Light S.A. expands Brazilian Smart Meter order with Elster

Elster has announced that Light S.A. (Light), the second largest utility in Brazil, has chosen Elster\'s Garnet and Dracon solutions to expand its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system to an additional 80,000 metering endpoints in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Since the initial successful deployment of Elster solutions for 20,000 metering endpoints in the communities of Tabajaras, Cabritos and Borel in the first half of 2011, Light has placed subsequent orders for an additional 80,000 endpoints, for a total of 100,000 endpoints by the end of 2012.

\"The non-technical losses have been high and by investing in technologies such as Elster\'s Garnet and Dracon, we are preventing these growing attempts at fraud. It is also important to highlight the resulting modernization of our infrastructure, the automation of network management and the potential benefits to the consumer in terms of final energy price,\" said Jose Geraldo de Souza Pereira, Superintendent of Light.
Developed and manufactured in Brazil, Elster\'s Garnet solution allows utilities to deploy up to 12 single-phase electric Smart Meters in one unit, which is typically installed on the top of an electric transformer pole to prevent unauthorized access to the equipment. The Garnet solution has a secure all-weather stainless steel casing and the embedded metering technology has comprehensive self-diagnostic functions that can identify tampering, fraud or irregular operation and can immediately alert the utility. Equipped with radio frequency (RF) mesh communications and networking features, the solution allows for remote measurements and remote connection and disconnection.

Elster\'s Dracon solution is based on the Garnet concept and provides the same security features, but is designed for individual meter units to enable the collection of energy consumption data in locations such as densely populated urban areas, complex building layouts and underground areas. It includes a wireless RF collector, which enables the capture of meter readings at a range of up to 50 meters. Data can also be collected from up to 10 units simultaneously, adding safety, reliability and agility to metering and data collection.

\"We are delighted that the success of Elster\'s Garnet and Dracon solutions in delivering significant value in some of the most challenging access areas of Rio de Janeiro is now driving an expansion of our important partnership with Light into new communities that will also benefit,\" said Geraldo Guimaraes, Elster Integrated Solutions\' vice president, Latin America.