Energies 2014, 7, 2377-2420; doi:10.3390/en7042377 OPEN ACCESS energies ISSN 1996-1073 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies Review Strategies for Power Line Communications Smart Metering Network Deployment Alberto Sendin 1,*, Ivan Peña 2 and Pablo Angueira 2 1 Division of Control Systems and Telecommunications, Iberdrola, Av. San Adrian 48, 48003 Bilbao, Spain 2 Department of Communication Engineering, Bilbao Faculty of Engineering, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Alda. Urkijo S/N, 48013 Bilbao, Spain; E-Mails:
[email protected] (I.P.);
[email protected] (P.A.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +34-94-4664787; Fax: +34-94-4664485. Received: 7 February 2014; in revised form: 21 March 2014 / Accepted: 24 March 2014 / Published: 15 April 2014 Abstract: Smart Grids are becoming a reality all over the world. Nowadays, the research efforts for the introduction and deployment of these grids are mainly focused on the development of the field of Smart Metering. This emerging application requires the use of technologies to access the significant number of points of supply (PoS) existing in the grid, covering the Low Voltage (LV) segment with the lowest possible costs. Power Line Communications (PLC) have been extensively used in electricity grids for a variety of purposes and, of late, have been the focus of renewed interest. PLC are really well suited for quick and inexpensive pervasive deployments. However, no LV grid is the same in any electricity company (utility), and the particularities of each grid evolution, architecture, circumstances and materials, makes it a challenge to deploy Smart Metering networks with PLC technologies, with the Smart Grid as an ultimate goal.