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Contact:
Jennifer Caywood
Telemetric Corporation
(208) 658-1292 x10
jcaywood@telemetric.net
TELEMETRIC
AND NASHVILLE ELECTRIC TEAM UP TO REDUCE COSTS AND IMPROVE POWER
QUALITY
Boise, ID – August 8,
2002 – Telemetric Corporation, the industry leader
in providing utilities with affordable wireless solutions for
communicating with down-line equipment, announced today that Nashville
Electric Service (NES) has deployed Telemetric TC012 MicroRTUs
to monitor and control their distribution capacitor banks.
Using the Telemetric TC012, Nashville
is now able to affordably obtain near real-time information on
the condition of their capacitor banks. In the past, NES relied
on physical inspections to locate faulty capacitor banks. This
system would often leave capacitor banks out of service for extended
periods before the condition was known and corrected. Early detection
of the loss of capacitor banks will allow NES to decrease the
total number of banks that must be installed to keep a given amount
of power factor correction on-line; thereby decreasing capital
costs.
The Telemetric solution has the added
benefit of allowing NES to remotely operate their capacitor banks;
thus adding more flexibility to the control of distribution system
voltage. Although switching of these banks is presently done only
for maintenance purposes, safety associated with local operation
has been a concern and remote switching will eliminate this concern.
Walter Brostrom, Senior Engineer with
NES said, “Now, we have critical information about our distribution
equipment that we were never able to capture before. By knowing
the status of our capacitor banks, we are able to respond to equipment
problems much faster. This has the dual benefit of decreasing
our maintenance costs and improving our system power factor.”
“In the past, utilities would never
have dreamed of communicating with fixed capacitor banks, now
Telemetric’s low-cost solution makes this possible,”
said Scott Schoenherr, Telemetric’s CEO. He added, “With
up-front costs of less than $1,000 and communications costs as
low as $6 per month utilities are now able to communicate with
all sorts of down-line equipment that in the past was thought
to be too remote to cost-justify communications.”
The TC012 is an application specific
configuration of the field tested and proven Telemetric T646 MicroRTU.
It provides information on the condition of the capacitor bank
by monitoring the neutral current of the bank. A sensor provides
the bank control with a 0-10 VAC signal corresponding to the level
of the 0-100 Amp capacitor bank neutral current. From the level
of this signal, an inference is made as to the condition of the
bank as follows: A neutral current of zero indicates that the
installation is switched out of service. Normal neutral current
(a nominal value above zero) when the bank is closed, indicates
that the bank is in service and operating properly. A level of
neutral current higher than the nominal normal bank current indicates
the presence of high harmonic current or a partial pack failure.
A higher, predefined level of current indicates a blown fuse or
other serious problem. The device provides capacitor bank control
through two-30 amp relays. Following detection of a change of
status, the device reports the AC line voltage, open/close status,
and the neutral current.
The module includes an internal cellular
radio providing true two-way communication with coverage available
to 98% of the populated area of North America. Information can
optionally be viewed over SCADA or a secure, password protected
web server. By utilizing the "control channel" of the
cellular network, Telemetric allows customers to send small packets
of data over the existing cellular infrastructure, which provides
far better coverage at a much lower cost than other methods of
communication. No cellular account is necessary.
Telemetric has helped nearly 100 utilities
control costs and improve customer service by allowing them to
cost-effectively monitor and control equipment located outside
their substations.
About Telemetric
Telemetric is the industry leader in low-cost wireless solutions,
providing utilities with an affordable option for communicating
with down-line equipment and machinery. Telemetric is privately
held with headquarters in Boise, Idaho. For more information,
please visit www.telemetric.net, or e-mail to info@telemetric.net.
About Nashville Electric
Service
Nashville Electric Service is among the twelve largest public
electric utilities in the nation with a service area of about
700 square miles in Middle Tennessee and serving approximately
315,000 customers. NES purchases 100% of its power from others,
the primary source being the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
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