OREANDA-NEWS. January 31, 2013. Expanding on its growing line of grid modernization solutions to help global utilities solve real-world challenges, GE’s (NYSE: GE) Digital Energy business has introduced its Grid IQ(TM) advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) Point-to-Multipoint (P2MP) solution, which provides secure, scalable, high-capacity and long-range wireless coverage of a utility’s complete service territory and assets—rural, urban, suburban and underground.

The wide-range metering capabilities of the Grid IQ AMI P2MP solution enable a utility to capture meter data across expansive geographical territories—from urban to rural areas—with minimal network infrastructure. In rural Minnesota, East Central Energy (ECE) has launched a Grid IQ AMI P2MP pilot to assess the solution’s ability to capture meter readings over ECE’s 4,800 square miles of territory, requiring only 34 Grid IQ AMI P2MP access points.

“Without a long-range AMI solution like GE’s Grid IQ P2MP, comparable levels of coverage could cost ECE millions of dollars in network infrastructure,” said Linda LaTourelle, IT manager, East Central Energy. “The Grid IQ AMI P2MP solution, when fully deployed, would provide the coverage and metering capabilities necessary to maintain a reliable, efficient electrical grid for our members, while greatly reducing the time it takes to realize a return on our initial investment.”

Built on On-Ramp Wireless Inc.’s next generation wireless technology, the Grid IQ AMI P2MP also can monitor multiple distribution-sensing applications, such as smart meters, transformers, fault circuit indicators and other grid assets, under one unified network, accelerating the utility return on investment. By gathering data from all of these devices, a utility can use its back-end applications to monitor and analyze the data to improve grid reliability and outage prevention, while reducing costs associated with installing additional infrastructure and performing routine maintenance on networks for multiple, different applications.

The Grid IQ P2MP AMI solution includes GE’s Smart Metering Operations Suite (SMOS), a complete meter, data and transaction management system for smart metering operations. Designed to deliver industry leading scalability, performance, security and extensibility, SMOS collects data, which enables consumers to stay informed on how they are using energy, allowing them to make smarter future energy decisions. Insights into consumer energy usage provided by the software may encourage users to shift their time of high-energy usage to off-peak hours or to reduce the amount of energy they are using all together.

In addition, the system meets or exceeds all grid modernization communication requirements, including those recommended by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology. These requirements include specific security guarantees, reliable data delivery, redundancy, availability, remote upgradeability, logging, event alarms, a greater-than 20-year battery life for certain applications and complete network management capabilities.

Grid IQ AMI P2MP solution and SMOS are part of GE’s comprehensive advanced metering infrastructure solution portfolio, which includes smart meters, communication solutions and software applications.

GE’s Digital Energy business is a global leader in protection and control, communications, power sensing and power quality solutions. Its products and services increase the reliability of electrical power networks and critical equipment for utility, industrial and large commercial customers. From protecting and optimizing assets such as generators, transmission lines and motors, to ensuring secure wireless data transmission and providing uninterruptible power, GE’s Digital Energy business delivers industry-leading technologies to solve the unique challenges of each customer.