Aclara system chosen for Smart Meter AMI program
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI - Aclara announced that Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has selected the STAR Network system from Aclara RF Systems Inc. (formerly Hexagram), a subsidiary of ESCO Technologies Inc., to provide additional electric advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) products for PG&Â’s SmartMeter Program.
PG&E began evaluating Aclara's RF electric solution in June 2007 with a 2,000 unit field trial intended to demonstrate and validate the capabilities of Aclara's electric RF fixed network. The successful performance of this technology throughout the field trial was a significant factor in PG&E's decision to expand the deployment of this product.
PG&E has ordered 88,000 Aclara RF electric devices to be installed in the Central Valley region of northern California, which extends from Modesto to Sacramento. These units will include a ZigBee connector as well as an interface to a connect/disconnect function integrated in the meter. PG&E has indicated it is their intent to order a significant quantity of Aclara RF electric AMI devices throughout 2008, in addition to the nearly 400,000 TWACS power-line based electric AMI devices being installed in the Bakersfield and Vacaville areas.
This electric deployment is in addition to PG&E's ongoing gas AMI installations utilizing Aclara products. The RF electric units will operate under PG&E's installed STAR Network AMI system which currently manages data from over 200,000 gas meters already installed in the Central Valley.
Related News
Prepare for blackouts across the U.S. as summer takes hold
WASHINGTON - Just when it didn’t seem things couldn’t get worse — gasoline at $5 to $8 a gallon, supply shortages in everything from baby formula to new cars — comes the devastating news that many of us will endure electricity blackouts this summer.
The alarm was sounded by the nonprofit North American Electric Reliability Corp. and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The North American electric grid is the largest machine on earth and the most complex, incorporating everything from the wonky pole you see at the roadside with a bird’s nest of wires to some of the most sophisticated engineering ever…
