Aclara, a leading supplier of smart infrastructure solutions (SIS) to electric, gas and water utilities worldwide, was selected by Pedernales Electric Cooperative Inc. (PEC), the largest rural distribution electric cooperative in the United States, to implement an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network in the utility's populous eastern region, which includes parts of Austin, Texas, and some of the nation's fastest growing counties. The project will start this year and be structured as a phased rollout.

Headquartered in Johnson City, Texas, PEC currently serves more than one million Central Texans, with more than 350,000 endpoints covering 45 cities and 24 counties in the Texas Hill Country. The AMI project will employ Aclara's solutions including its Aclara RF™ electric point-to-multipoint (P2MP) AMI network technology and AclaraONE software platform. Aclara will also provide electric meters for many of PEC's residential, commercial, and industrial members, replacing some of the utility's electromechanical meters.

"For more than 80 years, PEC has been proud to serve its members, power the Texas Hill Country, and empower our community. The decision to implement the Aclara RF AMI solution signals our commitment to provide our members with future-proof technology that will enable us to operate more efficiently and deliver the best possible service to them," said Brian Gedrich, Vice President of Engineering at PEC.

He added, "Because of the scope of our operations and the dynamic developments in our service area, ubiquity and scalability were key criterion in our vendor selection."

The implementation of Aclara's AMI solution, which includes the AclaraONE platform, will enable PEC to operate a hybrid network that accommodates both the Aclara TWACS PLC and RF networks in a single headend. While the RF network will be deployed in the PEC's eastern region, the utility will continue to utilize Aclara's TWACS PLC network for its western region, where that technology is ideally suited to the demands of a vast rural area. Like Aclara RF, TWACS is designed to provide the performance, features, and tools to implement true comprehensive smart grid AMI programs.

"Aclara's RF network technology has now been adopted by a wide range of customers to serve approximately one million endpoints in North America," said Kumi Premathilake, Division Vice President, AMI and Services Hubbell Utility Systems. PEC and Aclara already had a strong relationship and history working together. Today, we are expanding that collaboration with a solution that will allow them to continue with their visionary strategy."

Source: Aclara