Slow German smart meter licensing could let country fall behind

Developers of smart meters are complaining that the German state’s licensing of the technology is taking much too long due to security concerns and increasing the risk that the country will fall behind its European neighbours, many of which are much more likely to introduce the devices by 2020, Kathrin Witsch and Klaus Stratmann write in Handelsblatt. “Germany is practically isolated with its approach to the smart meter roll-out” that stipulates a gradual introduction in line with power consumption levels by individual customers, Andreas Gehlhaar of consultancy Accenture told the newspaper. The initially small number of smart meter users, those with a high power consumption of more than 6,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, did not allow the technology’s power flow management potential to be fully exploited, he argued. According to Germany’s energy ministry (BMWi), smart meters are set to play “a key role” in the integration of renewable energy sources and will be fully introduced by 2032.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW dossier The digitalisation of the Energiewende for background.