RELEASE DATE:
November 4, 2009
CONTACT:
Lori Reslock– CURRENT Group, LLC; Phone: 518-637-2179
Germantown, MD 20874
European Utility Telecom Council (EUTC) Annual Meeting
Budapest, Hungary
CURRENT Group Demonstrates Industry’s First Comprehensive Smart Grid Smart
Transformer Station (STS) Solution for European and Asia Pacific Utilities
CURRENT has released and is demonstrating the industry’s first comprehensive Smart Grid solution for
primary and secondary transformer stations with utility partner ELMŰ at EUTC in Budapest, Hungary.
Smart Transformer Station (STS) consists of a complete portfolio of Smart Grid infrastructure hardware
and software products providing flexible solutions for communications, sensing and analytics, advanced
metering, device, data, and event management.
CURRENT® Smart Transformer Station is focused on solving real-world utility distribution Smart Grid
issues by reducing the cost of backhaul communications to transformer stations, providing unprecedented
asset connectivity and visibility to devices within the station, allowing full remote management and
visibility into transformer operating parameters and conditions through cutting edge IP-based sensing and
analytics technologies, and providing for fully open, interoperable meter collection for utilities advanced
meter deployments.
Budapest, Hungary – November 04, 2009 - CURRENT Group, LLC, a leading global Smart Grid
company, announced and is demonstrating at the European Utility Telecom Council Annual Meeting
taking place in Budapest, Hungary this week the industry’s first comprehensive Smart Grid portfolio
specifically designed to solve distribution and metering challenges in European, Australian, and Asia
Pacific utility grid architectures. CURRENT’s solution, the CURRENT Smart Transformer Station,
provides a flexible, open, and cost effective suite of products to solve real-world “smart grid” problems
facing utilities worldwide.
Solutions for Wide Scale Smart Grid Deployments
The CURRENT Smart Transformer Station product portfolio focuses on addressing four main ingredients
of comprehensive Smart Grid deployments:
·
Communications - Enabling low-cost robust communications to and within primary and secondary
transformer stations through a modular, secure, upgradeable communications gateway solution.
·
Sensing and Analytics - Providing transparency to grid asset conditions through cost effective, easy
to deploy, remotely managed sensing solutions.
·
Metering – Addressing meter communications and collection capabilities through fully open and
interoperable meter concentrator solutions.
·
Device, Data, and Event Management – Providing user-based remote visibility into all aspects of
Smart Grid operations through software systems tailored specifically to utility networking / telecom,
distribution engineering, and customer related personnel.
“Utilities around the world have recognized that there are serious challenges in operating a distribution
network in an environment of aging infrastructure, retiring workforces, centralized and distributed
renewable energy sources, and increased desire from customers to have visibility into their energy
consumption,” said Tom Willie, Senior Vice President of Products and Technology for CURRENT. “These
challenges will require them to invest in solutions that provide for greater connectivity and control over
grid devices, greater transparency into grid conditions, and greater responsiveness in communicating and
providing information to their end users of electricity. The CURRENT STS solution is tailored to
specifically provide utilities with a solution to these expanding challenges.”
Smart Transformer Station
The CURRENT Smart Transformer Station solution consists of hardware infrastructure and supporting
software systems targeted at solving these connectivity, transparency, and metering challenges:
Communications and Connectivity - The communications and connectivity component of the Smart
Transformer Station is accomplished through the CURRENT Communication and Connectivity Engine
(CCE) that provides an IP-based, remotely managed, modular, card-based infrastructure platform for
large primary or secondary transformation stations.
Sensing and Analytics – The CURRENT Smart Transformer Station portfolio provides for industry leading
cost-performance sensing capabilities for the direct measurement, edge analysis, and event alarming of
primary and secondary feeder operating parameters.
Metering and Meter Collection – The CURRENT Smart Transformer Station portfolio is rounded out with
the CURRENT Station Data Concentrator (SDC) portfolio that provides for fully interoperable, open PLCbased meter-to-collector communications and integrated DLMS/COSEM [IEC 62056] meter collection
capabilities while maintaining easy remote management and upgrade capabilities inherent in all of the
CURRENT Smart Transformer Station solutions. The CURRENT SDC release also marks the milestone
of being the first meter collection platform entirely based on non-proprietary communications protocols.
This milestone was clearly demonstrated through the PRIME Alliance interoperability demonstration held
at the Metering Barcelona conference in early October.
CURRENT Delivers Proven Solutions in the World’s Most Advanced Demonstration Environments
In the United States, Xcel Energy deployed CURRENT’s technology in its SmartGridCity™ project
(www.xcelenergy.com/smartgridcity) in Boulder, Colorado, the world’s first fully integrated Smart Grid
community. The system is actively providing Xcel Energy with a portfolio of smart grid technologies
designed to provide environmental, financial and operational benefits. CURRENT provided the hardware,
software and support to transform the local power distribution grid into a robust electric system
communications network, providing high-speed, two-way communications, sensing and Smart Grid
analytics.
Along with the market announcement of the CURRENT Smart Transformer Station, CURRENT is
demonstrating the solution during the EUTC conference and within a live network of the local utility ELMŰ
in transformer stations close to the conference venue. "We are excited to be the first European utility to
install the Smart Transformer Station solution for demonstration at EUTC Budapest. We believe
communications, transformer supervision, and metering will play a critical role in creating the Smart Grid.
Hungary and ELMŰ as well are preparing the implementation of smart metering and Smart Grid. In this
process this opportunity with CURRENT is a great help for us and we are thankful for that," said Mr. Orlay
Imre, of ELMŰ’s Network Optimization Division.
CURRENT will expand the live demonstration to a full trial installation during the coming weeks and will
work closely with ELMŰ in customizing the system to best suit ELMŰ’s Smart Grid needs.
About CURRENT
CURRENT Group, LLC delivers innovative and industry-leading intelligent solutions that optimize the
distribution system and offer utilities new ways to monitor and manage the health of the grid. Through
CURRENT’s distributed sensing, monitoring, communications and analytical technologies, utilities are
better able to understand, predict and respond to system disturbances and faults, identify where
inefficiencies are, and enable the smartest possible sourcing and distribution of power by the utility to
their customers.
CURRENT’s state-of-the-art technologies are being implemented by utilities around the globe.
CURRENT is a member of the Xcel Energy SmartGridCity™ consortium that also includes Xcel Energy,
Accenture, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Ventyx, GridPoint, OSIsoft and SmartSynch. Xcel
Energy’s SmartGridCity™ is utilizing the fully integrated CURRENT Smart Grid™ solution that combines
advanced sensing technology with two-way real-time communications, 24/7 monitoring and enterprise
analysis software and related services to provide Xcel Energy with location-specific, actionable
intelligence on its electric distribution grid. CURRENT is also engaged in European Union-sponsored
projects in partnership with Iberdrola, the world’s 4th largest electric utility, among others, to expand the
use of smart grid technology in the European Union. This year, CURRENT was honored by the World
Economic Forum as a 2009 Technology Pioneer and selected by Dow Jones as one of the Top 10 most
Innovative Clean Technology companies in Europe.
CURRENT is a private company that is backed by leading investors including Liberty Associated
Partners, EnerTech Capital, Google, Inc., and Goldman Sachs & Co.
CURRENT is headquartered outside of Washington, DC, with offices throughout the United States and in
Zurich, Switzerland and has representation in Australia, Brazil and Singapore. Additional information can
be found at http://www.currentgroup.com/.