On-Ramp Wireless, a developer of wireless solutions for energy automation, has announced the successful trial deployment of its Ultra-Link Processing system with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE).
In November 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded On-Ramp Wireless and its project team members a $2.1 million pilot project to integrate and demonstrate its Ultra-Link Processing solution for below-ground distribution automation, including outage detection and distribution transformer monitoring.
According to On-Ramp, the demonstrated performance results prove that its solution exceeds the DOE's stated 2016 Smart Grid Performance Target to improve System Average Interruption Duration Index, an important metric of electric grid reliability, by greater than 10%.
The goal of the project was to leverage wireless network automation and information technology to improve electric grid reliability. With a cellular-like network, which was purpose-built for utility automation, On-Ramp's solution can service both powered and battery-operated sensors in below-ground locations of the utility environment and across disparate geographies.
“We are thrilled that our solution has demonstrated the ability to improve distribution grid performance and provide substantial cost savings, which has a substantial utility and societal benefit. We look forward to implementing the solution with our utility customers and partners worldwide,” says Joaquin Silva, president and CEO of On-Ramp.
