Silver Spring Networks and CPFL Energia, Brazil’s largest private electricity group, have extended their smart grid program, with the addition of a grid reliability and Distribution Automation program for cities in the interior of the state of São Paulo. The expansion of CPFL’s smart grid program leverages the existing investment in Silver Spring’s mesh networking platform and is built upon the successful Phase 1 Advanced Metering Infrastructure deployed for ‘Grupo A’ customers, the large-scale commercial and industrial (C&I) customers across CPFL Group’s eight distribution companies.
“Having a high performance network is critical to achieve grid reliability, and Silver Spring’s multi-application networking platform has demonstrated the quality and availability that we need for the operation of our distribution systems,” said Paulo Bombassaro, Engineering Director, CPFL Energia. “Normally, achieving this high level of quality, reliability and performance would be prohibitively expensive. But by leveraging a multi-application networking platform, CPFL is actually reducing costs while improving quality and unlocking more benefits for our consumers.”
The new Silver Spring and CPFL Distribution Automation program will leverage Silver Spring’s multi-application network to help enable better grid reliability for nearly 4 million people in more than 50 cities across CPFL’s service territory in the state of São Paulo (including Bauru, Campinas, Jundiaí, Ribeirão Preto, Santos, São José do Rio Preto, and Sorocaba, among others). Under this project, more than 600 reclosers on the distribution network, supervised and controlled in real time by CPFL's Operations Center through Silver Spring's platform, will use the mesh network technology, allowing energy flow redirection to avoid service outages and accelerate system restoration.
This solution replaces the data-communication-through-cellular network and ensures the required reliability and communication performance for critical applications, allowing faster responses and reduced power outages in case of faults, resulting in better service quality as well as reducing operating and maintenance costs. The wide geographic area of the service territory involved makes this program one of the largest Distribution Automation initiatives in South America.
Silver Spring's IPv6 network technology allows distributors of all sizes to implement a wide range of smart grid applications using a common platform, throughout their coverage area. Silver Spring has pioneered the adoption of IPv6 technology, ensuring technology interoperability to help deliver higher quality, lower costs and fewer risks for consumers. The Silver Spring Smart Grid Platform can operate a wide range of products and technologies from a number of global partners, including Cooper, Eletra, Elster, Itron, Landis+Gyr, Nansen, and others in Brazil.
