Smart Meter Gateways: Options for a BSI-compliant integration of energy management systems

The introduction of Smart Meter Gateways (SMGWs) to buildings and households creates new opportunities and challenges for energy management systems. While SMGWs provide interfaces for accessing recorded information and enable communication to external parties, they also restrict data access to protect the privacy of inhabitants and facility owners. This paper presents an analysis of options for integrating automated (Building) Energy Management Systems (EMSs) into the smart meter architecture based on the technical guidelines for SMGWs by the German Federal Office for Information Security (“Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik”, BSI). It shows that there are multiple ways for integrating automated EMSs into the German smart metering architecture, although each option comes with its own advantages and restrictions. By providing a detailed discussion of trade-offs, this paper supports EMS designers that will be confronted with differing freedoms and limitations depending on the integration option

State-of-the-art integration of decentralized energy management systems into the German smart meter gateway infrastructure

The German Smart Meter Gateway (SMGW) infrastructure enables digital access to metering data and distributed energy resources by external parties. There are, however, various restrictions in order to guarantee the privacy of consumers, and strong security requirements. Furthermore, in the current state of development, there are still several challenges to overcome in order to implement demand side management (DSM) measures. In this paper, we present a prototype enabling DSM measures within the SMGW infrastructure, using the smart grid traffic light concept. The prototype implements an automated decentralized energy management system (EMS) that optimally controls an electric vehicle charging station. In the development of this prototype, we did not only evaluate five of the seven available SMGW devices, but also push the limits of the infrastructure itself. The experiments demonstrated the successful implementation of the intended DSM measure by the EMS. Even though there are technical guidelines standardizing the functionality of SMGWs, our evaluation shows that there are substantial differences between the individual SMGW devices

Insights from the Inventory of Smart Grid Projects in Europe: 2012 Update

By the end of 2010 the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s in-house science service, launched the first comprehensive inventory of smart grid projects in Europe1. The final catalogue was published in July 2011 and included 219 smart grid and smart metering projects from the EU-28 member states, Switzerland and Norway. The participation of the project coordinators and the reception of the report by the smart grid community were extremely positive. Due to its success, the European Commission decided that the project inventory would be carried out on a regular basis so as to constantly update the picture of smart grid developments in Europe and keep track of lessons learnt and of challenges and opportunities. For this, a new on-line questionnaire was launched in March 2012 and information on projects collected up to September 2012. At the same time an extensive search of project information on the internet and through cooperation links with other European research organizations was conducted. The resulting final database is the most up to date and comprehensive inventory of smart grids and smart metering projects in Europe, including a total of 281 smart grid projects and 90 smart metering pilot projects and rollouts from the same 30 countries that were included in the 2011 inventory database. Projects surveyed were classified into three categories: R&D, demonstration or pre-deployment) and deployment, and for the first time a distinction between smart grid and smart metering projects was made. The following is an insight into the 2012 report.JRC.F.3-Energy securit

Smart Grid Privacy through Distributed Trust

Though the smart electrical grid promises many advantages in efficiency and reliability, the risks to consumer privacy have impeded its deployment. Researchers have proposed protecting privacy by aggregating user data before it reaches the utility, using techniques of homomorphic encryption to prevent exposure of unaggregated values. However, such schemes generally require users to trust in the correct operation of a single aggregation server. We propose two alternative systems based on secret sharing techniques that distribute this trust among multiple service providers, protecting user privacy against a misbehaving server. We also provide an extensive evaluation of the systems considered, comparing their robustness to privacy compromise, error handling, computational performance, and data transmission costs. We conclude that while all the systems should be computationally feasible on smart meters, the two methods based on secret sharing require much less computation while also providing better protection against corrupted aggregators. Building systems using these techniques could help defend the privacy of electricity customers, as well as customers of other utilities as they move to a more data-driven architecture

Contributions to energy informatics, data protection, AI-driven cybersecurity, and explainable AI

This cumulative dissertation includes eleven papers dealing with energy informatics, privacy, artificial intelligence-enabled cybersecurity, explainable artificial intelligence, ethical artificial intelligence, and decision support. In addressing real-world challenges, the dissertation provides practical guidance, reduces complexity, shows insights from empirical data, and supports decision-making. Interdisciplinary research methods include morphological analysis, taxonomies, decision trees, and literature reviews. From the resulting design artifacts, such as design principles, critical success factors, taxonomies, archetypes, and decision trees ¬ practitioners, including energy utilities, data-intensive artificial intelligence service providers, cybersecurity consultants, managers, policymakers, regulators, decision-makers, and end users can benefit. These resources enable them to make informed and efficient decisions

Catalogue of existing good practice examples of programmes and interventions : Deliverable 2.1

This document (D2.1) provides an overview of the extensive data that has been collected on sustainable energy consumption initiatives as part of Work Package 2 (WP2) in ENERGISE. The deliverable provides a general introduction to the scope and objectives of WP2 specifically, as well as a short introduction as to how sustainable energy consumption initiatives are defined in ENERGISE. In addition, a full list is provided of 1000+ sustainable energy consumption initiatives that have been identified throughout Europe

The feasibility of implementing advanced metering technology in high income areas in South Africa

Water is an important natural resource and a building block to all life on earth. However, substantial increase in water demand and consumption has led to numerous nations, including South Africa, to face water scarcity. Improved water demand management strategies and water monitoring approaches are imperative. In South Africa, it's a legal requirement for all water supply points to be metered. Currently, water flow is primarily measured by conventional meters. However, substantial developments have been noted in the last two decades where conventional meters with added capabilities (such as communication capabilities) added have been introduced. These meters are known as advanced water meters. These capabilities offer functions such as leakage detection and more immediate consumption feedback. However, advanced meters also have significant disadvantages such as require high start-up capital and are susceptible to higher failure rates than conventional meters. It remains to be seen if advanced metering technology is an appropriate technology to be adopted in South Africa. Due to the different dynamics of South Africa's income level groups, the metering application and effects will differ for each income level group. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of implementing advanced metering systems in high income areas in South Africa. An evaluation framework was developed to gauge the viability of implementing advanced metering systems on four performance criteria; technical, economic, environmental and social. The composite indicator framework template was selected as it was not tailor made for a specific reason and could be adapted for this research. The necessary framework input parameter data were acquired from practitioners in the field through questionnaires and from literature. Due to lack of advanced metering case studies in South Africa (except for prepaid meter), literature from developed countries were used as proxies. The input data entailed details of the current metering system, advanced metering system and new conventional metering system with the later used as a control for comparative purposes. The typical high-income scenario was derived from typical input data. For each input parameter, there were value ranges from the low parameter value to high parameter value. These ranges were used to conduct the sensitivity analysis on the framework to access critical input parameters to the success or failure of implementation Implementing advanced metering systems in high income areas in South Africa was found to be less economically viable than conventional meters. This is due to the lack of needed infrastructure for advanced metering as well as high initial capital costs and high operating costs. Advanced meters however proved to be more environmentally viable than conventional meters as they offered higher reduction in consumption. However, the manner in which faulty batteries are disposed could lead to environmental damage. Social factors were considered negligible for high income areas as revolts to introduction to new meters arises from financial constraints that those meters might induce. Further research with more South Africa based case studies and smaller scale advanced metering systems has been recommended