Power line communications momentum grows in Europe, new partnership confirms

Quick Take:Talk about power line communications in the US and utilities sneer. Talk about PLC in Europe, however, and they sit up and take notice. In fact, Europe's PRIME Alliance seems poised to capture a good share of market for its power line-based open standard. That fact helps to explain why UK-based Cable&Wireless has teamed with US-based CURRENT Group to add PLC capabilities to its mix. The partnership will also encompass CURRENT's distribution automation and grid optimization products and services. – Jesse Berst

CURRENT Group has partnered with British telecommunications company Cable&Wireless Worldwide (C&W Worldwide) to put together integrated smart metering and smart grid solutions to help British utilities meet the requirements of the government's Low Carbon Economy and National Smart Metering program goals. C&W brings to the table its secure next-generation network and expertise in complex communications requirements while Washington, D.C.-based CURRENT will contribute its smart grid sensors, smart meter data collectors and analytic software. The smart metering and smart grid solutions will take advantage of the open and interoperable PRIME metering standard (developed by CURRENT and some of Europe's largest utilities and vendors), which uses existing electrical lines to communicate with meters through power line carrier technology. CURRENT CEO Tom Casey said "A smart grid provides one of the lowest cost and most effective solutions to low carbon requirements available today. We have combined PRIME metering and our grid sensing solution with secure communications from C&W Worldwide into one low cost solution. This will allow the UK to leverage its metering investments to build a smart grid and thus achieve its carbon goals faster and at a lower cost."                     

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