Atlanta, October 12, 2010 — Efacec Advanced Control Systems will provide smart grid technology for Avista's $42 million Spokane Smart Circuits project, and its $38 million Smart Grid Demonstration Project in Pullman, Washington.
Both projects are partially funded with matching grants, with the Pullman project part of the larger Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project being led by Battelle.
The projects include the deployment of a distribution management system, intelligent end devices, and a communications network along 72 distribution circuits and 17 substations, which will benefit more than 110,000 electric customers in Spokane and 14,000 electric and gas customers in Pullman.
The systems efficiency aspect alone is expected to save roughly 48,200 MWh per year — preventing 17,200 tons of carbon from being released into the atmosphere from power generation.
Now that the distribution upgrade phase of the project is nearly complete, the Efacec ACS solutions to be installed as part of the project include:
* PRISM DMS system with Fault Detection, Isolation and Restoration and Integrated Volt/VAR Control
* XpertSim Distribution System Simulator for training and analysis
* Distributed Generation modeling
"The smart circuits and smart grid projects are designed to reduce energy losses, lower operating costs, increase reliability and enhance our ability to integrate distributed renewable generation resources, and is expected to result in fewer and shorter outages for our customers," said Heather Cummins, director of business process improvement for Avista.
