Performance results from 100,000+ PRIME smart meters deployment in Spain

PRIME (PoweRline Intelligent Metering Evolution) is a narrowband Power Line Communications (PLC) technology targeted for use in smart metering applications. It is standardized as part of international Recommendations ITU-T G.9955 and G.9956, and there are currently a number of deployments by utilities in different markets which use it for a cost-effective, technically proven solution. This paper is a continuation of two previous ones presented in the first and second SmartGridComm Conferences, in which PRIME background and status were discussed, including interoperability tests and first results in multi-vendor deployments. This final article describes the network architecture which has been thoroughly tested and is currently being used by Iberdrola for its Smart Grid deployment, PRIME network deployment selections, a proposed classification for secondary substations based on experience, and finally the tools which are being used for analysis and acceptance tests, along with performance results.