Italy's Enel launches smart power meters in Brazil

MILAN (Reuters) - Top Italian utility Enel and its Spanish subsidiary Endesa have launched a pilot project to install remote power meters in Brazil, part of a drive to develop smart grids in Latin America.

The project, implemented by Endesa's Brazilian unit Coelce, has started with the installation of 100 remote meters developed by Enel as well as concentrators, for the data collected by meters, in transformer stations, Enel said in a statement on Friday.

Smart grids are electricity networks that integrate generators and consumers to make power supply more efficient and sustainable.

They require new communications systems, data integration and other software, smart meters, security systems and a host of other services.

Brazil, where Coelce has more than 3 million clients, is the first Latin American country to begin developing regulations for remote power management, and the project would add to the development of smart grids in the region, Enel said.

Enel was the first company in the world to introduce remote power management technology. It has installed more than 30 million smart meters in Italy, which allow customers to manage their energy consumption and avoid peak hours and help ensure stability of the power system.

In Spain, Endesa is replacing old analog meters with new digital meters for all its residential customers with a contractual capacity of up to 15 kilowatts and plans to install more than 13 million new meters.

(Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova, editing by Jane Baird)