Metering Latin America in Sao Paulo in October as multi-million smart meter rollout looms

Aug. 31, 2011 - PRLog -- “We are living in interesting times in the energy market in Brazil”, says Adriano Rehder, the project director of the annual Metering Latin America, which will once again unite utilities, smart metering and smart grids experts, regulators and global technology giants in Sao Paulo from 25-27 October.  This is the same month that Brazil’s energy regulator Aneel will announce the first of two regulations regarding the implementation of smart meters nationwide, which will officially launch a billion dollar smart meter installation rollout in Brazil – for 2012 only this amount has been estimated at 5-billion dollars.

Now in its ninth year, the annual Metering Latin America conference and exhibition has been at the forefront of the discussions, sharing of experiences and exchange of information of the smart metering and smart grids industry in the region.  Director Adriano Rehder says this year will be a milestone: “the magnitude of the industry surprizes me.  Brazil alone has 68-million meters that will have to be substituted by smart meters in the next, say, 10 to 15 years.  Moreover, and despite the lack of public incentive, utilities are investing heavily in distribution automation technologies and centralized metering to prevent energy stealth.”

Utilities testing smart technology
He continues:  “many utilities have already been testing smart grid initiatives in order to better understand technologies and operations issues.  At Metering Latin America we will present feedback about such projects which will explain the characteristics and the current status of implementation from the four most relevant smart grid projects from the utilities Light/Cemig, AES Eletropaulo, AMPLA and EDP Bandeirante.”
   
The business case of smart meters
An international case study that has the Metering Latin America director most excited is by João Martins de Carvalho, Director of Planning and Management Control from the Portuguese utility, EDP Distribuição.  He explains:  “João Martins de Carvalho will present the case study of the Inovgrid Smart City Project in the Portuguese city of Évora from a business case perspective.  This is an extremely interesting smart grid project chosen by the European Commission from more than 200 other projects to test the EPRI methodology.  The cost/benefit analysis of smart grids initiatives is a fundamental tool to help Latin America Utilities better plan their investments and we are really excited to bring the InovGrid success story to our event.”

Water losses addressed through global experience
The challenges facing water utilities and the technology that could help them improve their service delivery once again forms an important part of the event’s deliberations.  Says Adriano Rehder:  “in Latin America, the water sector is highly concerned with loss reductions.   We will gather a significant number of international presentations from utilities around the world that are facing similar challenges.  We aim to share best operational practices in reducing losses and improving operations through implementation of technology and management methods through speakers from the USA, South Africa, México and Colombia.”

More speaker highlights at Metering Latin America include:

•  André Pepitone de Nóbrega, Director, Aneel, Brazil
•  Sidney Simonaggio, Operations Director, AES Eletropaulo, Brazil
•  Manlio Coviello, Chief Natural Reserouces and Energy Unit, ECLAC, United Nations
•  Glenn Steiger, General Manager, Glendale Water and Power, USA
•  Valerio Vadacchino, Smart Grid Project Manager, ENEL, Italy
•  Fabio Toledo, Distribution Board Advisor, LIGHT, Brazil
•  Humberto Muñoz, General Director, SEAPAL, Mexico
•  Marcelo Salles,Technology and Enviroinment Director, SABESP, Brazil
•  Oscar Armijos,General Manager, Electrica de Guayaquil, Equador
•  Miguel Setas, VP Distribution, EDP Group, Portugal
•  Ricardo Van Erven Technology Director, AES Eletropaulo, Brazil

Event dates and location:
25-27 October 2011
Frei Caneca Convention Center, São Paulo, Brazil

Event website:
www.meteringlatinamerica.com

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