Generating Insights | Accelerating into a new era in energy

By Laurence Carpanini, Andy Stanford-Clark, Jon Z. Bentley, IBM and Amy Cooke, Cable&Wireless Worldwide

• 25% of existing U.K. power stations will have closed by the end of the decade
• By 2020 gas production from U.K. sources will have fallen by 50%
• By 2050 demand for electricity is expected to increase by over 50%

There has never been a more challenging time for the energy industry. Clearly we have to develop new energy sources, but increasing supply is only part of the equation.

 A more immediate and cost-effective strategy is to use smart meters to change consumption patterns, introduce more “intelligent appliances,” and encourage better demand management to help reduce overall and peak demand. This will take some of the pressure off suppliers to introduce more capacity, reducing the need for a large and immediate investment in power stations and networks, and can happen in parallel with the emergence of the smart grid. Smart meters have the potential to change the way people consume energy for the better, but only if people are taken willingly on the journey to a new energy future.

In the U.K., the government has mandated the roll out of over 52 million smart electricity and gas meters to every home and small business. On the journey toward a low-carbon economy, smart meters are set to become an increasingly critical part of our national infrastructure.

Smart Energy U.K. Cloud Solution

IBM and Cable&Wireless Worldwide have developed U.K. Smart Energy Cloud as an intelligent solution with the potential to be the central communications resource supporting the U.K.’s smart meter program. The solution can gather rich data, many times a day, from any smart meter in the country, and store it centrally in a secure U.K.-based cloud that can expand to accommodate the expected massive growth in meters and levels of functionality. The data is then available for energy retailers, enabling the calculation of accurate bills.

The solution is fully integrated and scalable, with high levels of data security and integrity. This will support a smooth and rapid deployment of smart meters in the U.K. and help enable the development of a future smart grid.

The Smart Energy Cloud solution draws upon IBM’s extensive experience in smart grid and smart meter deployments in other parts of the world, and enabling software and middleware. The solution is underpinned by Cable&Wireless Worldwide’s extensive, secure nextgeneration network and communications integration capability. Both are already used to support missioncritical communications services and systems for our customers around the globe.

The IBM solution has been specifically developed to “grow as you grow,” meaning that as the U.K. proceeds from the initial “foundation” implementation to the enduring Data and Communications Company (DCC), and beyond that to a smart grid, the solution will not require replacement or significant modification. It will be capable of scaling to accommodate both the massive growth in meter numbers and the increasing volume of data, levels of functionality and complexity. For energy retailers, this means they will not need to make expensive upfront investments in hardware, systems and people. For consumers, this means they will not have to pay twice for the functionality to be implemented.

The solution will be capable of integrating multiple head-end types. It will provide energy retailers with confidence to deploy smart meters early, knowing that smart meters inherited from other retailers, following customer churn, can be easily linked to their existing billing and back-office systems. This will ensure customers experience no disruption to their service and smart meter functionality.

 In the Cloud

Cloud computing is a new model for delivering IT, whereby server, storage and applications are delivered via Internet-based technologies. The model differs from traditional IT service provision via the ability of customers to scale up and down their usage as required, and the capability to allow pricing to be determined by usage, i.e., on a pay-as-you-go basis.  Built specifically for the utility sector, the Smart Energy Cloud will be a key enabler of “grow as you grow” services that will provide energy retailers with the benefits of:

• hosted infrastructure;
• operating in a secure, production-volume environment; and
• operating to agreed service levels.

Enabling the Smart Grid “Prize”

Smart meters represent the first phase in the development of a future national smart energy grid. The Smart Energy Cloud will achieve this by:

• being capable of providing near “real-time” data collection;
• having a flexible architecture and processes to support future devices and message types;
• providing a secure gateway enabling authorized parties access to data and event messaging;
• intelligent routing of events to the appropriate authorized parties as they arrive; and
• utilizing Cable&Wireless Worldwide’s secure, next generation network as an all-IP communications backbone that gives utility providers extensive reach that will enable easier implementation of smart grid functionality.

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