Gridspertise, a global player dedicated to supporting distribution system operators worldwide in accelerating the digital transformation of electricity grids, and STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, announced on the occasion of DistribuTECH 2023 that they have entered a new phase of their long-term collaboration on smart-meter technologies.
The two companies’ collaboration started in the early 2000s with one of Gridspertise’s shareholders Enel; today more than 65 million Gridspertise smart meters deployed in Spain, Eastern Europe, and Latin America leverage the power-line communication (PLC) technologies provided by ST. Moreover, ST’s latest PLC system-on-chip has been integrated into Gridspertise smart meters for Italy to enable a near real-time cyber-secure communication channel for in-home devices; the so-called Chain 2 technology. Now, Gridspertise and ST are working together to extend Chain 2 to new metering solutions in the Gridspertise portfolio, making it suitable for the U.S. and other geographies.
For end customers, Chain 2 technology improves awareness of the energy consumed and is self-produced. It enables a multitude of new enhanced services that simplify their energy usage through home automation. Chain 2 technology encourages a more active role for all the players in the energy market, as well as the penetration of distributed renewable sources. For example, the technology allows recommending to the end customer tailor-made behaviors based on real-time data production from its own generation system, like photovoltaic panels. It also enables the smart meter to collect real-time data on home appliances’ consumption, which can be used, for example, to modulate the charging power of an EV charger according to the available capacity and other demands for power in the house.
Furthermore, Gridspertise and ST are collaborating in multiple other areas, too. Beyond working on ANSI C communication standards for the U.S. market, the Companies are cooperating for the adoption of the latest DLMS-certified standards into Gridspertise smart meters, to further enhance interoperability and interchangeability between devices and systems.
“Working together with other key industry leaders is fundamental to accelerating grid digitalization and to promoting an active role for end users in the energy transition,” said Gianni Ceneri, Chief Technology Officer, Gridspertise. “We are pleased to strengthen our strategic collaboration with STMicroelectronics leveraging shared best practices for the development of innovative solutions to serve an ever-increasing number of markets and bring benefits to new customers, starting from the U.S. where Gridspertise is enhancing its activities through its North American platform to better support power grid operators and utilities in the region.”
“As Gridspertise accelerates the growth of its business, ST continues to develop and contribute our unique system know-how, dedicated support, and ready-to-use solutions based on our advanced semiconductor integration capabilities,” added Domenico Arrigo, General Manager of STMicroelectronics’s Industrial and Power Conversion Division in the Analog, MEMS & Sensors Group. “We are maintaining and enhancing our connection as a key technology provider for Gridspertise solutions and services, and with them delivering smart and sustainable grids that are robust, secure, resilient, and reliable.”
This latest step in the collaboration between Gridspertise and ST perfectly suits Gridspertise’s mission to deliver a new era of sustainable and reliable smart grids, which is extremely timely in the current U.S. context, where new federal policies have unleashed a wave of investment in the energy transition and grid modernization. Together, ST and Gridspertise are unlocking the penetration of new flexible and distributed sustainable energy sources and the active participation of end customers through increasingly digitalized grids.
