Columbia Selects Elster

Friday, 16 July 2010 11:39

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Tennessee-based utility Columbia Power and Water Systems (CPWS), has selected Elster for a five year Smart Grid initiative which will deploy approximately 25,000 Elster smart electricity meters and 25,000 smart water meters.. Elster’s EnergyAxis enhances CPWS’s delivery of electricity and water services by increasing meter accuracy, providing additional load data for engineering analysis, reducing water loss, improving responsiveness for restoring unplanned outages, and adding customer service offerings such as demand response.

Jim Clark, general manager of CPWS, says, “With its proven track record of successful Smart Grid deployments and the outstanding reliability and performance we saw with the EnergyAxis solution during our testing process, we believe we have found the best Smart Grid solution to bring maximum benefit to CPWS and its customers.”

Elster says its EnergyAxis Smart Grid solution “provides bi-directional communication between the smart meters and the CPWS home office via the utility’s existing wide area network (WAN). Backhaul communications will be conducted over the CPWS broadband fiber optic network or over cellular wireless networks for more remote meter locations.” The EnergyAxis solution will integrate with the existing WAN, enabling CPWS to perform remote meter readings, improve distribution automation, and better manage outages.

Elster Solutions president and CEO, Mark Munday, notes, “Every Smart Grid deployment entails a certain level of customization and the CPWS project was no different, requiring us to integrate with the utility’s existing infrastructure. The EnergyAxis Smart Grid solution can be deployed in single or multi-utility systems to help organizations like CPWS upgrade their water and electricity infrastructure capabilities, and improve customer service and natural resource conservation.”

Elster will work with supply chain partner WESCO Distribution, Inc. to deliver the smart electricity meters to CPWS. For more information about Elster, please visit www.elster.com.