Echelon Corp., an energy control networking solution provider, TDJ Consulting, a consulting partner to utilities, and Concord Municipal Light Plant (CMLP), a Concord, Mass-based municipal utility, have announced a completed trial of Echelon's Edge Control Node (ECN) 7000 control nodes.
Echelon's ECN 7000 series nodes, part of its Energy Control Networking Platform, were deployed at strategic locations within the town of Concord. The ECN's open architecture enabled custom hardware and software expansion to automate the collection of data from legacy non-AMI meters, extending the useful life of these meters while offering a means for back-office integration and meter data analysis, according to the companies.
In addition, one node was placed next to a critical distribution transformer, enabling it to also monitor the transformer and provide near-real-time measurements of power quality data, such as voltage and current at the distribution-transformer level. The companies say turning such legacy transformers at key locations into "smart transformers" without forklift replacement offers Concord a cost-effective way to track the health of its distribution transformers.
"The ECN's proven ability to continue to reliably operate and provide valuable information can really help our teams locate faults and minimize time to repair outages, particularly in the case of a disaster such as Hurricane Sandy,” says Mark Howell, chief information officer at CMLP. “Tracking the distribution transformer in near-real time will allow us to see areas that are or aren't experiencing outages.”
