Hawaiian Electric, Landis+Gyr plot advanced metering project

As part of a greater grid modernization effort in the region, Hawaiian Electric Company and Landis+Gyr are partnering on an advanced metering project built upon the utility’s Gridstream Connect tech.

The project will provide greater communication options for the utility in both the field and device levels allowing multiple communications operations to flow from a single network manager. Advanced meters will also support Hawaiian Electric’s customer accounts with additional resource management capabilities and information.

The network options will be especially useful to Hawaiian as they move toward the state’s goal of a 30 percent renewable portfolio by 2020. That demand makes for increased need to control two-way power flows, voltage and frequency, and the meters will give Hawaiian a better idea of what they are dealing with in real time.

“We wanted a flexible communications component that could support our current and future needs for advanced metering, distribution automation, and distributed energy resource integration while being able to support multiple vendors and protocols,” Ron Cox, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president of Operations, said. “Our goal is to enable customers to participate in renewable energy programs while improving reliability and system stability as we implement Hawaii’s 100 percent clean energy objective.”

The partnership is dependant on approval by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.