OG&E (NYSE: OGE), Oklahoma’s largest electric utility, recently announced that it has selected Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to build a private wide area network (WAN) to support its smart grid implementation.
The company also announced the choices of Osmose Utilities Services, Inc., to conduct a complete inventory of its distribution network from substation to smart meter and the ABB Group to provide a distribution management system (DMS) for the program.
The program was approved by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission on July 1, for full deployment across OG&E’s service territory during the next three years.
Alcatel-Lucent will work with OG&E’s WAN team to build a multi-tiered communications network across the utility’s 30,000 square mile service territory. The network will include a 6.0 gigahertz, point-to-point microwave backbone system, plus a 3.65 gigahertz point-to-multipoint layer.
The WAN will transport two-way data traffic from smart devices on the power delivery distribution system to enable real-time automation and advanced metering. It is a core element of the overall smart grid communications network that supports automation devices on the electricity distribution system, the local area network of smart meters, and any smart devices in customer homes or businesses.
OG&E’s smart grid will include Network Manager, which is ABB’s DMS product. The DMS is a centralized control system for processing data collected on the smart grid communications network.
OG&E’s decision to build its own smart grid communications network diverges from a recent trend, through which smart grid companies are partnering with wireless carriers like AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) to utilize existing infrastructure for data transmission.
