CBI :energy, a new player in the energy management space, today launched its first solution offering at the recent Power & Electricity Africa expo. This flexible, low-cost, cloud-connected managed smart metering system is aimed at the commercial real estate, office and solar energy markets. The system enables operational and technical staff, as well as business managers, property owners and managing agents of multi-tenanted sites, to gather, analyse and act on real-time electricity consumption data across a site, or to focus on groups or individual electrical loads.
Consisting of single- and three-phase connected electricity meters communicating wirelessly with a managed cloud infrastructure, the managed smart metering system, developed and manufactured in South Africa by CBI :energy, is designed for medium to large commercial implementation. The compact, billing-grade smart meters allow for full four-quadrant Class 1 (better than 1% accuracy) metering of both electricity generation and consumption in real time at points of supply, sub-DBs and individual and groups of loads.
Data is gathered at one-minute intervals for key metrics which include real and reactive power and energy, voltage, current and power factor. This telemetry for each device is then rated to give detailed current and historic information on the customer’s Rands and cents costs for peak, off-peak and standard time of use tariffs.
“Electricity has become a massive and unsustainable cost to businesses, and we urgently need to change how we use it. Finding vast amounts of data on the generation, distribution and trade of energy is easy. But there is astonishingly little information on how electricity is consumed – by whom, for what, where, and how much. If we don’t know more about how we use energy, we’ll never make the behaviour changes needed for a carbon zero future,” says Roger Hislop, Energy Management Systems Executive at CBI-electric: low voltage.
Installation is fast and easy; the “Fit & Form” compact energy meters can be deployed with minimal disruption to business operations and need no changes to be made to electrical or building infrastructure. The managed smart metering devices use proven Wi-Fi technology, communicating either over corporate wireless network, or aggregated over a single LTE wireless router. Most smart meters today must either be hard-wired to a data network or use 3G or LTE mobile phone technologies for connectivity which add considerable operating expense and do not function in building basements and other low-signal areas.
The system is simple to integrate with other software systems through the open API provided by CBI :energy.
It simplifies energy management, cost management, and the gathering of the detailed data which is needed to comply with new regulations coming into force for building energy management. Most notable of these is the ISO 50000 standard, and the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which will become a legal requirement for commercial buildings over 2000 m2 by the end of this year.
“There is an old saying in the electricity industry – the cheapest Watt to generate is the Watt you don’t use. This new system puts electricity consumers back in control of their spend,” concludes Hislop.
Technical data and pricing on the CBI :energy managed smart metering solution is available from CBI :energy.
About CBI :energy
CBI :energy is a division of CBI-electric: low voltage, a South African designer, manufacturer and supplier of quality low voltage electrical distribution, protection, and control equipment, including circuit breakers, residential current devices, surge protection, wiring accessories, and metering products. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company is a subsidiary of JSE-listed industrial group Reunert, with international operations across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and USA.
Contact Deepesh Dhanjee, CBI-electric: low voltage, Phone , deepesh.dhanjee@cbi-electric.com , www.cbi.energy
