Indiana Utility Selects Tantalus for Smart Grid Communications

Whitewater Valley REMC has selected TUNet, the Tantalus Utility Network, as the communications network for its advanced metering program and a full range of Smart Grid applications.

Whitewater Valley, which provides electricity to 12,000 meters in eastern Indiana, chose TUNet for full deployment after a rigorous field trial that involved placing TUNet-equipped meters in the Cooperative's toughest and most remote terrain to test the performance of Tantalus's two-way, real-time communications network.

Targeting remote farms and rural communities was Whitewater Valley's first priority. An "outside in" deployment strategy enables the co-op to eliminate high-cost reading routes as well as instantly detect outages, an ever-present threat in a region where the storm season spans late fall through to early spring.

"Electric co-ops are pioneering effective use of AMI technology through innovative deployment strategies and by discovering new ways to use the data made available through advanced metering," said Eric Murray, president of Tantalus. "Whitewater Valley realizes how important it is to select a communications system that addresses much more than advanced metering - one that allows it to capture benefits early on in the process and provides a platform on which to evolve into full Smart Grid functionality."