Cherokee County Electric Cooperative Association (CCECA) has initiated a fiber-based grid modernization project throughout its service area, including Cherokee, Smith, Rusk, and Nacogdoches counties. Construction is expected to begin in November 2021 and will provide connectivity for six substations initially in support of its Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS). The Utility Grade Broadband architecture enables the service area for gigabit broadband services as well.
“A fiber network design that supports DERMS, SCADA and outage management is essential to improving the reliability of electricity to our members,” said Bart Bauer, engineering supervisor for CCECA. “Lack of access to quality broadband is also a big problem for our community. FiberRise’s Utility Grade Broadband serves our electric and broadband needs with a flexible and efficient architecture that provides additional revenue opportunities and capabilities that benefit our cooperative membership. CCECA will soon offer lightning-fast speeds for work-at-home, telehealth, and educational applications.”
CCECA partnered with Huntsville, Alabama-based FiberRise to design its grid modernization fiber network. “We are excited and grateful to be working with the CCECA team,” said Tommy Harmon, CEO of FiberRise. “Our expansion of services into Texas with Utility Grade Broadband continues to fulfill our mission to assist rural areas with improved utility grade services.”
Utility Grade Broadband has been deployed in numerous electric cooperatives throughout the Southeast and unifies smart grid device management and broadband delivery into a single architecture.
