Echelon Announces Two Smart Grid Projects In Europe

Echelon Corp. says that it has been awarded a 20,000-unit follow-on smart meter order as part of a project in Basel, Switzerland, and a 1,400-unit smart meter pilot in Vienna, Austria, for its advanced grid sensors, which also provide smart metering functionality.

Echelon's partner, Ubitronix System Solutions GmbH, was awarded the 20,000-unit smart meter project in Basel by Industrielle Werke Basel. Basel is Switzerland's third most populous city, and Echelon says the ongoing project was won based upon the positive results from last year's 25,000-unit Echelon smart meter deployment. Installation has started and will continue throughout the year.

Through its Austrian partnership with Kapsch, Echelon was awarded a 1,400-unit pilot by WIEN ENERGIE Stromnetz GmbH, an Austrian utility with over 1 million customers. The pilot - which covers Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland - is expected to begin in May.

The pilot will utilize Echelon's power line technology to measure electricity in 15-minute intervals, employing various security mechanisms, including 128-bit encryption. This project is the first phase for WIEN ENERGIE Stromnetz GmbH to fulfill Austria's grid optimization and modernization plan to transition 95% of its 5 million households to smart meters by 2019.