GE ‘Customizing’ Meralco Smart Grid

To attune it to the unique frame of the Philippine electricity market, US firm technology provider GE is customizing to

“domestic taste’ the prepaid electricity and the overall chain of smart grid infrastructure being planned by power utility

giant Manila Electric Company.

In the recently-concluded International Electric Research Exchange (IERE) conference, GE managing director for digital

energy global growth and strategy Bartosz Wojszczyk noted that the smart grid concept does not thrive along “one-size-

fits-all” solution, therefore, it has to be harmonized according to the needs of a specific country or market.

“Smart grid has different definitions and drivers per country, per region, per continent. In many places, it is done

differently for each country,” he stressed.

In the Philippines, for instance, Wojszczyk noted that Meralco’s take-off plan is integrating some ‘systems intelligence’

in prepaid meters which are already being pilot-tested.

“With Meralco, the goal is a smart grid investment by 2021, through a 10-year plan. It will not be a one-time investment.

It is a process, and the first steps are being done,” he said.

GE Philippines chief executive officer Jocot de Dios noted that for their company being the systems integrator, “GE is

working with Meralco and the software and hardware vendors to help them implement the system.”

He emphasized that beyond providing the technology, GE would also want to “provide value based on our understanding and

experiences around the world … which we are adapting to the Philippine context.”

The smart meters rollout by Meralco is being scaled through its proposed commercial deployment of prepaid electricity

within this year. The preliminary target is 40,000 meters but with room for expansion depending on the consumers’ “take-

up” of the service offer.

Via this advancement in technology, the utility firm is hoping that consumers will be able to manage their electricity

consumption in a more efficient and cost-effective way – given the flow of information that will help them track and

manage their usage patterns.

Prepaid electricity and the rollout of other systems of intelligent advanced metering infrastructures are component of the

‘smart grid revolution’ in the electricity sector.

According to De Dios, “smart grid application, starting with the use of smart meters, holds multiple benefits for the

consumers.”

He explained that the meters “are able to communicate and send data practically in real time, as regularly as possible.”

The proposed architecture for Meralco smart meters, De Dios added, “will allow consumers to (raise) query about their

consumption, with the use of their mobile phones.” (MMV)

https://www.mb.com.ph/articles/395217/ge-customizing-meralco-smart-grid#.US0S8qLryKY