Networked Energy Services Delivers on Interoperability

Caruna Finland expands the use of the NES System via L+G’s AMM System

San Jose, CA, September 4, 2018: Networked Energy Services Corporation (NES), a global smart grid solution provider with the industry’s leading Patagonia Energy Applications Platform (EAP^TM), announced today the successful integration of the NES System with Landis+Gyr’s (L+G) AIM Advanced Metering Management System for Caruna of Finland, the largest electricity distribution company in Finland. The migration and integration project was successfully implemented and performed under a Smart Grid Services Contract.

NES has been working with Caruna since 2009. The relationship started with the deployment of the NES solution for more than 672,000 customers, and has continued with expansions, updates and support to this day. The system provides secured access to metering data that is delivered to excellent levels of reliability for all meters. The NES System was initially integrated with Caruna’s billing and other IT systems via a 3rd party MDMS. After NES’s Smart Grid Services Team completed the recent migration and integration project with L+G, the NES System now is integrated with Caruna’s IT systems via L+G’s AIM MDMS System. The NES System was designed with interoperability as a core requirement, and the HES (Head End System) communicates with other IT Systems using standard Web services interfaces. This avoids a utility being locked into a single source and provides flexibility to change the MDMS or other IT Systems during the life of the smart metering system.

From Caruna’s perspective, it was critical that no meter information was lost during the migration and no process and organization change would be required after migration. Furthermore, this high-profile project had to complete on-time. This integration project relied on team expertise and a collaborative spirit of both vendors and Caruna. The migration was de-risked through a well-planned set of migration trials and risk assessments which were designed to highlight and then mitigate any problems which could or would be experienced during the actual live migration. Because of this, the live migration was achieved during a weekend, without any data loss, on-time and ready for normal daily service operations by Monday morning.

The seamless transition was also dependent on a feature of the NES DCN – the ability to maintain the connection with the meters and provide on-going autonomous control even when the NES HES is unavailable temporarily as part of the migration. The system’s distribution of intelligence into the DCN and beyond into the meter, is a key aspect of NES’ solution, and was exploited in this migration to achieve zero loss of meter information and a rapid transition with minimized risk.

As part of the project, Caruna also upgraded the NES HES, which enables Caruna to take advantage of the latest security features delivered by NES as well as utilize the various NES smart grid applications, such as Grid Navigator and Grid Flow. These applications improve overall grid reliability and extend asset life by providing actionable intelligence regarding the low voltage distribution grid and impact of distributed generation adoption.

“NES has been a key member of the Caruna Finland team for 10 years”, said Tommi Pyhähuhta, Head of Measurement Services. “Their ability to support us and work collaboratively with L+G will benefit not only Caruna but all of our customers. This project was successful because all parties were focused on maintaining stability of existing processes and organisation, and minimizing the impact of the change on the business.”

“NES is proud to be the provider of choice for smart grid technology and services tailored for Caruna Finland to achieve their business objectives” said David Thomson, President and CEO of NES. “Our joint effort with L+G supporting Caruna and its customers is further proof of proven interoperability of the NES System and of course our commitment to the success of Caruna.”

About Networked Energy Services Corporation (NES)

Networked Energy Services Corporation is a global smart energy leader in the worldwide transformation of the electricity grid into an energy control network, enabling utilities to provide their customers with a more efficient and reliable service, to protect their systems from current and emerging cybersecurity threats, and to offer innovative new services that enable active, intelligence use of energy. NES was formed as a result of the spinoff of Echelon Corporation’s Grid Modernization Division in October 2014. NES is headquartered in the US with R&D centers located in Silicon Valley, North Dakota and Poland, and sales offices throughout the world. NES’ smart grid technology is used in nearly 40 million smart meters and other smart end devices around the world. NES is a member of the OSGP Alliance, a global association of utilities and smart grid companies, which promotes the Open Smart Grid Protocol and cooperates to provide utilities greater value by enabling true, independently-certified, multi-vendor interoperability based upon open international specifications and standards.  You can find out more information about NES, its Patagonia Energy Applications Platform^TM (including grid management software, distributed control nodes, and smart meters) and services at: www.networkedenergy.com.

About Caruna

Caruna is the largest company in Finland dedicated to the distribution of electricity. Countrywide, they hold a market share of about 20 per cent of local electricity transmission and provide electricity to 672,000 private and corporate customers in South, Southwest and West Finland, as well as in the city of Joensuu, the sub-region of Koillismaa and the Satakunta region. Caruna’s 85,000 kilometre long electrical network would stretch almost twice around the earth. Caruna has a staff of 290 people and employs directly 2,000 people and a total of 4,000 people indirectly all over Finland and they invest about MEUR 200 in its electrical network every year. Caruna activities are regulated by the Energy Authority, which monitors Finland’s power supply trade.