Washington, D.C., October 8, 2009 — Current Group, along with Iberdrola and leading global technology partners, demonstrated a fully interoperable and open smart grid communications infrastructure for multi-vendor environments.
The demonstration shows, according to the company, that open and interoperable devices do not just have support for “open protocols” but also have proven interoperability at all levels similar to telecommunications networks
The project supports Europe’s Smart Grid Roadmap and provides guidance to the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards for the United States
Open solutions could pave the way for lower cost deployment of smart grid in Europe in support of energy efficiency and carbon reduction.
The PRIME (PoweRline Intelligent Metering Evolution) Alliance was formed to develop an open and future-proofed communications infrastructure to support large-scale metering and other smart grid projects.
The goal of the alliance is to define, test and develop the framework in which meters and other devices can interoperate using a fully open physical layer (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) specification.
PRIME Alliance partners include ADD, Itron, Landis+Gyr, Microsyscom, ST Microelectronics, Texas Instruments, ZIV and the Spanish utility Iberdrola.
