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The initial aim of the roll out of smart electricity meters in Sweden was to allow remote readings of the households’ monthly electricity consumption for billing purposes. Since then the transition towards a smart grid has become a more prioritized matter. In the roll out of next generation smart meters more attention is therefore given to how the Distribution System Operator (DSO) can benefit from the meter through different smart grid applications. This study uses a qualitative research method to identify three general fields of application and 15 specific concepts corresponding to ways in which the DSO can create added value from the information provided by the smart meter. The benefits of one of these concepts, the so-called “last gasp” and “first breath” functionality, are assessed in a business case. The study concludes that the three main areas of smart meter applications are operating the grid, planning the grid and utility in the customers’ household. The study also shows that the outcomes of the business case on the “last gasp” and “first breath” functionality are highly dependent on the cost of the functionality, however the investment can still be motivated through increased customer satisfaction andimproved outage management. The general conclusion is that the smart meter will play an essential role in providing the control and information needed in the transition to a smarter grid.

Since energy meters became more advanced and able to send data remotely, energy suppliers have had a need to keep their data managed. This gave birth to energy management systems which gather data from energy meters. However, for every type of meter there needs to be a specialization in the management system. Smart Metering Language (SML) is a protocol which was created to transfer meter data in as simple way as possible. Implementing the protocol would result in simpler and less vendor-specific solutions for energy management systems. This report follows the process of developing an adaptor between a device using the SML protocol and a system that manages energy meters. The thesis uses different parts of the development process in able to show specializations which were needed by the test device and its vendor.  The result sums up the experience of developing an adaptor and the specializations which are needed in the SML protocol.

A society in which people are becoming all the more environmentally conscious regarding their consumption in conjunction with technical advances constitute two major building blocks for better future conditions. The following work aligns with this thought in concern to improving already existing technology, more specifically in connection to how people view their electricity consumption in real time. In the light of the first mentioned information it becomes obvious that products which have a positive environmental impact should also function as well as possible. The problem which Dareysay, together with Umeå Energi, have identified is the fact that it has been difficult to ensure a stable connection between the electricity meter and the household router. Daresay has formerly introduced projects which are aimed at homeowners who own solar cell panels, both to provide the owners with a better overview of the amount of electricity which they consume but also the amount of energy that the solar cell panels deliver. Hence why it was requested of us by Daresay to research potential solutions in order to achieve a stable connection between an electricity meter and the household router. Daresay’s former projects have required electricians within the installation of their products, through new functional requirements this process has evolved and now contains an electricity meter with a HAN-port. This enables an installation which can be made using a network cable, thus making the installation non dependent on specialist knowledge. Our work includes how we have examined products that are available on the market, different types of solutions which these are built around and how we through iterative work have produced conceptual solutions by which we have 3D modelled a finalized product. This solution answers as to how the consumer’s experience can be improved, with a focus on ensuring a stable connection. To this solution we have also made an installation process to visualize the different steps that the user will need to implement in order to use the product. Through user tests we have been able to establish the feedback which users consider necessary, and non necessary, to the product. This report will therefore describe our work process, the methods which we have made use of, why we have chosen these and what they have resulted in. We then discuss the final product in terms of our own opinions and lastly, assess our work as a whole. / Ett samhälle där människor tänker allt mer miljömedvetet kring sina val i kombination med svårstoppad teknisk utveckling utgör två viktiga byggstenar för bättre framtida förutsättningar. Följande arbete går i linje med detta och behandlar frågan om eventuella förbättringsmöjligheter rörande befintlig teknik som finns tillgänglig, mer specifikt i anknytning till hur människor idag läser av sin energiförbrukning i realtid. Med det förstnämnda som bakgrund är det naturligtvis även av yttersta vikt att de produkter som, ur ett miljömässigt, möjliggör positiv förändring också fungerar så bra som möjligt. Problemet som Daresay, tillsammans med Umeå Energi, har identifierat och som ligger till grund för detta arbete är det faktum att det varit svårt att säkerställa en stabil uppkoppling mellan produkten som kopplas in i elmätaren och hushållets router. Daresay har sedan tidigare projekt som syftar till att husägare med solpaneler dels ska få en bättre översikt kring hur mycket el de förbrukar men också den mängd energi som solpanelerna levererar. Därav har Daresay bett oss utforska eventuella lösningar för att skapa en stabil uppkoppling. Daresays tidigare projekt har krävt elektriker vid installation av produkten, men genom nya funktionskrav på elmätare har detta utvecklats till att istället innefatta en elmätare med en HAN-port där installationen sker via en nätverkskabel varför specialkompetens inte längre är nödvändig. Arbetet omfattar därför hur vi undersöker produkter som finns på marknaden, vilka lösningar de använder sig utav och via iterativt arbete framställt konceptuella lösningar för att genom 3D modellering tillverka ett slutgiltligt svar på hur man kan förbättra kundernas helhetsupplevelse där stabil uppkoppling stått i fokus. Till denna produkt har även en installationsprocess framställts för att visualisera de steg som användaren måste genomföra för att installera samt bruka produkten. Genom användartester har vi även kunnat fastställa den feedback användaren anser att produkten behöver, och inte behöver. Denna rapport kommer därmed beskriva processen under arbetet, de metoder som använts, varför de använts samt vad de resulterat i. Avslutningsvis diskuterar vi det slutgiltiga resultatet som vi tagit fram, reflekterar kring konceptet i termer av egna åsikter, samt utvärderar arbetet i sin helhet.

