Landis+Gyr aims to further Enable Utilities with Acquisition of PowerSense

Landis+Gyr today announced that it has acquired PowerSense A/S and will integrate it into its portfolio. This solution enables utilities to balance and better manage grids in their medium- and low-voltage distribution network. Further benefits include the provision of key smart grid applications sensing and secondary transformer monitoring. PowerSense services a fast developing area of the smart grid market, sensors, which is forecast to grow significantly over the next decade across Europe, and the market shows similar potential in North America and the Asia Pacific region.

PowerSense develops and produces high-quality supervision and control systems for the power distribution industry. These supervision and control systems have been designed to retrofit and digitalize existing power distribution infrastructures. This enables grid operators to meet the challenges of the future power grids, where an increasing number of distributed power generation options and unpredictable loads will drastically change the power consumption patterns.

Andreas Umbach, CEO at Landis+Gyr says, "PowerSense solutions have been tested and successfully proven in a major rollout in Australia at Ausgrid and in a number of pilot projects internationally. Their patented optical sensor technologies, as well as smart grid monitoring and controller products, perfectly complement Landis+Gyr's portfolio. This acquisition sees the start of a powerful and attractive next generation of products, giving our customers a unique advantage to manage energy better in the fast developing world of smart grid applications."

PowerSense's product line has been designed for digitizing existing power distribution infrastructure, to create an end-to-end Smart Grid solution. This solution is realized by retrofitting sensors onto the existing medium and low voltage power cables, transformers and switch gear, but also by integration of already installed, electronic devices located at the substation level. When further combined with Landis+Gyr's and Toshiba's existing grid management offerings the product synergies become even more powerful for adopting utilities.

Jesper Klingsten Nielsen, CEO of PowerSense, says, "The PowerSense solution has been developed directly with our customers and so exactly meets market expectations. Landis+Gyr's acquisition of PowerSense will dramatically strengthen developments in the smart grid field globally. This powerful combination will have positive impact on the smart grid space, delivering solutions which enable utility use cases, including better outage management, improved power quality and optimization of asset life."

Since its inception in 2006, PowerSense has sold and delivered products and services to 35 utilities throughout the world, and offers solutions for a number of smart grid applications, including distribution grid management, fault management, the integration of renewable energies and power balancing technologies. Landis+Gyr plans to integrate PowerSense into its European operations.