Utilities led by American Electric Power, Consumers Energy, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Reliant Energy, Sempra and Southern California Edison are working with the ZigBee Alliance and the HomePlug Powerline Alliance to develop a common application layer integrated solution for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and home area networks (HAN).
Using
the capabilities of the ZigBee Smart Energy public application profile
as a baseline, the three groups will expand the application layer and
enable it to run on HomePlug technology, providing utilities with both
wireless and wired HAN industry standards to select from when
implementing new AMI programs.
Energy
management programs that encourage load shifting and energy
conservation can allow customers to save money and reduce their
environmental impact. Creating a unified solution using the leading
open wireless and wired standards will expand the development and
certification of devices such as thermostats, pool pumps, water heaters
and other high-energy use devices ideally suited for connection to a
HAN.
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