ABOUT ESB

Founded in 1927, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is a statutory corporation in the Republic of Ireland. A vertically integrated utility, ESB includes a number of divisions: ESB Power Generation operates 19 major power stations covering hydroelectric generation, and stations powered by coal, oil, gas and peat. ESB Customer Supply is a major supplier of power to final domestic and business customers. ESB Networks is the owner of the high voltage transmission system, and the owner/operator of the medium and lower voltage distribution system, providing services to all 1.7 million electricity customers and all generators and suppliers of electricity in the Republic of Ireland. (www.esb.ie)

ESB Networks

ESB Networks

ENERGY METERING AND POWER QUALITY SYSTEM

ESB Networks has chosen Premium Power Ltd. (www.premiumpower.ie) as the supplier, integrator and supporter of a nationwide combined energy revenue and power quality monitoring system. As part of a major €2 billion refurbishment program of Ireland's national electricity network, ESB is upgrading the country's electricity distribution infrastructure with an enterprise energy management (“EEM”) system based on ION® by PMC, Schneider Electric (www.schneider-electric.com) using a network of intelligent energy meters and software to help staff automatically track and profile electricity transactions at more than 150 metering points around the country. In addition to simplifying bulk-metering tasks, the system monitors a range of power quality factors to help improve the overall efficiency and stability of the grid. According to the Meter Asset Manager for ESB Networks, the ION system is expected to help safeguard Ireland's national electricity distribution system by identifying potentially disruptive conditions before they can cause problems.

NATIONWIDE SYSTEM

Initially, ESB is fitting each substation and renewable energy connection with ION 7600 and ION 7650 energy meters to monitor the cost, quality and reliability of the electricity delivered. The meters report this information to the ION server located at ESB head office and the server logs the system data. While this asset management information is delivered directly to the ION Enterprise energy management software, profile data is also sent to a separate centrally located revenue-logging server running a third-party data-collection application.The system monitors power quality characteristics such as harmonics and voltage fluctuations. Each meter also monitors compliance with the European EN 50160 voltage standard.