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. The oilfield customers participating in the pilot have some meters in southeast part of the province. There were also smart meters installed on some SaskPower and SaskEnergy installations in both Weyburn and Estevan.
This pilot will allow SaskPower to test the functionality and software used by the meters and the data communication network over the coming year.
“SaskPower has been providing power to our homes and businesses since the 1920s,” said SaskPower President and CEO Mike Marsh. “The 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.”
Thorough safety testing was completed before this small roll-out, which was to test software and functionality. Some of the key findings from the first pilot included the following:
• The meters operated as planned. They helped SaskPower identify small necessary adjustments and improvements in their business processes and data communication network between meters and SaskPower.
• They learned that some locations are more difficult to communicate with in their data network. They have made adjustments for those cases.
• In one 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.
• The customers that participated in the pilot are already seeing the benefits of no longer relying on estimates for their billing.
The next step is now an expanded pilot to approximately 7,500 commercial and industrial customers around the province.
“These 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,” said Marsh.
“Our 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,” he added.
There is no timeline for residential meters at this time. Residential smart meter deployment is not planned until at least 2018-19. SaskPower looks forward to joining the network of 85 million smart meters installed in North America today, including 85 per cent of meters in Canada.
