Telecommunication Technologies for Smart Grid Projects with Focus on Smart Metering Applications

This paper provides a study of the smart grid projects realised in Europe and presents their technological solutions with a focus on smart metering Low Voltage (LV) applications. Special attention is given to the telecommunications technologies used. For this purpose, we present the telecommunication technologies chosen by several European utilities for the accomplishment of their smart meter national roll-outs. Further on, a study is performed based on the European Smart Grid Projects, highlighting their technological options. The range of the projects analysed covers the ones including smart metering implementation as well as those in which smart metering applications play a significant role in the overall project success. The survey reveals that various topics are directly or indirectly linked to smart metering applications, like smart home/building, energy management, grid monitoring and integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Therefore, the technological options that lie behind such projects are pointed out. For reasons of completeness, we also present the main characteristics of the telecommunication technologies that are found to be used in practice for the LV grid.