Date
03/13/2014
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LightHouse inductively-powered Smart Grid sensors
Tollgrade Communications, a leader in redefining the standard for reliability at the world’s largest electric utilities and telecommunications providers, announced that their LightHouse® inductively-powered Smart Grid sensors have received Homologation Certification in Brazil from the National Telecommunication Agency, ANATEL using Net Communications Corp. (NCC), a leading test lab for regulatory compliance (product safety and telecom approvals) in Brazil and other Latin American countries. Tollgrade’s Medium Voltage (MV) Smart Grid Sensors are approved for use in Brazil by the Brazilian government.
“We are pleased to announce that our LightHouse platform has received homologation certification from ANATEL and is ready for full distribution and sales in Brazil,” said Erik Christian, Vice President, Smart Grid at Tollgrade Communications. “The Brazilian market opportunity is very large and its leaders are forward thinking. They understand that rapid economic growth requires access to an affordable and reliable energy supply. As such, the country plans to make a $36.6 billion investment in grid modernization by 2022, according to a study by the Northeast Group. This puts Brazil on track to lead deployments in cutting edge technologies.”
The LightHouse solution, which is deployed at substations and along feeders on the distribution network, helps utilities increase reliability, reduce outages, and have faster restoration by providing the real-time grid health information needed to troubleshoot some of the leading causes of power outages. Tollgrade’s library of fault events, outage detection and load planning data all in one software package provides the intelligence they need to restore outages faster today, and better understand the cause outages on the distribution network.
The Tollgrade LightHouse platform consists of:
Medium Voltage (MV) Sensors: software-defined, inductively powered sensors with flexible cellular or Wi-Fi communications that operate all the way down to three amps. The sensors are easily installed with a “hot stick” and can be deployed on the line in a matter of minutes. Key sensor measurements include: load current, fault current, electric field strength, sags, surges and harmonics.
SMS software with Predictive Grid Analytics: classifies power disturbance events and provides the visualization and situational awareness needed to quickly respond to load planning, outages, and power quality challenges. Through a DNP3 interface, the software provides easy integration into a utility’s critical back office systems (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, Outage Management Systems (OMS), Distribution Management Systems (DMS) and Historians.
Tollgrade can deliver grid visibility down to three amps through inductively-powered sensors that eliminate the maintenance costs required to support battery powered alternatives. Unlike first-generation fault indicators, the LightHouse platform combines its highly accurate sensor technology with an analytics software package to classify grid conditions and assess the health of the network. This grid health data can be analyzed so utilities understand more of the “cause and effect” behind disturbances like momentaries, outages or equipment failures.
Within the software, customizable rules can be defined to alert utilities to inefficient operating conditions, subtle system failures, or indications of anomalous behavior that are early indications of future outages. During an outage, visualization tools pinpoint locations to reduce drive and restoration times. The solution is used by some of the world’s largest Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs), Distribution System Operators (DSOs) and municipalities to reduce outage minutes, improve reliability metrics, balance loads and protect important assets like substation transformers.
