STMicroelectronics, Gridspertise enter new phase of collaboration

Gridspertise and STMicroelectronics announced in occasion of DistribuTECH 2023 that they have entered a new phase of their long-term collaboration on smart-meter technologies. The two companies’ collaboration started in the early 2000’s with one of Gridspertise’s shareholders Enel; today more than 65 million Gridspertise smart meters deployed in Spain, Eastern Europe, and Latin America leverage the power-line communication technologies provided by ST. Moreover, ST’s latest PLC system-on-chip has been integrated in Gridspertise smart meters for Italy to enable a near real-time cyber-secure communication channel for in-home devices; the so-called Chain 2 technology. Now, Gridspertise and ST are working together to extend Chain 2 to new metering solutions in the Gridspertise portfolio, making it suitable for the U.S. and other geographies. For end customers, Chain 2 technology improves awareness of the energy consumed and self-produced. It enables a multitude of new enhanced services that simplify their energy usage through home automation. Chain 2 technology encourages a more active role for all the players in the energy market, as well as the penetration of distributed renewable sources. For example, the technology allows to recommend to the end customer tailor-made behaviors based on real-time data production from its own generation system, like photovoltaic panels. It also enables the smart meter to collect real-time data on home appliances’ consumption, that can be used, for example, to modulate the charging power of an EV charger according to the available capacity and other demands for power in the house. Furthermore, Gridspertise and ST are collaborating in multiple other areas, too. Beyond working on ANSI C communication standard for the U.S. market, the Companies are cooperating for the adoption of the latest DLMS1-certified standards into Gridspertise smart meters, to further enhance interoperability and interchangeability between devices and systems.