INNOVATION: Scottish invention could be a vital weapon in fight to cut carbon emissions.
BY COLIN DONALD, Business Editor
AScottish invention with the potential to revolutionise consumer energy conservation is set for further inroads into the mass market in 2009, according to energy and management consultant Accenture.
The "smart meter", the brainchild of Scots telecoms engineer Eric Beattie, was originally conceived as using communications equipment to interact with prepayment meters to allow customers to top-up their meter remotely. But smart meters, currently undergoing consumer trials throughout the UK, are seen as a potentially revolutionary aid to carbon reduction, as they allow householders and businesses to monitor closely in real time how much energy they are currently consuming and at what cost.
According to Accenture: "As the energy industry faces up to ever-deeper cuts in carbon emissions over the coming decades, the installation of smart meters in customers' homes is becoming increasingly important because of its potential to change consumers' behaviour and reduce energy consumption.
"At the same time, the parallel need to improve security of supply is adding to the momentum behind smart metering as a tool to manage consumption and facilitate the deployment of local domestic generation devices such as wind turbines, solar cells. With these needs in mind, energy suppliers are piloting and implementing smart meters at an accelerating rate."
Adrian Clamp, head of Accenture's utilities, oil and gas, and chemicals division in Scotland said: "They are important because they change the way the consumer can access info to drive down spend. They get far more intelligence - something that clips on to the metering infrastructure - but typically also a display screen that shows how much they are using.
"We see strong opportunities for smart meters in Scotland, with utility companies such as Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy and for the Scottish government.
"A focus on the demand side is the missing part of the energy debate in Scotland. The main opportunity for the government is that this technology makes it far easier for business and domestic users to monitor their own consumption.
"Encouraging the roll-out of the technology, along with promoting the use of smart buildings by businesses is possibly the quickest and easiest way for the government to achieve its carbon reduction targets."
Clamp said that there was potential for Scottish cities to follow the lead of Amsterdam, which in pursuit of its aim of becoming a "flagship green city" was encouraging the roll-out of smart meters alongside promoting smart buildings and changes in its transport policy.
"There would be a lot to be gained by Glasgow or Aberdeen picking up that mantle, though this would require more investment and PFI financing, and we would like to encourage debate about how that could happen."
In Italy, around 24 million smart meters have already been installed, and France and the Nordic countries are also making "an announcement a month" on the continued roll-out.
The UK government's own progress on smart metering was boosted by the energy bill which completed its path through parliament in November. The bill "allows the secretary of state to modify electricity and gas distribution and supply licences to require the licence holder to install, or facilitate the installation of, smart meters to different customer segments, including the domestic sector."
The government is expected to make a further announcement early this year with details of the roll-out.
Clamp said: The trials at the moment are proving that the technology works and looking at consumer attitudes. There is no point in rolling these out if people don't use them.
"We are focusing on the issue of what information is it exactly that makes people use less electricity.
"One of the next steps for the industry is to define the communication protocols, so innovation can take place in Britain."
The industry plans that infrastructure for smart metering will be put in place in 2010, ready for a full-scale roll-out in 2011, completing by 2020.
NEED TO KNOW
Eric Beattie, the Scottish inventor of the smart meter, now works for National Grid. A telecoms engineer by background, he has designed a number of low power communication devices. It was while running his own business, Edinburgh Communications, that Beattie had the eureka moment of marrying comms equipment with metering technology.
A year later, he met Richard Hanks, now of Accenture, and together they started designing an end-to-end "pay as you go" energy proposition. Beattie's business received investment from a major meter manufacturer - Iskraemeco - which allowed him to design and build the
meters in 2006.
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