Website www.arcinnovations.com Founded 2003 | Type State-owned enterprise | |
Industry Electricity generationElectricity retailing | ||
Arc Innovations is a standalone subsidiary of the New Zealand state-owned electricity retailer Meridian Energy. Launched in 2003, Arc Innovations was established to develop and deploy electricity meters using advanced meter infrastructure.
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Arc Innovations was the first company to introduce Smart Meters in New Zealand, rolling out the country’s pilot Smart Meter program in Central Hawkes Bay in 2005. Arc Innovation’s smart meter network relies on a mix of GPRS, RF Mesh network and satellite for the meter’s two-way communication.
History
Following Arc Innovation’s launch in 2003 the company spent two years researching and developing smart meters. The introduction of this first generation of smart meters saw 6,000 meters installed in Central Hawkes Bay over 2005 and 2006. Following this, 125,000 smart meters were deployed to the wider Christchurch area.
In 2009, approximately 70% of Christchurch homes were installed with smart meters, making it the largest smart metering network in Australasia at that time.
Christchurch earthquake
Following the two major earthquakes in September 2010 and February 2011, smart meters in Christchurch were able to be used to provide information to the city’s distribution network about power outages to individual homes.
Christchurch’s smart meter infrastructure was also used to switch on hot water cylinders in several hundred homes following the February earthquake.