The Smart Data Communications Company (DCC) has opened a new national control centre for smart meter testing and data visibility.
The DCC, which is mandated by Ofgem to manage communications between the county’s smart meters, opened the new facility in Greater Manchester today with the aim of smoothing the installation process of smart meters.
Brabazon House has 2,400 smart meter testing spaces within 19 modular test labs and features tools to visualise and analyse national smart meter data at “unprecedented” levels and complexity, the DCC said.
Video walls in the Technical Operations Centre will provide increased visibility, which is set to help smooth individual installations and immediately pinpoint the source of any issues.
The DCC will also look at smart meter innovation and ways to re-use the network. As part of this, the facility has space to allow for experimentation and testing of technologies such as machine learning, home automation, electric vehicles and irrigation in a sandboxed environment.
Richard McCarthy, chairman of the DCC, said Brabazon House will accelerate the digitilisation of the energy industry.
“This facility will bring improved support for customers via our technical operation centre and expansive test labs. It will be a hotbed of innovation, allowing the DCC to work with its customers in new ways, shaping the future of this important national infrastructure project,” he continued.
Brabazon House has tri-factor biometric authentication for access to the technical operational areas, including fingerprinting and iris scans.
It was opened by McCarthy and Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City council.