Smart meters for industrial energy conservation and efficiency optimization in Pakistan: Scope, technology and applications

The electrical grid in most of the developing countries has inefficiencies in different areas such as transmission and distribution, power quality, grid reliability and system protection. These inadequacies in grid operations and asset protection, along with revenue leakage constitute an overall troubled energy profile. The fixes usually proposed in this regard are directed at reducing distribution network losses and improving residential and commercial demand side management. Lessons from the residential and commercial implementation of smart meters can be extended to industrial consumers to help relieve grid congestion and achieve better efficiency goals. This paper reviews smart meter technology and applications across residential, commercial and industrial sectors. We point out the areas for power quality and energy efficiency improvement within industries and propose ways for achieving them through smart meters, specifically in the context of Pakistan. We have incorporated empirical evidence from experimental setup at our university grid as proof of concept. We have also elaborated on the implementation methodology to avoid the possible pitfalls in the proposed solution.