Smart meter begins pilot program in Africa and Middle East

The new meter is available from SIAME (La Société Industrielle d'Appareillage et de Matériels Electriques), Tunisia’s leading energy metering company. It was developed by SIAME in collaboration with Adesto and I@T (Innov-Alliance-Tech), a Tunisian provider of engineering services.

The new smart meter leverages Adesto’s configurable, power-efficient G3-PLC Certified SM2400 Power Line Communications (PLC) modem, as well as Adesto’s Quad SPI flash memory, in a custom module designed by SIAME with software created by I@T. The new meter is based on G3-PLC, a worldwide smart metering standard designed to facilitate highly reliable, long-range communication over the existing powerline grid, essentially making the power grid ‘smart’.

“Quality is part of our company’s DNA, and we look for partners whose products bring the highest quality solutions,” said Monji Jelassi, CEO of SIAME. “Adesto’s SM2400 PLC devices have proven superior performance in providing reliable communication over power lines in challenging communication channel conditions, making them the ideal modem solution for Tunisia’s first smart electric meters. We are delighted to partner with Adesto and I@T as we prepare to roll out the first deployments of this important milestone.”

According to a March 2018 report from market intelligence firm Northeast Group, LLC, smart grid infrastructure development is accelerating in the Middle East and the North Africa region, growing at an anticipated CAGR of 27% from 2018 to 2027. Countries in these regions are expected to invest $17.6bn over the next decade in smart metering, distribution automation, battery storage and other smart grid infrastructure market segments.

“Across our product lines, Adesto has a strong footprint in smart grid and metering solutions, and we’re excited about the growth opportunity in the emerging Africa and Middle East regions,” added Janet Wang, vice president of business development at Adesto. “Our work with SIAME and I@T demonstrates our commitment to supply innovative and reliable products to support the exacting specifications needed for smart grid deployment.”

Mondher Makni, CEO of I@T, said: “I@T is focused on helping our customers and partners enhance their engineering and business development capabilities and expand their geographical presence in key emerging markets. The collaboration with SIAME and Adesto is a great example of that. Adesto’s engineers worked closely with the I@T and SIAME teams throughout the design and certification process, and their support was key to efficient development of the meter. We look forward to continued cooperation as we bring Tunisia’s new smart meters to market.”