Sao Paulo eyes grid worthy of 21st century

The city of Sao Paulo in Brazil is looking at bringing its energy infrastructure into the 21st century by adding smart meters and more to identify problems before they happen.

The first-of-its-kind smart-grid research and development project will be spearheaded by three companies: GE, Trilliant and AES Eletropaulo. The project will connect GE smart meters through Trilliant’s wireless communication network to AES Eletropaulo’s meter data management center with the goal of improving system monitoring, pinpointing potential trouble spots and reducing the duration of power outages.

“We want to prove the benefits of smart-grid architecture with this project and soon expand the solution throughout our distribution system,” said Richard Van Erven, director of technology services at AES Eletropaulo.

ANEEL, the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency, is currently studying a time-of-use rate proposal, where electricity rates vary according to when energy consumed. It expects to publish its findings later this year. With time-of-use rates and smart meters in place, customers can monitor and manage their energy use and costs.

By providing customers with incentives to be more efficient and perform power-intensive activities during off-peak hours, Brazil’s utilities hope to reduce the need to build costly new power generation plants and optimize their smart-grid technology investments.

“As Brazil’s energy consumption has grown, the country has been a leader in Latin America in researching and deploying alternative energy consumption programs and incorporating renewable energy,” said Rob Conant, senior vice president of network products at Trilliant.

GE is also installing a Global Research Center in Rio de Janeiro. The $500-million facility is designed to generate smart-grid solutions to the specific needs of each country in the region.