GS Nanotech Integrated circuits for power meters

Main articles:

• Automated System for Commercial Accounting of Energy and Power (ASKUE)
• Microelectronics (Russian market)
• Microelectronics (global market)

2021: Launch of large-scale production

GS Group Holding on October 28, 2021 announced the start of production of domestic electronic components for Russian smart meters. The production of ECB was deployed by GS Group on the basis of its own center for the development and production of microelectrics GS Nanotech (an enterprise as part of the innovative cluster Technopolice GS, Gusev Kaliningrad Region).

GS Group will be the first to market non-volatile memory chips and interface communication protocol chips. They will become available to customers in the IV quarter of 2021 after certification as a domestic ECB. By the end of 2021, it is planned to produce about 1 million products. These components provide the functionality of metering devices in terms of monitoring power consumption, remote transmission of meter data to power engineers, as well as remote monitoring of voltage availability at the consumer.

The start of serial production of microcontrollers for electricity consumption metering devices is planned in the first quarter of 2022 after the completion of the development of an electricity meter based on this microcontroller and its certification as a domestic ECB.

The use of domestic-made ECB will allow manufacturers of electricity metering devices to realize, as part of existing and promising meters, the functionality necessary to ensure the reliability, timeliness, reliability and safety of transmitting data on consumed resources, as well as to satisfy existing requirements regarding the level of localization of devices.

To develop integrated circuits for electric power metering devices and establish their large-scale production in a little more than one year is a rather difficult task, but thanks to the competencies of GS Nanotech developed over the years in the development and production of media chips, large-scale package of integrated circuits in metal polymer cases, we successfully solve it. We feel support both from manufacturers of Russian electric meters, who are very much waiting for domestic chips for integration into their devices, and from energy retail companies that have to use these metering devices in their systems. Together, we and other Russian microelectronic enterprises will fully ensure the demand for domestic ECB in this area, "commented Fedor Boyarkov, Director of Production Development at GS Group.

GS Group is implementing a project to produce localized complex solutions (electronic component kits) for the creation of smart individual electricity metering devices from 2020. The set includes integrated circuits for various purposes: microcontrollers, interface microcircuits of communication protocols, non-volatile memory microcircuits. The capacity of GS Nanotech allows to produce more than 3 million sets of electronic components per year. The total investment in the project exceeds 500 million rubles.

According to the GS Group analytical center, in general in Russia, up to 80 million smart electricity metering devices are subject to replacement or initial installation at various facilities. At the same time, the need of energy retail companies for such devices is estimated at 5 million units per year.