The agreement will focus on utilities and electricity providers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
The European Union (EU) has recently revealed a goal to increase energy efficiency by 20% by 2020. Echelon and Eaton said that their collaboration would provide a solution to extend the smart grid into homes and help meet the regulations.
Echelon has recently revealed new products and a series of enhancements to its NES system. The newest generation of Echelon’s smart meters includes a multipurpose-expansion port (MEP) interface that can enable communication with Eaton’s home automation product line over a wireless radio frequency (RF) connection. Actual energy consumption can be presented in clear terms. The end user will be able to regulate consumption in real time and see a clear record of energy use to enable informed energy consumption decisions, the companies said.
The MEP port can also enable utilities and electricity suppliers to communicate with homes to enable demand response applications to help reduce peak loads.
Ken Oshman, chairman and CEO of Echelon, said: “We are excited to partner with Eaton to enable them to offer a complete energy management solution that adds intelligence to the grid and extends it into the home.
“This collaboration exemplifies the flexibility of the NES System, and the innovation of companies like Eaton, who are making a difference in reducing energy consumption worldwide.”
The NES metering infrastructure consists of a family of integrated, electronic electricity meters accessed via a web services based network operating system over an IP networking infrastructure.
