SUNNYVALE, CA, April 14, 2010 -- Glendale Water & Power (GWP) and Tropos Networks announced today that Tropos' GridCom architecture has been selected as a core element of GWP's Smart Grid Initiative. GridCom™ is based upon Tropos' wireless broadband mesh network system and will be used as the utility's private distribution area network to deliver high-speed communications between the utility, utility applications and utility customers.
Investments in GWP's Smart Grid Initiative total $51 million, $20 million of which is being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Glendale's mayor, Ara Najarian, commented, "Glendale is honored to be the first city in the nation to receive funding from the $3.4 billion in grants the DOE announced last October for modernization of the nation's power infrastructure. It is a significant step towards updating our utility foundation and in creating jobs within our community."
The DOE Smart Grid funding has enabled GWP to accelerate its implementation and expand the project scope which will eventually include other Smart Grid applications such as distribution automation and power outage management. The Initiative will help GWP provide its customers with real-time access to their power usage to help them conserve energy and save on bills. To reduce water loss, leak detection sensors will be installed across GWP's entire water system enabling 24 x 7 monitoring.
"The high throughput, extremely low latency and network security features of the Tropos network enables it to provide secure communications for multiple Smart Grid applications," said Craig Kuennen, GWP Project Sponsor. "It will enable us to extend the system way beyond meter reading and help us build our vision of Glendale's Smart Grid -- a power system which can automatically balance power supply and demand, conserve and optimize resources, reduce our carbon footprint, and reduce cost for our customers."
"We are pleased Tropos' GridCom has been selected by GWP as a key building block of their smart grid communications foundation and we look forward to supporting their efforts to rollout smart meters and a plethora of other applications that will improve the utility's ability to deliver reliable power and water to the community," said Tom Ayers, president and CEO, Tropos Networks.
The smart meter portion of GWP's Smart Grid Initiative includes replacement of 84,500 electric and 33,400 water meters with smart meters. For electric meters, Itron's smart grid local area network (LAN) technologies, part of its OpenWay® smart grid platform, will be used. For water meters, Water SaveSource™, Itron's advanced water metering and leak detection solution has been selected. Tropos' GridCom will be deployed as the utility's private distribution area network for reliable, ubiquitous wireless communications across the 30 square miles of the utility's service area and is a foundation upon which GWP can build additional smart grid applications. Combined, this architecture will facilitate high-speed, secure communications between GWP and individual customer's smart meters. KEMA, a leading energy consulting, testing, and certification firm, will be overseeing rollout of GWP's Smart Grid Initiative, providing project management and multi-vendor system integration services.
The Initiative will be implemented in phases starting with a demonstration of the smart meter project components in spring 2010. This first phase includes installation of a meter data management (MDM) system, Itron Enterprise Edition™ MDM (IEE MDM); 1,000 smart power meters; 500 smart water meters; and 300 in-home displays; all of which will utilize Tropos' GridCom network for communications.
About Glendale Water & Power
Glendale Water & Power is a municipal power and water utility serving the community of Glendale, California. The utility provides water to 32,500 customers. It also generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to 84,500 residential, commercial, and industrial customers. www.glendalewaterandpower.com.
About Tropos
Tropos® Networks is the worldwide market leader in IP broadband mesh network systems. Its solutions create greener, safer, smarter communications foundations for deployment of high-value applications that increase efficiencies and reduce operational costs within communities. Greener -- smart grids and intelligent transportation systems. Safer -- mobile public safety communications and IP video surveillance. Smarter -- enabling mobile workers to access information from the field. Tropos is a proud supporter of American Forests' Global Releaf effort and is planting a tree for every router we sell to help improve air quality and energy efficiency. Tropos delivers the highest levels of reliability, scalability, performance, security, and control in the industry with more than 750 customers in over 30 countries. Founded in 2000, Tropos Networks headquarters are in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, please call 408-331-6800 or email [email protected].
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