Aclara Technologies has acquired the Mobile Workforce Management (MWFM) and Smart Grid Solutions (SGS) division of Apex CoVantage, LLC.
The transaction includes ProField, a suite of Mobile Workforce Management technologies used for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and other smart grid deployments, as well as a related Smart Grid Professional Services business unit, comprising utility field services and consulting.
In the past, aside from engagements involving Aclara, Profield has also been used in in projects involving other major meter manufacturers, including Elster, Landis+Gyr, and Silver Spring Networks.
Consolidated Edison, along with its sister subsidiary Orange & Rockland Utilities, selected the Apex CoVantage SGS solution in October 2016 for the installation of electric smart meters and gas smart modules as part of AMI deployments across both utility’s service territories. Approximately 3.9 million electric meters and 1.3 million gas meters are involved.
Herndon, VA-based Apex CoVantage designed Profield to optimize AMI field crew training, meter inventory tracking, and overall workflow, providing documentation of all steps taken on-site during the meter installation process. The solution has been meeting a long-standing need to ensure work efficiency, quality, and safety during full-scale AMI deployments--while utilities typically replace only a small portion of their meters every year, during these large AMI deployments, additional (third party-based or temporary) field crews are often involved.
Other utilities that have selected the ProField technology include AEP Ohio, Guam Power Authority, Arizona Public Service (APS), and Habersham Electric Membership Corporation, Ameren, Dominion Virginia Power, Green Mountain Power and Baltimore Gas & Electric, Burbank Water & Power, Colquitt EMC, and Southside Electric Cooperative.
The solution has evolved in recent years to also include additional modules. For example in June of 2016, Apex CoVantage added additional modules for ongoing maintenance work.
Aclara’s SGS acquisition was announced in this Jan. 12, 2016, PR Newswire, and follows its August 2016 purchase of the grid monitoring platform from Tollgrade Communications, comprising smart grid sensors and Predictive Grid Analytics software. And in December 2015, Aclara purchased the electric meters business operating within GE Energy Management's Grid Solutions subdivision, an acquisition that strengthened the company's offering for electric utilities and increased its international profile.
