CURRENT Group Demonstrates Industry's First Comprehensive Smart Grid Smart
Transformer Station (STS) Solution for European and Asia Pacific Utilities
-- CURRENT has released and is demonstrating the industry's first
comprehensive Smart Grid solution for primary and secondary transformer
stations with utility partner ELMU at EUTC in Budapest, Hungary.
-- Smart Transformer Station (STS) consists of a complete portfolio of Smart
Grid infrastructure hardware and software products providing flexible
solutions for communications, sensing and analytics, advanced metering,
device, data, and event management.
-- CURRENT(R) Smart Transformer Station is focused on solving real-world
utility distribution Smart Grid issues by reducing the cost of backhaul
communications to transformer stations, providing unprecedented asset
connectivity and visibility to devices within the station, allowing full
remote management and visibility into transformer operating parameters and
conditions through cutting edge IP-based sensing and analytics technologies,
and providing for fully open, interoperable meter collection for utilities
advanced meter deployments.
BUDAPEST, Hungary, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- CURRENT Group, LLC, a leading global
Smart Grid company, announced and is demonstrating at the European Utility
Telecom Council Annual Meeting taking place in Budapest, Hungary this week the
industry's first comprehensive Smart Grid portfolio specifically designed to
solve distribution and metering challenges in European, Australian, and Asia
Pacific utility grid architectures. CURRENT's solution, the CURRENT Smart
Transformer Station, provides a flexible, open, and cost effective suite of
products to solve real-world "smart grid" problems facing utilities worldwide.
Solutions for Wide Scale Smart Grid Deployments
The CURRENT Smart Transformer Station product portfolio focuses on addressing
four main ingredients of comprehensive Smart Grid deployments:
-- Communications - Enabling low-cost robust communications to and within
primary and secondary transformer stations through a modular, secure,
upgradeable communications gateway solution.
-- Sensing and Analytics - Providing transparency to grid asset
conditions
through cost effective, easy to deploy, remotely managed sensing
solutions.
-- Metering - Addressing meter communications and collection capabilities
through fully open and interoperable meter concentrator solutions.
-- Device, Data, and Event Management - Providing user-based remote
visibility into all aspects of Smart Grid operations through software
systems tailored specifically to utility networking / telecom,
distribution engineering, and customer related personnel.
"Utilities around the world have recognized that there are serious challenges
in operating a distribution network in an environment of aging infrastructure,
retiring workforces, centralized and distributed renewable energy sources, and
increased desire from customers to have visibility into their energy
consumption," said Tom Willie, Senior Vice President of Products and
Technology for CURRENT. "These challenges will require them to invest in
solutions that provide for greater connectivity and control over grid devices,
greater transparency into grid conditions, and greater responsiveness in
communicating and providing information to their end users of electricity. The
CURRENT STS solution is tailored to specifically provide utilities with a
solution to these expanding challenges."
Smart Transformer Station
The CURRENT Smart Transformer Station solution consists of hardware
infrastructure and supporting software systems targeted at solving these
connectivity, transparency, and metering challenges:
Communications and Connectivity - The communications and connectivity
component of the Smart Transformer Station is accomplished through the CURRENT
Communication and Connectivity Engine (CCE) that provides an IP-based,
remotely managed, modular, card-based infrastructure platform for large
primary or secondary transformation stations.
Sensing and Analytics - The CURRENT Smart Transformer Station portfolio
provides for industry leading cost-performance sensing capabilities for the
direct measurement, edge analysis, and event alarming of primary and secondary
feeder operating parameters.
Metering and Meter Collection - The CURRENT Smart Transformer Station
portfolio is rounded out with the CURRENT Station Data Concentrator (SDC)
portfolio that provides for fully interoperable, open PLC-based
meter-to-collector communications and integrated DLMS/COSEM [IEC 62056] meter
collection capabilities while maintaining easy remote management and upgrade
capabilities inherent in all of the CURRENT Smart Transformer Station
solutions. The CURRENT SDC release also marks the milestone of being the first
meter collection platform entirely based on non-proprietary communications
protocols. This milestone was clearly demonstrated through the PRIME Alliance
interoperability demonstration held at the Metering Barcelona conference in
early October.
CURRENT Delivers Proven Solutions in the World's Most Advanced Demonstration
Environments
In the United States, Xcel Energy deployed CURRENT's technology in its
SmartGridCity(TM) project (www.xcelenergy.com/smartgridcity) in Boulder,
Colorado, the world's first fully integrated Smart Grid community. The system
is actively providing Xcel Energy with a portfolio of smart grid technologies
designed to provide environmental, financial and operational benefits. CURRENT
provided the hardware, software and support to transform the local power
distribution grid into a robust electric system communications network,
providing high-speed, two-way communications, sensing and Smart Grid
analytics.
Along with the market announcement of the CURRENT Smart Transformer Station,
CURRENT is demonstrating the solution during the EUTC conference and within a
live network of the local utility ELMU in transformer stations close to the
conference venue. "We are excited to be the first European utility to install
the Smart Transformer Station solution for demonstration at EUTC Budapest. We
believe communications, transformer supervision, and metering will play a
critical role in creating the Smart Grid. Hungary and ELMU as well are
preparing the implementation of smart metering and Smart Grid. In this
process this opportunity with CURRENT is a great help for us and we are
thankful for that," said Mr. Orlay Imre, of ELMU's Network Optimization
Division.
CURRENT will expand the live demonstration to a full trial installation during
the coming weeks and will work closely with ELMU in customizing the system to
best suit ELMU's Smart Grid needs.
About CURRENT
CURRENT Group, LLC delivers innovative and industry-leading intelligent
solutions that optimize the distribution system and offer utilities new ways
to monitor and manage the health of the grid. Through CURRENT's distributed
sensing, monitoring, communications and analytical technologies, utilities are
better able to understand, predict and respond to system disturbances and
faults, identify where inefficiencies are, and enable the smartest possible
sourcing and distribution of power by the utility to their customers.
CURRENT's state-of-the-art technologies are being implemented by utilities
around the globe. CURRENT is a member of the Xcel Energy SmartGridCity(TM)
consortium that also includes Xcel Energy, Accenture, Schweitzer Engineering
Laboratories, Ventyx, GridPoint, OSIsoft and SmartSynch. Xcel Energy's
SmartGridCity(TM) is utilizing the fully integrated CURRENT Smart Grid(TM)
solution that combines advanced sensing technology with two-way real-time
communications, 24/7 monitoring and enterprise analysis software and related
services to provide Xcel Energy with location-specific, actionable
intelligence on its electric distribution grid. CURRENT is also engaged in
European Union-sponsored projects in partnership with Iberdrola, the world's
4th largest electric utility, among others, to expand the use of smart grid
technology in the European Union. This year, CURRENT was honored by the World
Economic Forum as a 2009 Technology Pioneer and selected by Dow Jones as one
of the Top 10 most Innovative Clean Technology companies in Europe.
CURRENT is a private company that is backed by leading investors including
Liberty Associated Partners, EnerTech Capital, Google, Inc., and Goldman Sachs
& Co.
CURRENT is headquartered outside of Washington, DC, with offices throughout
the United States and in Zurich, Switzerland and has representation in
Australia, Brazil and Singapore. Additional information can be found at
http://www.currentgroup.com/.
SOURCE CURRENT Group, LLC
Lori Reslock of CURRENT Group, LLC, +1-518-637-2179
