Monitoring is essential to ensure the reliable operation of distribution networks despite increasing volatility caused by photovoltaics and electric car charging stations. A project by Stadtwerke München shows how this can be achieved with manageable effort.
The energy transition, with its increasingly decentralised power generation from renewable sources, requires transparency in the grids – this is well known. But while transmission and transport grids have been closely monitored digitally for some time, distribution grids are lagging behind. Currently, the majority of low-voltage stations and distributors are not yet equipped with monitoring and telecontrol technology, even though the number of PV systems, charging stations and heat pumps connected to the grid is growing rapidly. Stadtwerke München (SWM) recognised the consequences of this situation early on. They wanted to leverage the possibilities of the Internet of Things (IoT) to increase the efficiency and availability of their network. In a partner project, an end-to-end solution was developed to digitise local network transformer stations and integrate them wirelessly into the higher-level monitoring systems.
Read the full report in the trade magazine "50komma2": Monitoring via LoRaWAN® (PDF in German)
