Eltel builds a wireless system for energy consumption control in Denmark

Eltel has signed a contract with the utility Frederiksberg Forsyning A/S in Copenhagen to build a wireless network for remote control of energy consumption meters for gas, electricity and heating. As part of this contract, Eltel has signed a 12-month maintenance agreement after the completion of the build contract.

Eltel’s new contract with Frederiksberg is great evidence of how the Infranets are becoming more digitalised and connecting consumers with the energy supplier. The new network represents one of the most important steps to implement smart grids aiming at on-time optimisation and balancing of energy generation with energy consumption. Building of smart grids will boost energy efficiency and lower environmental impact. Smart technologies are an important element to manage the so called micro grids consisting of micro production of electricity, often renewable solar and wind energy, and electricity consumption.

Smart meters as a communication gateway play an elementary part of an interactive system and building of a connected society and smart cities. The Nordic countries have been in the forefront of implementing smart metering since the start of rollouts in Finland and Sweden already in 2006. Now that Norway will implement its rollouts by 2019 and the largest Danish utility DONG will complete their rollouts by 2019, all Nordic countries will have smart metering systems in place. Counting the already implemented installations and the current order stock, Eltel’s smart meter installations total five million metering points, representing a 50% share of total market in the four Nordic countries.

In spring 2016 Eltel also entered the German metering market through two acquisitions. Eltel is currently involved in a variety of services from meter installations, connecting and disconnecting of consumers and providing meter reading services to utilities. With Eltel’s current structure in Germany, the company provides five million meter readings to its utility customers in 2016. Eltel customers include both gas, water and electricity.

Germany has passed new legislation regarding the replacement of the current 44 million electricity meters with modern meters in 2017-2032. Approximately five million of these will be equipped with smart communication solutions while for the remaining metering points this can be upgraded later. In this respect the German concept differs from the Nordic countries where the online communication feature has been part of solution from the very beginning.

In today’s society, the requirement for higher speed and quality of data transmission capacity is growing rapidly. Fibre is one solution to this. Eltel is the leading fibre deployment company in Northern Europe, serving all major teleoperators.

One of the challenges in implementing new technical infrastructures in urban environments is to execute the works with minimum disturbance to daily life and routines in cities. In the case of building the new network of Frederiksberg in Copenhagen, Eltel can utilise its prior experience of delivering installation and maintenance services for electricity, street lighting, traffic signaling, gas, water and sewage networks since 2005 in Copenhagen.

Aggregating all the specialized competencies of the company, Eltel can utilise its overall Infranet capability in the contract with Frederiksberg, its customers and the entire community to make a major positive contribution to a more sustainable future for all. Implementation of the new network is now being started and it is expected to be completed by the end of 2017. The new contract is an important showcase of the digitalization of the infrastructures and it will further support Eltel’s expansion in Europe.

Thorbjörn Sagner, President – Eltel Aviation & Security comments:
“We are very happy to have been chosen by Frederiksberg Forsyning as their partner to deploy the new system to connect end customers with the supplier of energy. This kind of networks show the way into the new future of Infranets and now we see more concrete applications in practice. Eltel’s comprehensive know-how in smart metering, wireless and fibre communication as well as our data center implementations, all coupled with higher level maintenance services comes to full exploitation in this project. Implementing the project to the full satisfaction of all stakeholders is equally important with the technical level of the entire system.”  

For further information:
Hannu Tynkkynen
Director – External Communications and Sustainability
Tel: +358 40 311 4503, hannu.tynkkynen@eltelnetworks.com 

About Eltel
Eltel is a leading European provider of technical services for critical infrastructure networks – Infranets – in the segments of Power, Communication and Transport & Security, with operations throughout the Nordic and Baltic regions, Poland, Germany, the United Kingdom and Africa. Eltel provides a broad and integrated range of services, spanning from maintenance and upgrade services to project deliveries. Eltel has a diverse contract portfolio and a loyal and growing customer base of large network owners. In 2015 Eltel net sales amounted to EUR 1,255 million. The current number of employees is approximately 9,600. Since February 2015, Eltel AB is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.