After six months' testing, the Danish energy company EnergiMidt is ready to use Zigbee technology to read out electricity, water and heat remotely. Zigbee is a short range wireless communication technology that operates on radio frequencies.

Since October 2008, EnergiMidt has been working at establishing a common platform to read out consumer data using smart meters – meters that the utility is currently rolling out across its entire supply area. ZigBee has been chosen as platform for wireless communication between the meters.

The development work has been carried out in collaboration with the wireless communication company, Develco, and the meter manufacturer Kamstrup. The first remote-reading meters equipped with a so-called MEP (multipurpose expansion port) module were installed in a test area in Silkeborg in autumn 2009.

-       After having tested the concept of reading out water and heat data via the ZigBee based electricity meter, we are convinced that the concept is long-lasting and durable. We are confident that the hardware of the MEP module is solid, says Karsten Rost, adviser at EnergiMidt.

The useful feature of the MEP is that it can be used to communicate with other nearby meters, so that the data from different meters, e.g. water and and heat meters, can be remotely read and transmitted by an electricity meter equipped with a ZigBee module.

Poul Eriksen, VP in Develco Products, expresses his satisfaction with the project:

-       The EnergiMidt solution has made our system complete supporting both electricity, water and heat meters. Furthermore, the project has cleared the way for meters with combined Power Line Communication and ZigBee.

The software is now undergoing tests, which are expected to be completed during this summer.

In connection with the final work on the software side, EnergiMidt has upgraded the MEP module to the ZigBee profile Smart Energy. The certification is expected to be accomplished during the summer time 2010.