Mitsubishi Electric Corp. announced today that it will enhance its global business for smart meters in collaboration with partner Echelon Corp. Mitsubishi Electric will integrate Echelon's Open Smart Grid Protocol (OSGP) into its lineup of smart meter products, which are designed for international markets.
The new smart meters will incorporate grid-sensing and communication technologies based on Echelon's OGSP and its Networked Energy Services (NES) software as well as Mitsubishi Electric's proprietary sensing and metering technologies. The products will be manufactured at Mitsubishi Electric facilities in Thailand and Indonesia, the company said.
Echelon is a key technology provider of open standard control networking and has developed one of the world’s most widely deployed open standard, multi-application platforms.
Mitsubishi Electric launched its electricity meter business at its Fukuyama Works, Japan, in 1946, according to the company. Since then, the company has worked to steadily expand this business globally.
Smart meter shipments in North America are poised for growth, according to IHS. After three years of decline, the combined market for distribution automation hardware and smart electricity meters in North America will resume its expansion in 2015, with revenue rising to $3.2 billion, up 3 percent from $3.1 billion in 2014. By 2017, the market will reach $3.6 billion.
