Knoxville Utilities Board Upgrades with Intergraph

18 May 2010, 9:33pm

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., May 18, 2010 - Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB), an electric, gas, water and wastewater service provider, will upgrade and enhance its existing network infrastructure with smart grid technology from Intergraph®. With the Intergraph Smart Grid Operations Command-and-Control Center, KUB will consolidate and streamline network operations, leading to increased accuracy, efficiency and reliability.

The new smart grid solution will integrate Intergraph outage management system (OMS) and mobile workforce management (MWFM) technology with SCADA and alarm functionality to simplify the presentation of complex data and improve situational awareness for grid operators. It will be used to manage and control the electric distribution network, as well as dispatch work orders for the utility’s natural gas and water systems.

"As an existing user of Intergraph's InService technology for outage and mobile workforce management, we had already experienced firsthand the efficiency benefits that can be achieved through the company's geospatially-powered utilities solutions," said Barry Jones, representative for KUB's outage and mobile workforce system. “By upgrading to Intergraph's InService 8.2, we will be adding smart grid functionality to our command-and-control infrastructure to more easily pinpoint problem areas on our network and remediate potential outages before they occur."

In addition to integrating SCADA and alarm functionality into its grid, KUB will also work with Intergraph to develop a wall board display of its full electric distribution system that will dynamically depict outage information and additional network data. By incorporating all of these functions into a single user interface, KUB's system operators will no longer have to rely on multiple displays to accomplish their tasks and keep the network up and running. The system will also prevent information overload during major storm situations.

"Intergraph is a leader in enabling utilities to quickly visualize the operational state of their networks, including abnormal device conditions and outage types and locations, and respond accordingly to eliminate outages and reduce outage time," said Jay Stinson, vice president of Utilities & Communications at Intergraph. "By consolidating key grid functions into a single user interface, utilities like KUB can stay a step ahead of outages, work more efficiently and provide safer, more reliable service to customers."

Intergraph Smart Grid Operations Command-and-Control Center

Geo: International