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E-DISTRIBUTIE COMPANIES WILL INVEST OVER 11 MILLION EUROS IN SMART METERS ROLL-OUT THIS YEAR
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By the end of 2019, over 671,000 customers of the Enel Group’s Romanian distribution companies will have smart meters
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This year’s smart meter project will involve an investment of over 53 million lei (more than 11 million euros)
E-Distributie Muntenia, Dobrogea and Banat, the Romanian distribution companies of the Enel Group, a world leader and pioneer in the smart meter technology, will install over 171,000 new smart meters in 2019 in the areas where they operate, for an investment of over 53 million lei (over 11 million euros), the company said în a statement sent to ACTMedia. As a result, by the end of 2019, over 671,000 customers of the E-Distributie companies will benefit from the smart meter technology.
“Smart meters will help lay the foundation for future digital grids, which are key to face the challenges posed by the energy transition, promoting the development of clean, sustainable and efficient energy systems,” said Gino Celentano, General Manager E-Distributie Banat, E-Distributie Dobrogea and E-Distributie Muntenia. “We continue to leverage on the vast international experience of the Enel Group in digital technologies to install smart meters in all the regions where E-Distributie companies operate, with the aim of continuing to improve service quality and provide additional benefits to our customers.”
The smart meter installation programme will be rolled-out according to the plan approved by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE).
The roll out plan follows four previous pilot projects, which involved the installation of 500,000 smart meters and is part of the Enel Group’s strategy to implement smart meter technology among its 2.9 million electricity distribution customers in Romania.
Over 171,000 additional customers will benefit from the advantages brought by the smart meter, such as allowing remote meter readings, which replace the field readings and consumption estimates, and giving customers greater insight into their effective energy consumption profile, promoting their active participation in the evolving energy market and a conscious use of energy. Smart meters can also communicate in real time with the distributor, allowing quicker and easier identification and recovery of network faults, therefore improving grid reliability and service quality. Moreover, the integration and optimisation of distributed renewable energy systems is boosted by the use of smart meters, which can separately record the energy consumed and the energy injected into the network, therefore contributing to the sustainability and decarbonisation of power systems.
E-Distributie Muntenia has scheduled for 2019 the installation of approximately 80,000 smart meters in Giurgiu and Ilfov counties. E-Distribu?ie Muntenia has deployed in Giurgiu county the largest smart meter installation campaign, so that over 90% of the customers in this county will benefit from a smart metering device by the end of this year. E-Distributie Dobrogea will install over 42,000 smart meters in Calarasi, Constanta, Ialomita and Tulcea counties, while E-Distributie Banat will install meters with the new technology for approximately 50,000 customers in Arad, Caras Severin, Hunedoara and Timis counties.
By the end of 2028, the smart meter penetration rate in the E-Distribu?ie customer base will exceed 60%. More specifically, E-Distribu?ie Muntenia will install smart meters for 65% of all its customers, while E-Distribu?ie Dobrogea and E-Distribu?ie Banat for 70% and 60% of their total customers respectively.
As a result of investments in grid modernisation, the E-Distributie companies operating in Muntenia Sud, Banat and Dobrogea are the top three performing electricity distribution operators in Romania in terms of service quality. According to ANRE’s official reports for 2017, SAIDI index for E-Distributie Muntenia was 145 minutes, the best in the country, versus a national average of 283.9 minutes. E-Distributie Dobrogea and Banat recorded results under the national average, with a SAIDI of 185 and 259 minutes respectively.
Enel is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global power, gas and renewables markets. It is one of Europe’s largest utilities and figures among Europe’s leading power companies in terms of installed capacity and reported EBITDA. The Group is present in over 30 countries worldwide, producing energy with around 90 GW of managed capacity. Enel distributes electricity and gas through a network of over 2.2 million kilometres, and with around 73 million business and household end users globally, the Group has the largest customer base among its European peers. Enel’s renewables arm Enel Green Power already manages over 43 GW of wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower plants in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia. Enel is a world leader and pioneer in smart meters, with around 44 million digital metering devices installed worldwide at the end of 2018.
Enel Romania is a leading private energy investor, operating in power distribution and supply as well as renewable energy production, active in the country since 2005. The company has approximately 3,100 employees and serves around 3 million business and household end users. The E-Distributie companies operate a network of around 128,000 kilometres in three key areas of the country: Muntenia Sud (including Bucharest), Banat and Dobrogea, accounting for one third of Romania’s electricity distribution market. The companies are developing an investment programme aimed at securing a proper service for customers, improving the quality and security of the network while also complying with Enel’s environmental standards.