The electricity network is in many places facing an eventful future where much will happen in a short period of time. Many network owners today have a network that is somewhat outdated and in short in need of upgrading and modernization, a modernization towards a smarter network. As the government sets new demands on the electricity meter of the future, Sweden's network owners are faced with a lot of other demands and challenges to be addressed. In this work, the definition of smart grids is investigated and how a small electricity grid should prioritize its investments and developments in its grid in a near future.Elnätsbranschen står på många punkter inför en händelserik framtid där mycket kommer att hända på kort tid. Många nätägare står idag med ett nät som är något föråldrat och inom kort i behov av en upprustning och modernisering, en modernisering mot ett smartare elnät. I takt med att regeringen ställer nya krav på framtidens elmätare så ställs Sveriges nätägare inför en hel del andra krav och utmaningar man måste ta itu med. I Detta arbete så undersöks definitionen av smarta elnät och hur en mindre elnätsägare bör prioritera sina investeringar och utvecklingar i sitt elnät i den närmaste framtiden. / Elnätsbranschen står på många punkter inför en händelserik framtid där mycket kommer att hända på kort tid. Många nätägare står idag med ett nät som är något föråldrat och inom kort i behov av en upprustning och modernisering, en modernisering mot ett smartare elnät. I takt med att regeringen ställer nya krav på framtidens elmätare så ställs Sveriges nätägare inför en hel del andra krav och utmaningar man måste ta itu med. I Detta arbete så undersöks definitionen av smarta elnät och hur en mindre elnätsägare bör prioritera sina investeringar och utvecklingar i sitt elnät i den närmaste framtiden.

In 2018 the Swedish government introduced a new legislation for the electricity meters installed in the low voltage networks. The legislation includes, among other things, that the electricity meters should be able to measure the current and voltage per phase with a time resolution of one hour or 15 minutes. To meet the new requirements Falu Energi & Vatten have started a rollout of new electricity meters in their low voltage networks. In addition to this, electricity meters have also been installed in a few secondary substations in Falun. The overall purpose of this project was to investigate what the data from the new electricity meters can be used for and what the benefits are with having metering equipment in secondary substations. Data from secondary substations can be useful when dimensioning the grid or when analysing power losses. During the project, data was collected from one secondary substation and the underlying low voltage network. The parameters current and voltage were measured per phase with a time interval of 15 minutes. The data was used in three different investigations. The results from two of them indicated that the network information system that Falu Energi & Vatten uses for dimensioning tends to overestimate the power consumption and the voltage drop between the secondary substation and the low voltage customers. In the last investigation a method for localising non-technical power losses was evaluated. The result indicated that the method was not suitable for the purpose.

