Western Power Distribution begins Midlands Roll-Out of Simoco Pulse
Western Power Distribution (WPD) is set to roll-out Simoco Pulse, a Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) telemetry solution, across its Midlands region in order to improve grid management capabilities.
The new technology, developed by mission critical communications experts Simoco, enables organisations such as WPD to manage and control networks across vast operational areas by ensuring the reliable communication of low band telemetry data.
This data can be used to indicate network performance and outages and operate assets remotely, giving greater insight and control to utilities providers.
The initial roll-out will see the technology deployed across three sites during June, managing assets at 100 locations across the Midlands network.
The technology was developed following consultation with Surf Telecoms, a wholly owned subsidiary of WPD, which is responsible for monitoring and maintaining the utility network. The Midlands roll-out follows a successful trials of Simoco Pulse in the company's South-East region.
Kevan Scott, Surf Telecoms manager at WPD, said: "By moving our telemetry data communications to DMR we have a secure and reliable picture of our network and the ability to react quickly when issues occur.
"In the trial areas where the solution has already been installed, WPD's restoration time has significantly improved and we are looking forward to similar results in the Midlands region.
"Low band data is becoming increasingly important to utilities companies, especially with the ever evolving demands of smart grid technologies, and ensuring we have a reliable and robust communications network for delivering this will mean we are well placed to meet the demands of today and the future."
Mike Norfield, Simoco Group CEO, said: "Simoco Pulse delivers resilient and cost-effective telemetry communications across vast operation areas and is ideally suited to the needs of organisations like WPD.
"During outages engineers need to have immediate visibility as to where issues are likely to have occurred. DMR provides a mission critical approach to the transmission of this data. It also means networks can be scaled to include tens of thousands of assets across multiple sites. Having this level of insight in the Midlands region will mean WPD will be able to improve restoration times while also making day-to-day maintenance easier to perform."
