Landis+Gyr helps create 'highly efficient' Polish energy networks

Country's energy sector to benefit from increased network efficiency following award of innovative joint tender for smart grid hardware

ZUG, Switzerland, and WARSAW, Poland, May 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Landis+Gyr, a global leader in supplying energy management solutions, has won a major contract for delivery of smart grid technology to energy providers in Poland. The move comes amidst the country's ongoing efforts to develop a smart grid environment and ahead of the introduction of a new energy law.

This is the first time that four Distribution System Operators (DSOs) in Poland have joined to launch a public tender in response to ongoing changes in national energy law and regulation. Under the terms of the agreement, Landis+Gyr will deliver over 36,000 S650 smart grid terminals by the end of 2015 to four of the largest DSOs in Poland – RWE Stoen Operator, Enea Operator, Tauron Dystrybucja and PGE Dystrybucja.

The four network operators chose to launch a joint tender in October 2014 for balancing meters to upgrade functionality in their medium and low voltage transformer stations. Through acting jointly and deploying the same technology, the utilities were aiming to secure a unified data collection standard for their networks.

"We at Landis+Gyr are very happy with this project as it gives us a solid base for further smart grid portfolio developments in Poland," says Andrzej Szymanski, Country Manager Landis+Gyr Poland, "We are sure that the four DSOs will benefit from this development long into the future. By having similar products rolled out across their networks at the same time, these utilities can streamline both operational benefits and costs as well as achieve higher levels of interoperability."

The announcement comes as Poland's national regulator is motivating DSOs to increase their power quality and network efficiency levels. The regulator has stipulated that DSOs must optimise customer outages by reducing two key indices: the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI), which both have far higher frequency rates in Poland in comparison to other EU countries.

With this project, Landis+Gyr enables Polish network operators to enhance their distribution intelligence. It also enables them to gradually build up new smart grid capabilities through deploying a scalable solution in which the functionality can be extended to meet new market and regulatory requirements. In addition to balancing functionalities, the S650 smart grid terminal provides network monitoring and control, which allows utilities to visualize power quality issues and optimize customer outages, thus reducing SAIDI and SAIFI indices.

About Landis+Gyr
Landis+Gyr is the leading global provider of integrated energy management products tailored to energy company needs and unique in its ability to deliver true end-to-end advanced metering solutions. Today, the Company offers the broadest portfolio of products and services in the electricity metering industry, and is paving the way for the next generation of smart grid. With annualized sales of more than US$1.5 billion, Landis+Gyr, an independent growth platform of the Toshiba Corporation (TKY: 6502) and 40% owned by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, operates in 30 countries across five continents, and employs 5,500 people with the sole mission of helping the world manage energy better. More information is available at landisgyr.com.

SOURCE Landis+Gyr

Press contact, John Harris, Vice President and Head Governmental Affairs and Communications, Landis+Gyr AG, Theilerstrasse 1, 6301 Zug, Switzerland, Tel. [phone], http://www.landisgyr.com