EnAccess | OpenAMI: Affordable, Open Smart Metering for Mini-Grids

An Open Source smart metering suite designed with mini‑grid developers, not just for them.

About this Project

OpenAMI is an Open Source Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) initiative that brings together mini‑grid developers, Open Source technologists, and hardware experts to build an affordable, transparent, and interoperable smart metering stack to facilitate energy access projects. Led by Renewable Energy Innovators Cameroon (REIc), IEEE Smart Village, and EnAccess, the collaboration aims to replace today’s dependency on a handful of proprietary vendors with openly documented, field‑tested tools that mini‑grid operators can own, understand, and adapt.

Why OpenAMI?

Smart metering is now a non‑negotiable part of running mini‑grids, but the tools available to African developers haven’t kept pace with the sector’s growth. Most solutions are proprietary, expensive, and tightly coupled to a single vendor’s roadmap, leaving developers exposed to opaque SLAs, unstable software, high SaaS fees, and sudden product pivots that can disrupt service to entire communities.

Operators face daily challenges when metering platforms go down, when connectivity fails without fallback options, or when vendors change priorities without warning. The result is higher operating risk, slower rollout of new mini‑grids, and erosion of trust from end users who depend on reliable power. OpenAMI is designed to address this structural problem by offering an alternative that is Open, interoperable, and aligned with the realities of rural mini‑grid operations.

What OpenAMI offers

OpenAMI is working to create sector alignments, standards and reference AMI architecture that can work across different meter OEMs and communication technologies. The results are to be collaborative and Open Source end‑to‑end. The goal is a smart metering solution that can be deployed locally, work reliably during internet outages, and integrate with existing tools like MicroPowerManager (MPM), OpenPAYGO Token, and other relevant Open Source tools.

How the community can get involved

OpenAMI is intentionally being built as a community project: the code, documentation, and reference architectures will be openly published so that mini‑grid developers, implementers, and local partners can use, adapt, and improve them. The collaboration is actively sourcing additional hardware, connectivity, and engineering resources to accelerate development and testing.

The OpenAMI team is looking to build a community of potential users and contributors; partners who can share requirements, test early versions, and bring OpenAMI into new countries and regulatory environments. If you are a mini‑grid developer, utility, IT firm, or donor interested in open source metering, you can reach out to explore collaboration, co‑funding, or pilots.

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