The U.S. firm will deploy its solutions for a Brazilian utility and four Costa Rican electricity cooperatives
U.S. firm Itron said Brazilian utility Elektro will deploy its Gen5 network to enable energy efficiency in three cities in the state of Sao Paulo.
The Brazilian utility will replace existing electricity meters with smart meters from Eletra, an Itron authorized sales partner, and deploy Itron’s network in three cities, including Atibaia, Nazaré Paulista and Bom Jesus dos Perdões, over the next year.
Elektro is part of Neoenergia group, the second largest distributer of electric power in Brazil, serving 13.6 million customers.
Under the deal, Eletra will deploy 40,000 of its Zeus meters and utilize Itron’s Gen5 network to deliver a comprehensive solution. This will allow Elektro to improve grid reliability and reduce commercial losses in three cities in the São Paulo state in Brazil.
Itron will also provide professional services and software maintenance.
“With our future-ready network, Elektro will be prepared to implement smart city applications and technology to unlock benefits to customers,” said Emerson Souza, vice president of sales for commercial and customer enablement for Latin America at Itron. “We are excited to collaborate with Elektro to modernize its electricity infrastructure with our network and managed services.”
“Combining Eletra’s smart meters and Itron’s network will improve our infrastructure and service delivery to our customers”, said Heron Fontana, Smart Grids superintendent for Neoenergia. “Itron’s network is Wi-SUN compliant and aligned with our digitalization strategy of implementing open-standards solutions, enabling further opportunities as distribution automation, streetlights and other applications.”
Itron also signed an agreement with Conelectricas, which is a group comprised of four electricity cooperatives in Costa Rica.
Under the agreement, the cooperatives will deploy Itron’s OpenWay Riva IoT solution, including nearly 250,000 smart meters, over the next five years.
Conelectricas will use back-office and edge analytics software applications to improve electricity delivery to its 980,000 associates. Combining this platform with Itron’s smart electric meters, the cooperatives will reduce the cost of operations while improving service to customers, Itron said.
“Itron’s open communications platform and smart meters will help us uncover operational savings and lay the foundation for smart city and IoT initiatives,” said Erick Rojas Salazar, general manager, Conelectricas. “With this solution, Conelectricas R.L. will be able to meet regulation requirements and uncover new revenue streams, such as EV stations, streetlight management, network services, energy and water usage management etc., in the smart city and IoT space.”
“Because our OpenWay Riva solution is standards-based and open, Conelectricas R.L. will be able to implement numerous smart city devices and applications with our platform as the foundation,” said Itron’s Souza.
