| Due to the ongoing
deregulation of the electric power industry,
utilities are searching for new sources
of revenue, cost reduction, and new technologies
to better manage their distribution networks
and provide enhanced services to their
core customers. The advent of BPL offers
utilities the opportunity to accomplish
these goals as well as a competitive opportunity
to enter into the multi-billion dollar
U.S. telecommunications marketplace. Electric
utilities have a massive customer base
and an extensive existing infrastructure,
both of which can be leveraged into market
strength for the delivery of improved utility
services and solutions; broadband, telecommunications
and utility management services.
Implementation of Access BPL technology
requires that the owner of the distribution
lines (i.e., the electric utilities) be
involved in the business process. In the
U.S., investor owned utilities (IOUs) service
approximately 69% of the market. Public
power, in the form of municipally owned
utilities and cooperatives, essentially
serve the balance (See
Note 1). There are
approximately 223 IOUs, 2,010 municipal
utilities and 885 cooperatives in the U.S.
On average, these utilities each serve
an average of 416,000, 9,700 and 18,260
consumers respectively (See
Note 2).
Ambient’s BPL network
can provide numerous direct operational
benefits for
the utility operator. The two-way communications
link to each customer and to each node
on the network allows utility managers
to implement many cost savings, energy
efficiencies and operational improvements
that have previously been uneconomic. Even
one or two of these applications can make
a BPL deployment cost-effective. Energy efficiency initiatives are growing
every day due to the continuing dependence
of the US on foreign energy sources and
sharply escalating energy costs. The two-way
communication path to the customer enables
new energy management and saving applications
such as real-time pricing and direct load
control that benefit the utility, its customers,
and the national interest. Even traditional
low bandwidth one-way applications such
as meter reading and outage detection can
be facilitated and enhanced by BPL.
Each one of these applications can help
relieve the increasing economic pressure
on a utility's core business. With known
deployment costs, the decision to implement
each one can be based upon sound economic
principles rather than “conservation
at any cost” justifications. The
services and applications possible include:
Automated Meter
Reading (AMR) via the
BPL network enables vast improvements in
utility operations. Utilities have long
sought to implement AMR. Once the BPL network
is in place, with the proper meter this
is now easily accomplished. In addition
to the obvious elimination of the labor
required to visit every customer location
each month, other uses of this data can
directly benefit a utility's bottom line.
In deregulated jurisdictions, the retail
energy suppliers now wait months to receive
accurate load data and the financial obligations
that result. With the BPL network providing
constant real time data from remotely accessible
meters they can have a greatly enhanced
ability to balance their supply portfolio.
This timely load data also provides improved
load profiling and enhanced knowledge of
customer usage patterns.
Remote Outage
Detection, enabling timely
and efficient service restoration, is easily
accomplished without any additional equipment
once the BPL network is in place. Utilities
have been deploying outage detection systems,
employing either customer premise or service
side equipment. Ambient's BPL network eliminates
the need for this additional equipment.
When nodes are equipped with the optional
battery, they can be remotely accessed
even during power outages, allowing instant
recognition of outage locations and provide
invaluable input to the restoration process.
Remote Re-connect
and Disconnect. Once
an individual delivery location is individually
accessible over the network, meters can
that remotely turn service on or off can
be employed, eliminating the labor involved
in this non-repair non-revenue task.
Real-Time Pricing, where a variable price
is charged based on current system demand,
is facilitated by having a constant data
path to each customer. Where as traditional
peak load pricing was dependent upon published
time of day pricing, the BPL network allows
the current price and usage data to be
continually transmitted. Customers can
then choose to reducing load or transferring
that load to a more economical time.
Direct Load
Control Systems, in which
the utility compensates the customer for
the right to curtail certain loads (air
conditioners, hot water heaters, dryers)
for limited periods at peak load times.
Once the BPL network is in place it can
be used to monitor and disable loads, and
allows for verification of compliance.
These applications are
just a start - the high-speed two-way BPL
link to every customer link is sure to stimulate
even more innovative schemes to improve
utility operations.
Note 1 - American
Public Power Association – 2005-2006
Annual Directory and Statistical Report
Note 2 - American
Public Power Association – 2005-2006
Annual Directory and Statistical Report |
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