Smart Grid Communications: Rebirth of PLC?

In the U.S., powerline communications (PLC) has been largely relegated to rural coops, whose widely scattered customers make radio frequency (RF) networks impractical. But PLC has made strong inroads in Europe and is even starting to show up in North America.

But this isn't your father's PLC. In fact, most companies deliberately rename their products to get away from the stigma of low-bandwidth old-school PLC.

PCN was just selected by Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), Poland's largest utility, for a Warsaw Smart Grid pilot. The only American company selected for the project, PCN will be instrumental in turning PGE's system into a completely integrated infrastructure by incorporating Smart Grid technologies such as smart meters and the supporting data and energy networks to provide Smart Grid benefits to 800,000 PGE customers around Warsaw.

And then there's Echelon, the company that helped Italian utility Enel install more than 27 million smart meters and has worked with utilities on numerous other projects elsewhere in Europe and Asia. The California-based firm was chosen by Duke Energy to supply the metering equipment for massive deployments in Ohio and Indiana, SGN reported in August 2009. While the initial order is just under $16 million, the total value could reach $150 million for Echelon. Duke had already met the regulatory requirements for deployment of 700,000 meters in Ohio and plans to do pretty much the same in Indiana.

Echelon uses the label "distribution line carrier" to distinguish itself from the old-school PLC. It uses PLC—excuse us, "DLC"—to pull data from the meters back to the transformer. Then it uses a higher bandwidth solution such as cellular to backhaul the data from the transformer to the control center.

   PCN Smart Grid technology tapped for European pilot

   Duke/Echelon story from SGN

   Smart Grid Communications resources on SGN