The public power community of Thomasville, Ga., is implementing significant upgrades to its utility management infrastructure using smart grid technology and advanced metering infrastructure.
“These upgrades will provide real-time pricing, improved outage monitoring, and increased energy and water conservation for customers,” the city said on May 14.
The system will collect, store, analyze, and present energy usage data, allowing the city to monitor electricity, gas, and water usage in real time. It eliminates the need for manual meter readings and enables faster response times in the event of a power outage.
The two-way communication model of AMI allows for more comprehensive data collection and remote meter management.
The City of Thomasville has started installing these meters, beginning with commercial customers.
This approach allows for a smaller, more controlled audience to test the accuracy of the smart meter readings and its analytics, the city noted.
While the conversion of traditional electric meters to AMIs is ongoing, the city is almost two years into installing AMI water meters and almost a year into the installation of new AMI gas meters. The next phase will be to start implementing these meters at residential homes.
Potential benefits of AMI include offering prepaid utility services for better energy conservation and potential monetary savings.
AMI also helps to monitor energy usage patterns to detect irregularities that may suggest theft, and it can provide real-time data on energy production from distributed and renewable energy resources like solar power, allowing for effective resource management.
The upgrade to the city’s meter reading system also enhances customer service. AMI systems can help customers manage their energy consumption more effectively by sending signals to reduce consumption during high demand periods. Additionally, the city can use AMI data to provide customers with personalized energy-saving tips and recommendations, improving the customer experience.
The system upgrade will include updating the city's supervisory control and data acquisition software.
SCADA software is used by the City of Thomasville’s Utility Response Center to oversee all of Thomasville’s utilities. Investing in this technology is expected to improve productivity, cyber security, physical security, outage restoration times, analytical reporting, trending analysis, real-time telemetry features, and mobile system management, the city noted.
