Investment Success Story
Landis+Gyr finds smart solutions in Australia
January 2013
A leading provider of smart metering technology is helping utility companies and consumers around the world create new ways to measure and manage resources.
In a world of finite resources, rising energy costs and environmental pressures, individuals, companies and governments are seeking more sustainable ways to generate and consume electricity, gas and water.
The solutions to such critical issues often lie hidden in the data that flows between resource suppliers and users. Since you cannot manage what you cannot measure, turning information from the humble electricity meter into an asset that helps utilities run their networks is now top of their agenda.
It is also the core business of Landis+Gyr, a company pioneering ways to manage energy better.
Landis+Gyr is the world’s leading provider of metering products and services for electricity, gas, and water utilities. With annual sales of over US$1.5 billion, Landis+Gyr operates in 30 countries and employs 5,300 people.
Around the world the company is preparing for the next generation of smart grid – technology that will change the way we use, supply and pay for electricity. This is a response to massive changes in the industry, where new tools and skills are needed to manage energy that now not only flows from utilities to consumers, but also from consumers into the grids of utilities.
A smart grid combines digital communications, sensing and metering with the electricity network to create a two-way flow of information between supplier and user. Utilities get detailed, real-time data about the local power supply. Household and commercial users get up-to-the-minute information on electricity consumption to help detect faults, control costs, and reduce environmental impacts.
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| Image courtesy of Landis+Gyr |
New technologies
Landis+Gyr was responsible for the first commercial rollout of WiMAX smart meters in Australia and is now a consortium partner in the AUD 100 million Smart Grid Smart City Trial program. The program – Australia’s first commercial-scale smart grid trial – is a testing ground for new energy supply technologies which measure how effectively consumer behaviour can be modified.
“Australia has been a perfect testing ground for our smart meters,” says Landis+Gyr CEO Australasia, Steve Jeston.
“The smart meter regulatory mandate in Victoria enabled us to pursue our technological development in Australia.”
Landis+Gyr has a R&D centre and NATA accredited manufacturing facility in Sydney. From Australia, the R&D team provides leadership to the locally-based global development centres in India and China for the Asia Pacific market.
These assets have helped the company build a dominant share of Australia’s smart grid market and of the roll-out of advanced metering infrastructure in Victoria, with revenue doubling in the past two years.
Australia to be the “brains” in the value chain
From Australia, Landis+Gyr is also able to offer products and services designed not only for each local region, but also for countries in Asia – tailored to the specific needs of local utilities and consumers.
Export opportunities are emerging, and Landis+Gyr Australia has been given responsibility to drive smart metering into Asia.
“Our Australian experts are now travelling to Asia to help our local teams sell solutions,” says Jeston.
“The products are not transferrable yet, but the know-how is. We are exporting thought leadership, knowledge and project management, and as a result, maybe some products later on. The door is opening for us now. We will be the brains part of th value chain."
“As Australia is a global leader in the adoption of smart metering, our experience here is helping us to extend and develop further around the world. We are now being asked by other organisations to help their smart metering deployments in places such as Hong Kong, India and China, and we are building additional capacity in Australia as a result.”
Landis+Gyr is establishing an entire solutions group at its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Sydney, which will include various R&D experts. Jeston says it helps that Australia is open to new solutions, has an innovative business culture, sound infrastructure, and a skilled workforce.
“Our R&D group will have hardware developers, mechanical designers, mechanical, electrical and software engineers, and solution architects,” says Jeston.
“We have to hire the right people and we can find them in Australia. Australians take a positive approach to getting the job done.”
Developing Australia’s clean energy technology
Landis+Gyr has brought productive investment to Australia, including assembly and development of locally-tailored products. The company is helping to build and grow the sector in Australia, as well as create employment and skilled jobs.
Landis+Gyr is also supporting Australia’s clean energy capability by leveraging global technology and knowledge for local innovation. For example, the company has just registered a patent for a smart meter application called PredicTempTM – a new application for proactively managing installation faults.
“This feature has been successfully deployed in Victoria with its smart meter program which enables alerts to be sent via a smart meter system to the utilities for immediate resolution,” says Jeston.
“This is a global innovation for us. It allows utilities to investigate possible problems before they happen. We are very proud of this application.”
The future
Meters are becoming even more important. They give utilities a view deep into their networks, and allow them to use the information to help solve many supply and demand problems.
For 70 years power providers solved such issues by building more and more capacity. With constraints on investment, imperatives to conserve energy, and calls for more sustainability, utilities need new ways to manage energy better.
Until now, Landis+Gyr has dealt only with network operators in a B2B market, but the company is now looking to establish relationships with energy retailers about new products that can be sold on to consumers.
Says Jeston: “We see ourselves working more closely with industry stakeholders around the world to provide smarter energy management directly to consumers. In this regard, Australia is part of our overarching policy to ‘be global and act local’.”
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