São Paulo, Brazil, November 26, 2014 – Cisco has taken another step in its purpose to foment innovation in Brazil, taking part in the most innovative Smart Grid project in the country, which AES Eletropaulo has launched in Barueri city, located near São Paulo capital. The R$ 75 million AES Eletropaulo research and development project will install 62,000 smart meters, of which 2,000 will be in low-income communities, reaching nearly 250,000 people. The project is funded by FINEP, a public company under Brazil's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
Smart Grid technology will enable a new way of grid management with the automation of operations, and capacity planning of AES Eletropaulo power grids, through its Distribution Operations Center.
The technology will also allow faster identification and correction of failures and interruptions in the power distribution. "Before the customer calls the contact center, AES Eletropaulo will already have identified the problem and sent an SMS informing a restoration forecast for the power supply," explains Maria Tereza Vellano, director, AES Eletropaulo.
Customers will be able to track their daily consumption through the AES web page, and thus better manage their spending. In a second phase, Smart Grid will allow electric bills prepayment (as already happens with smartphones), renewable energy micro generation and application of differential taxes according to the consumption time.
Meter communication modules co-developed by Cisco are the essential component of these smart meters. The solution integrates radio frequency technology - which transmits the information via wireless network (RF MESH 6LowPAN) - and PLC (Power Line Communication) – a protocol that uses the power lines themselves for data transmission.
By using both technologies simultaneously, Cisco architecture aims to provide real-ime consumption measurement and data feeds to the core systems. Moreover, this is the first project with open standard communication developed by a utility company and that already includes interoperability of multiple meter suppliers.
According to Rodrigo Dienstmann, president of Cisco in Brazil, this project marks Cisco's maturity in the energy sector. "The development of this innovative technology in partnership with AES Eletropaulo and local industry players testifies our Smart Grid expertise. Besides, the project reinforces our commitment with innovation in the country and development of open standard solutions in order to attend our customer needs," he said.
Smart Grid is one of the key technologies being developed at the Cisco® Center of Innovation, which was opened in Rio de Janeiro in August 2013.
Barueri was chosen as a pilot city because it has all the features that reflect the major urban centers. This will allow this energy distribution model with Smart Grid to be replicated in other cities in the future.
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