Faced with regulatory requirements and rising operating costs, four electric cooperatives in the Alliance have engaged in implementing advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technology for their service territory. After evaluating needs and technology solutions with each of these utilities, the Alliance has sponsored four pilot projects:
- SOCOEPA in Paillaco in southern Chile
- Coopeguanacaste in Northwest Costa Rica
- Coopelesca in central Costa Rica
- Roatan Electric Company in Honduras.
These pilot projects have provided each cooperative/utility with valuable experience in the installation and operation of smart grid systems. NRECA International demonstrated and documented how to install and operate an AMI and evaluated the lessons learned from these projects. This information will be shared with all Alliance members to supplement their knowledge of AMI systems and their potential benefits. Furthermore, each participating utility will benefit from improved monitoring and will be able to provide improved information to their consumers. All Alliance members will learn how to implement advanced metering systems as a result of participation in the Smart Grid Alliance for the Americas program.
Chile
SOCOEPA AMI Project Profile
Utility Background
Full Name: Cooperativa Eléctrica Paillaco
Founded: 1956
Number of member-consumers: 6,600
Location: Paillaco, Chile and rural areas served by SOCOEPA
Website: http://www.cooperativaelectrica.cl
Project Description
The SOCOEPA was distinct from other SGAA projects. It employs power line carrier (PLC) technology as the communication technology to transfer data from smart meters to a PLC data collector in the SOCOEPA substation. The AMI system injects a communication signal directly onto the SOCOEPA power line (distribution line) that acts as communication medium through which the data signal is passed to the PLC data collector at the substation.
The SOCOEPA project was designed to provide metering, demand, power factor and power quality information for up to 1100 SOCOEPA consumers. Project funds allowed installation of 590 single phase smart meters for residential consumers and 50 three phase smart meters for commercial consumers. Most of the residential meters are located in remote areas of the SOCOEPA distribution system. The attributes of the project are as follows:
- Hosted Landis+Gyr master station.
- Web-based interface to allow SOCOEPA employees to monitor smart meters installed as part of this project.
- 50 three phase commercial meter installations.
- 590 single phase residential meters installed in remote areas of the SOCOEPA service territory.
- Installation of a PLC data collector in the SOCOEPA substation (serving as the delivery point) to gather metering data from the smart meters and communicate it back to the master station.
The smart meters were installed in various places throughout SOCOEPA’s territory. The dispersed nature of the meter installation allowed SGAA to evaluate the applicability of PLC communication capability for remote and dispersed loads. The AMI system has been performing very well, communicating with a high percentage of the meters. SOCOEPA is collaborating with the vendor to resolve issues with the non-communicating meters.
Costa Rica
At the Costa Rican cooperatives — Coopeguanacaste and Coopelesca — the Alliance used the radio frequency (RF) enabled Landis+Gyr automated metering to establish communications between the RF data collectors and the smart meters. Both cooperatives used existing internet connections to facilitate data transport from the data collectors to the master station software.
Coopelesca AMI Project Profile
Utility Background
Full Name: Cooperativa de Electrificación Rural de San Carlos
Founded: January 24, 1965
Number of member-consumers: 77,000
Location: Coopelesca’s headquarters is in Quesada, San Carlos, and serves the North Central region of Costa Rica.
Website: http://www.coopelesca.co.cr/
Project Description
The Coopelesca project was designed to provide metering, demand, power factor and power quality information on a timely basis for their consumers to use. The Coopelesca project included 400 single phase smart meters for residential consumers and 50 three phase smart meters for commercial consumers. One hundred of the residential meters included a remote disconnect feature that will allow Coopelesca to disconnect and reconnect service remotely in the event of payment issues with the residential consumers. The attributes of the project are as follows:
- Hosted Landis+Gyr master station.
- Web-based interface to allow Coopelesca employees to monitor smart meters installed as part of this project.
- 50 three phase commercial meter installations.
- 400 single phase residential meters installed in remote areas of the Coopelesca service territory.
- One RF data collector through which metering data is collected and transmitted to the master station.
- Four routers serving as RF repeaters to support the data collection for meters that are distant from the data collector.
Coopeguanacaste AMI Project Profile
Utility Background
Full Name: Cooperativa de Electrificación Rural de Guanacaste
Founded: January 10, 1965
Number of member-consumers: 67,000
Location: Coopeguanacaste’s headquarters is in Santa Cruz, serving the coastal Guanacaste region of Northwestern Costa Rica.
Website: http://www.coopeguanacaste.com/es/
Project Description
The Coopeguanacaste project was designed to provide metering, demand, power factor and power quality information on a timely basis for larger commercial consumers on the Coopeguanacaste distribution system. The project includes 450 single phase AMI meters for residential consumers and 50 three phase meters for commercial consumers. The single phase metering was employed in a residential area that is in close proximity to the area where large commercial customers are served. All the smart meters were installed within the manufacturer’s recommended distance from the data collector and routers to enhance effective communication between the meters and the collector/routers. The attributes of the Coopeguanacaste projects are as follows:
- Hosted Landis+Gyr master station.
- Web-based interface to allow Coopeguanacaste employees to monitor smart meters installed as part of this project.
- 50 three phase commercial meter installations.
- 450 single phase residential meters installed in remote areas of the Coopeguanacaste service territory.
- One RF data collector through which metering data is collected and transmitted to the master station.
- Four routers serving as RF repeaters to support the data collection for meters that are distant from the data collector
Honduras
RECO Project Profile
Utility Background
Full Name: Roatan Electric Company
Location: RECO is located on the island of Roatan off the coast of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea.
Website: http://www.recoroatan.com/
Project Description
The Roatan Electric Company (RECO) project is similar to other SGAA projects. It employs advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to integrate smart metering for large RECO commercial consumers via a power line carrier communication platform with a hosted master station. The SGAA project will also include support to design and install a basic SCADA system with which the RECO engineering staff will integrate the operation of an array of wind turbines with the existing thermal power station.