With new smart power meters being installed in the households of Sweden an opportunity has presented itself. It allows the distribution companies to collect a variety of different measurements such as voltage in each phase and the total reactive and active power flowing to and from the customers.  This thesis is written in collaboration with Öresundskraft AB, a distribution company in Helsingborg, Sweden. They wished to examine how the smart meter they install, the Kaifa MA304, could aid them in creating a power grid fit for the future. The thesis aims to achieve this goal by researching if PEV, plug-in electrical vehicles, can be identified utilizing data from the new power meters. It is also considered if district heating, and different types of electrical heating, can be identified using outside temperature measurements together with the data.  Data has been collected and analyzed from 20 customers over a timespan of eight months in 2022. Here, the mean voltage for every ten minutes (in each phase) and active/reactive power accumulated during the last fifteen minutes is used. The raw data is transformed using a tool developed by the authors in python and is thereafter analyzed using the library pandas. Initial results showed a clear correlation between voltage drop and active power import during three phase charging. In the future, we will study the underlying mechanism of this correlation for devising algorithms to develop and use it as a reliable and effective means to identify PEV’s charging.  Households with district heating had, as expected, a relatively even use of power consumption regardless of season or temperature. Electrically heated households used significantly more active power during lower temperature and cold months. The amount of imported reactive power greatly varies between customers, likely due to different technologies such as direct electrical heating and heating pumps. Future work should include knowledge of the utilized heating technologies to devise a method to identify these.

I detta examensarbete utreds möjligheten att med hjälp av nya smarta elmätare få en ökad inblick i elkvalitén i elnäten samt att ge nätägare möjligheten att automatiskt eller via fjärrsignal koppla bort solcellsanläggningar i de fall de orsakar dålig elkvalité. Motiveringen till studien har varit att en ökad utbyggnad av solcellsanläggningar med tilhörande växelriktare och en trolig framtida ökning av snabbladdare och andra olinjära laster i näten ökar utmaningen för elnätsföretag att klara gällande krav på elkvalité. Samtidigt har utvecklingen av elmätare gjort att de idag har många funktioner som elnätsföretag kan dra nytta av på sätt som tidigare inte varit möjligt. Studien inleddes med en litteratur-studie där information om vad elmätare idag är kapabla till togs fram. Ett praktiskt test genomfördes på en solcellsanläggning där en elmätare installerades och konfigurerades att koppla bort solcellerna vid över-spänning. Studien har visat att smarta elmätare bör kunna användas som ett långsammare, sekundärt skydd som kopplar bort solceller i de fall som växelriktarna brister i sina säkerhetsfunktioner. Elmätarna kommer också kunna ge nätägare en mängd intressant information om elkvalitén. / In this thesis the possibility for smart meters to give utility companies an increased knowledge about the power quality in the grid has been investigated. During the investigation the possibility to use smart meters to automatically or by remote control disconnect solar power units in case of poor power quality caused by the production units has also been researched. The motivation to perform the study was that a future increase in distributed generation, rapid chargers for electric vehicles and other non-linear loads will make it harder for utility companies to meet the demands concerning power quality. At the same time electricity meters has developed over time and are today capable of providing grid operators with functions that has not been possible in the past. The first part of the study focused on obtaining information about what smart meters are capable of today through a literary study. A practical test was conducted on a solar power unit where a smart meter was installed and configured to automatically disconnect the solar power unit in case of over voltage. The study has shown that smart meters could be used as a slower, secondary protection that disconnects the solar power units in cases where the solar inverters safety functions fails. The smart meters will also be able to give grid operators a large amount of information about the power quality in the grid.

