G3-Alliance sets certification record in 2025

With more than 100 new G3 products and platforms certified during the year, 2025 marks a historic milestone for the G3-Alliance. This records the highest annual number since the launch of the G3 certification programme in 2014.

This achievement brings the total number of certified devices to more then 750, spanning solutions from 19 chipset manufacturers and 50 product manufacturers worldwide. The 2025 certifications alone include devices from 19 product manufacturers and five chipset vendors, underscoring the broad and growing industry commitment to G3 technology.

The G3-Alliance is the global industry association promoting the G3-PLC/G3-Hybrid communication standard for smart grid and smart metering applications. The Alliance operates a thorough certification programme enabling seamless interoperability between devices from different manufacturers.

Strong momentum for G3-Hybrid

The majority of products certified in 2025 were G3-Hybrid, reflecting the market’s preference for hybrid PLC + RF communications to enhance network robustness and coverage. Certifications were evenly split between the CENELEC and FCC frequency bands.

A closer look at some of the 2025 figures highlights the scale and diversity of deployments:

• 75 smart meters certified:
  - From 19 different manufacturers
  - 79% G3-Hybrid
• 17 data concentrator units (DCUs) certified:
  - From 12 different manufacturers
  - 88% G3-Hybrid

“This milestone reflects the growing trust in G3 as a mature and future-ready technology,” said Leon Vergeer, General Secretary of G3-Alliance. “Utilities and manufacturers worldwide continue to choose G3 for its proven reliability, strong interoperability framework, and long-term ecosystem stability.”

Certification: Foundation for interoperability

The G3 certification programme is recognised as one of the most rigorous in the industry, encompassing hundreds of conformance, interoperability and performance tests. 

Certified devices:

• Fully conform to the G3 specification
• Interoperate seamlessly with other certified devices
• Meet clearly defined performance benchmarks

Adopting international standards backed by a strong certification programme is essential for ensuring interoperability and protecting utilities from vendor lock-in. Given the 10–20 year lifecycle of smart metering infrastructure, utilities must be confident that meters, chipsets and firmware updates will remain available and compatible over time.

“G3 certification is a must-have for every utility aiming to avoid vendor lock-in and secure long term operational flexibility,” said Marc Delandre, Chairman of G3-Alliance and former Head of the Smart Metering Division at Enedis. 

He added: “Interoperability is not optional — it is a strategic requirement for sustainable and scalable smart metering deployments.”

Next certification release: Battery powered devices

Building on this record year, G3-Alliance is now finalising the next release of its certification programme. The upcoming version will introduce certification for battery powered devices, including water and gas meters.

This evolution enables true multi-utility metering over a single communication network, expanding G3’s capabilities beyond electricity and supporting integrated smart city and smart utility deployments.

Further details about the new certification release will be announced soon.