March 25, 2009—March 1 marked the start of full field deployment of Itron Inc.’s OpenWay smart metering solution at CenterPoint Energy, Inc.’s electric transmission and distribution utility. Itron’s recent initial shipments of OpenWay devices will eventually culminate in 2.4 million smart meters being installed by early 2014, says the company.
“The OpenWay smart meter installation is the first step in transforming the electric infrastructure to a smart grid,” said Tom Standish, group president of Regulated Operations for CenterPoint Energy. “Installing these meters should enable consumer control over energy consumption while enhancing the efficiency and reliability of our operations.”
Smart grid technology like OpenWay is designed to link electric meters with power line hardware, appliances, communications, systems integration and an intelligence layer of monitoring and control to create a highly automated, responsive and resilient power system.
For more information, see the Itron Web site.
