The Case for Powerline Communications

Smart grid watchers spend a lot of time arguing about ZigBee versus Wi-Fi, or public versus private wireless networks. But what if the answers to these debates lie in the wiring? Power line carrier (PLC) technology (sending data over the same lines that carry electricity) has some nice advantages for communicating over household wiring and along the power lines that make up the grid. In fact, in my weekly update at GigaOM Pro (subscription required), I make the case that PLC may be set to capture a bigger share of the smart grid market than it has had so far.
That’s a bold assertion, given that wireless is king in all the major smart meter deployments and home energy networking plans underway in the U.S. today. But in Europe, PLC is taking a far larger role. Italy’s network of 30 million smart meters runs on PLC, based on technology from Echelon, and France and Spain are looking to PLC as their main way to link up multi-million-smart-meter networks that extend nationwide. Then there’s China, which wants a low-cost PLC technology to connect tens of millions of its households.