3/29/2010 09:00
GE Smart Grid Technology, Enabling Customers in
Germany to Track Energy and Water Consumption
To Reduce Household Environmental Impact, Super-Integrated Smart Meter Deployment Provides RealTime Usage Data
ERDING, Germany--Monday, March 29, 2010-- The 33,000 citizens of Erding, Germany, will benefit from
the environmental advantages of GE smart grid technologies in a major step toward managing energy
and water consumption. Stadtwerke Erding, the city’s public works department, is implementing a
groundbreaking pilot installation that will consolidate and report data to homeowners on energy and
utility usage, including electricity, gas, water and heating.
Public works departments like those in Erding are part of a trend in Germany to re-communalize key
town infrastructure. Towns are taking a financial stake in multi-fuel utilities, water, district heating,
transport and communications. These municipalities provide ideal environments to showcase
technologies available today that can increase efficiency and have a positive environmental impact.
“We are developing a complete picture of our energy and resource usage to help us become more
efficient providers and consumers of energy,” said Walter Huber, general manager of Stadtwerke Erding.
“What we are learning will help us formulate practical, effective and timely programs to reduce our
carbon footprint without sacrificing lifestyle.”
The smart meters are connected to a central office for analysis and planning via a data concentrator,
providing data to optimize usage efficiency and minimizing waste. Benchmarking data from last year will
contribute to emissions and efficiency programs in 2010 and beyond.
“The municipality of Erding is making history by applying the benefits of smart grid technologies across
all of the utilities in a home, maximizing the ways we can understand and lessen their effect on our
planet,” said Keith Redfearn, general manager—transmission and distribution in Europe for GE Energy
Services.
By consolidating infrastructure, the program also delivers operational advantages, reducing up-front
costs and allowing other communications-dependent functions like security, health, safety and assisted
living monitoring to be added as the city develops those solutions.
“Instead of being smarter simply with electricity, Erding officials are leveraging GE solutions to help
them make decisions based on the complete picture of utility consumption and carbon consequences.”
About GE
GE is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that's built to meet essential world
needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves
customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide.
GE serves the energy sector by developing and deploying technology that helps make efficient use of
natural resources. With 60,000 global employees and 2009 revenues of $37 billion, GE Energy
www.ge.com/energy is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery
technologies. The businesses that comprise GE Energy—GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE
Oil & Gas—work together to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy
industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind,
solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels.
For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.ge.com. GE is imagination at work.