Nevada Power Company (Las Vegas, Nevada) is implementing Telemetric’s cellular data communications solution for its new state-of-the-art capacitor automation system. This capacitor automation project combines central control intelligence with two-way communication and local intelligence, allowing Nevada Power to precisely control electric distribution system reactive power and voltage. This will result in increased energy efficiency and system reliability in the Las Vegas metropolitan area.
The Telemetric solution includes intelligent Remote Telemetry Modules (RTMs) located in the capacitor controls, cellular data network services, and PowerVista, a suite of powerful Web-based software applications. Deployment began this month and will result in control of more than 2200 capacitor banks when complete in 2008.
The Telemetric solution will provide communications between Nevada Power’s central capacitor control software system and eCap capacitor controls from QEI, Inc. using industry-standard DNP 3.0 protocol. Because the solution uses two-way communications, Nevada Power will receive confirmation of all switching commands and capacitor bank status, eliminating any guesswork regarding their state. The solution supports fallback to a number of local control strategies resident in the eCAP controls should there be a disruption of the communications network or central control application.
Nevada Power can view data and control capacitor banks through the central control software as well as through the Telemetric PowerVista software, which allows authorized Nevada Power personnel to view, control and manage all the capacitor controls from an intuitive web-based user interface. In addition, Nevada Power engineers can configure the eCap setpoints over the network using the PowerVista application, avoiding site visits to change settings.
