vendor and multi-protocol smart grid.
The valuable experience gained in the SG DataCom lab is not only restricted to the Spanish market. DNV GL
offers testing centers, labs and offices all over the globe and delivers world-renowned testing, certification
and advisory services to the energy value chain. We are committed to share experiences and success
stories within all our labs. Several international projects benefitted from the experience gained in the
Madrid lab. Currently our staff in Madrid works closely together with colleagues in the UK to support the
British smart metering rollout.
The dynamic world of the Smart Grids is expanding every day with new technologies and solutions. Apart
from PRIME-PLC, the new emerging technologies such as DLMS over G3-PLC, Broadband-PLC and ZigBee
are designed to be used in other Smart Metering solutions. Our testing, certification and advisory services
are delivered independent from each other. Through our expertise and services, we aim to support you
with integrity and foresight, as we strive for safety and sustainability in the energy industry that is our
broader vision. At DNV GL, we understand what the bigger picture means to you - being safer, smarter and
greener.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amir Ahmadzadeh – Operational Excellence Consultant, DNV GL
Mr. Amir Ahmadzadeh joined DNV GL (formerly KEMA) in 2010 as a data
communication expert and consultant in Smart Grid and Smart Meter area with specific
expertise on Meter Reading protocols (DLMS/PRIME/Mbus), AMI architecture, and
Substation Automation (IEC 101-104). He also takes part in Conformance Testing, SW
developments and consultation projects on MDM, Cyber Security, and SCADA
Communications. He has participated in several international projects with 6 years of
experience. He is a project manager at DNV GL’s Smart Grid Data Communication Lab in
Madrid, as well as a trainer for Smart Metering protocols.
Mr. Amir Ahmadzadeh, obtained his Electrical Engineering degree in 2005-Iran, and
Msc in Telecommunication Engineering in 2008-Sweden. He is also a PhD candidate in
IT and communications, currently working on his final dissertation at Alcala universitySpain.
His previous working experience includes:
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
Fellow R&D Engineer at Telefonica, the Spanish biggest network operator, where
he participated in several national Mobile Network study projects.
Research assistant at University R&D group, where he published several articles in
scientific journals.
For more information, please contact:
Elena Henriquez ([email protected]) or
Amir Ahmadzadeh ([email protected])
DNV KEMA is now DNV GL
ABOUT DNV GL
Driven by its purpose of safeguarding life, property and the environment, DNV GL enables organisations to
advance the safety and sustainability of their business. DNV GL provides classification and technical
assurance along with software and independent expert advisory services to the maritime, oil & gas and
energy industries. It also provides certification services to customers across a wide range of industries.
DNV GL, whose origins go back to 1864, operates globally in more than 100 countries with its 16,000
professionals dedicated to helping their customers make the world safer, smarter and greener.
In the Energy industry
In DNV GL we unite the strengths of DNV, KEMA, Garrad Hassan, and GL Renewables Certification.
DNV GL’s 3,000 energy experts support customers around the globe in delivering a safe, reliable, efficient,
and sustainable energy supply. We deliver world-renowned testing, certification and advisory services to
the energy value chain including renewables and energy efficiency. Our expertise spans onshore and
offshore wind power, solar, conventional generation, transmission and distribution, smart grids, and
sustainable energy use, as well as energy markets and regulations. Our testing, certification and advisory
services are delivered independent from each other.
Learn more at www.dnvgl.com/energy.
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