Nov 16 2013
GridSense, an Acorn Energy Company, announced that a large Midwestern utility recently concluded a year-long pilot of the LineIQ® monitoring solution for older distribution substations. During the pilot, LineIQ not only demonstrated its efficacy at providing load profile and other information to help the utility gauge substation health, but also its ability to do so at a fraction of the usual metering cost.
As a result, the utility has ordered 150 LineIQ units for deployment to more than 50 sites over the next year.
Lack of substation intelligence is a major problem at US utilities. Many of these substations house aging and vulnerable transformers. In order to guarantee the safety and reliability of the power supply, utilities need to monitor the transformer load profiles in order to identify substations that are at or near capacity; that is, if they're running "hot."
At approximately $5,000 for a set of 3 LineIQ Sensors and remote communications, the solution can be a fraction of the cost of many substation automation projects, which can easily run up to twenty times as much. With substation intelligence at the top of most utility's smart grid to-do lists, the market potential for this highly cost-effective application is significant.
"As evidenced by this and other recent announcements, GridSense is starting to gain momentum not only in securing pilots, but in converting them to larger scale rollouts. We believe this LineIQ rollout also validates GridSense's recently updated strategy, said Joe Musanti, President & CEO of GridSense. "This order is a testament to the focused efforts of our relationship managers as they hone in on our high-value pilots as well as our customer support team who have really put on a full-court press to meet the customer's specific requirements. Our approach should help deepen our customer relationships, help ensure both successful pilots, and result in additional system rollouts. "
About GridSense
GridSense is a smart grid technology company dedicated to providing innovative, practical and cost effective monitoring solutions to the electric power industry. Utilizing in-depth industry knowledge and understanding of utility requirements, we provide technology and services that help the industry address the limitations of old and aging infrastructure. We apply experience and technical know-how with new insight and ideas to create intelligent, reliable and leading edge technologies that add value to our customers and shape the future of the modern electrical power system. For more information visit (www.gridsense.com).
About Acorn Energy, Inc.
Acorn Energy, Inc. is a holding company whose four portfolio companies help their customers achieve greater productivity, reliability, security, and efficiency—factors which can lead to greater profitability. GridSense provides monitoring for all critical points along the electricity delivery system. OmniMetrix remotely monitors emergency back-up power generation systems to increase their reliability. US Seismic supplies fiber optic sensing solutions to increase oil/gas production and lower costs. DSIT provides security solutions from underwater threats to naval and marine based energy assets. For more information visit: http://www.acornenergy.com.
Source: http://www.acornenergy.com/