01-4 Meter data exchange on the liberalised market
The DLMS/COSEM standard, complete with protocol conformance test delivered
The DLMS/COSEM specification, developed to support energy trading on the liberalised markets has reached now the status of an International Standard in IEC and in CEN.
This is the first standard for meter data exchange, which comes complete with protocol conformance testing, ensuring interoperability.
To meet the needs of the liberalised energy market, meter data exchange needs to be based on specifications, which are:
- Accurate;
- Selective, to provide access to subsets of data according to the needs of each respective player;
- Flexible, to accommodate various market models;
- Future proof, to accommodate fast changing rules;
- Secure, to ensure that only authorised parties get access;
- Authentic, to ensure legal validity of the data;
- Efficient, to handle complex data flows;
- Standardised, to ensure competition,
- Able to ensure interoperability, to bring installation and operation costs down.
The DLMS/COSEM standard supports meter data exchange for any energy type, any metering equipment complexity, over any communication media, providing controlled and secure access to metering data to any stakeholders on the liberalised energy market.
This is achieved through a standardised view of the data available in the metering equipment, using an object-oriented approach. The objects are close to the metering domain, and model physical or abstract data items like register, profile, clock, schedule, and parameters. Access to these objects is based on the DLMS standard, using services like GET/READ, SET/WRITE.
For transporting data, any protocol stack can be used which is able to carry the DLMS data communication services. The method is fully specified for serial data exchange.
The standard is globally supported by the fast growing membership (40+ at this time) of the DLMS User Association, including utilities, data management companies, equipment vendors, system integrators.
During the Metering Europe exhibition in Milan, the DLMS User Association received a lot of interest from many potential users at their booth, where the conformance test tool has been presented, and is looking forward to further increase the number of its international members.
The General Meeting of the DLMS UA has been held also during the Metering Europe conference in Milan. The objectives of standardisation and conformance being achieved, the next objective now is to spread information to all potential users, their associations and other parties involved in meter data exchange. This will be done via training courses, discussion forums and the DLMS UA website at http://www.dlms.com