SaskPower and a third party recently completed testing of pilot commercial and industrial smart meters as one part of its larger grid modernization program.
A total of 584 smart meters were installed in the pilot, spread amongst two oilfield customers, as well as on a number of SaskPower and SaskEnergy facilities. This pilot allowed SaskPower to test the functionality and software used by the meters and the data communication network over the coming year.
There were no smart meters installed in the Assiniboia area for in the first pilot. SaskPower will be calling for volunteers and approaching businesses across the province. 鈥淪askPower has been providing power to our homes and businesses since the 1920s,鈥� said SaskPower President and CEO Mike Marsh. 鈥淭he methods and technologies of the past have served us well. This next step towards a new, smarter power grid will help SaskPower provide service that is more adaptable and reliable for today, and generations to come.鈥�
Some of the key findings from the first pilot included the following: The meters operated as planned, and helped SaskPower identify small necessary adjustments and improvements in their business processes and data communication network between meters and SaskPower.
鈥� It was learned that some locations are more difficult to communicate with in their data network, and adjustments have been made for those cases.
鈥� In a case where a meter malfunctioned, it did so as expected. It simply stopped working. This is routine for a small percentage of any electronic device.
鈥� The customers that participated in the pilot are already seeing the benefits of no longer relying on estimates for their billing.
It was back in 2014 when SaskPower uninstalled Sensus smart meters across the province, due to the malfunction of 10. At the time it was reported there was smoke, melting and blackening on the side of homes around the power box, but they did not cause fire.
鈥淭hese meters have been extensively tested in routine and extreme conditions to meet or exceed the highest safety standards. Safety and public engagement are the priority for SaskPower on this project. The meter itself has met a safety standard that goes above and beyond any standard that currently exists in the industry,鈥� said Marsh. One of the tests used an 鈥渆nvironmental chamber鈥� where a power meter was placed inside what looks like a high-tech stainless-steel refrigerator and covered in frost at a temperature of -50 C.聽
鈥淥ur vision is for a Saskatchewan smart grid in five to 10 years that will allow customers to closely monitor their power use and make conservation choices; help SaskPower identify and address power outages faster than ever before; and provide actual monthly bills to our customers, not estimates,鈥� he added.
The next step is now to expand the pilot to approximately 7,500 commercial and industrial customers around the province. While there is no timeline for residential meters at this time, deployment is not planned until at least 2018-19. It is expected that when implemented SaskPower will join the network of 85 million smart meters installed in North America today, including 85 per cent of meters in Canada.