In this MSc thesis, it is investigated what parameters are relevant for describing energy consumption of heavy haul freight trains and how these can be used to develop key performance indicators (KPIs) for energy efficiency. The possible set of KPI is bounded by data available from energy meters used in electric IORE class locomotives hauling iron ore trains in northern Sweden. Furthermore, the analysis is only concerned with energy efficiency at the rolling stock level, excluding losses in the electric power supply network. Based on a literature study, parameters of interest describing driver, operations and rolling stock energy efficiency have been identified. By means of simulation, a parametric study is performed, simulating a 30 ton axle load iron ore train with 68 wagons. Train modelling input is obtained from technical documentation or estimated through measurements and statistical analysis. A multi-particle representation of the train is used to calculate gradient resistance for the simulation, which is also applied to determine the curve resistance.  Results show that the motion resistance is simulated quite accurately, while the lack of a driver model in the simulation tool leads to overestimation of energy consumption. Taking this into account, the importance of the driver for energy efficiency can still clearly be showcased in the parametric study. Especially on long steep downhill sections, prioritising the electric brakes over mechanical brakes is demonstrated to have a huge influence on net energy consumption, as has the amount of coasting applied. With the same driver behaviour in all simulations, the savings in specific energy from increasing axle load to 32.5 tons is estimated. Moreover, a comparison of increased train length and axle load points towards higher savings for the latter. In the end, parametric study results are used to recommend a structure for a monitoring system of energy efficiency based on a set of KPIs. With a sufficiently high sampling rate of energy meter data, it is adequate for calculating driver related KPIs and some additional KPIs. More KPIs can be tracked with access to additional data, e.g. cargo load. / I detta examensarbete undersöks vilka parametrar som är relevanta för att beskriva energiförbrukning för tunga godståg och hur dessa kan nyttjas för att utveckla nyckeltal för energieffektivitet. Antalet möjliga nyckeltal avgränsas till sådana som kan beräknas med data från elmätare som används i elektriska littera IORE lok som drar tunga malmtåg i norra Sverige. Vidare så tar analysen endast hänsyn till energieffektivitet för rullande materiel, vilket utesluter förluster i elektriska kraftmatningsnätet. Baserad på en litteraturstudie har relevanta parametrar som beskriver förare, drift och rullande materiel identifierats. Med hjälp av simuleringar av ett malmtåg med 30 tons axellast och 68 vagnar så utförs en parameterstudie. Indata för tågmodelleringen erhålls från teknisk dokumentation respektive uppskattas genom mätningar och statistisk analys. En representation av tåget som flertalet partiklar tillämpas i simulering för att beräkna lutningsmotståndet. Dessutom används densamma för att ta fram kurvmotståndet. Resultaten visar att gångmotstånd simuleras ganska exakt, medan avsaknad av en förarmodell i simuleringsvertyget leder till överskattad energiförbrukning. Med hänsyn tagen till detta så kan betydelsen av föraren för energieffektivitet fortfarande påvisas mycket tydligt i parameterstudien. I synnerhet i långa branta nedförsbackar har prioritering av den elektriska bromsen framför den mekaniska bromsen mycket stor påverkan på nettoenergiförbrukningen, likaväl som hur mycket tåget frirullar. Med samma förarbeteende i samtliga simuleringar har besparingar i specifik energiförbrukning kunnat uppskattats för en ökning av axellasten till 32,5 ton. Dessutom pekar en jämförelse av ökad tåglängd och axellast mot att sistnämnda ger större besparingar. Slutligen så har resultaten från parameterstudien nyttjats för att rekommendera en struktur för ett uppföljningssystem av energieffektivitet baserad på en uppsättning av nyckeltal. Med tillräckligt hög samplingsfrekvens på data från elmätare är den adekvat för att beräkna vissa nyckeltal, framförallt relaterad till förare. Fler nyckeltal kan följas upp med mer tillgänglig data så som lastvikter.

The electricity system will go through massive changes in the coming years. Smartgrids are becoming more popular. The phasing out of fossil fuels in electricity production in favour of renewable power sources will entail challenges. To handle these challenges, the Swedish Energy Markets Inspectorate (Ei) has identified demand side flexibility as a partial solution. Ei has presented new functionality demands on electricity meters, which aim at working for an increase of demand side flexibility. The aim of this report is to investigate how smart meters and the new functionality demands contribute in making customers become more active, along with how customers can be motivated to change their behaviour. The findings from this report show that the new demands do not directly lead to more demand side flexibility. Instead they enable other actors to develop services that could lead to customers contributing with demand side flexibility. In the energy sector, it is assumed that customers need to see an economic benefit in order to contribute with flexibility. This report finds that this is not entirely the case. Customers can be motivated by other things, such as protecting the environment. Important factors for customers are that they experience the same comfort as before, along with simplicity. Therefore, automatic steering is the preferable option which might entail the need for economic subsidies since investing in automatic systems will be economically notable. Once a considerable amount of customers are contributing with flexibility, social pressure might motivate remaining customers to do the same.