Opelika Power Services Selects Tantalus for Fiber-Based Smart Grid

RALEIGH, NC – Opelika Power Services (OPS) has selected the Tantalus Homerun Network from Tantalus, a provider of smart grid communications, as the technology platform for a fiber-based smart grid solution which will be coupled with the utility’s triple-play media services. Tantalus’ communications technology and AMI applications, coupled with Itron meters, will support the city’s initiative to become the first city in Alabama to provide fiber services directly to the user.

The progressive east Alabama power system currently provides electricity to the city’s more than 27,000 residents and will leverage fiber connectivity to every customer for exceptional gains in proactive grid management through TUNet – Tantalus Utility Network – applications such as automated meter reading, power outage management, demand management, and remote disconnect/reconnect. Residents of Opelika will also be able to easily monitor and manage their energy consumption as well as work with OPS to respond to system wide peak energy events in real time.

City Smart Grid Coupled with Triple Play Services
Additionally, OPS plans to offer high-speed triple-play voice, video and data services to residents upon completion of the network. While investigating fiber for smart grid, city leaders quickly recognized the advantage that a large bandwidth network would provide to OPS to modernize their electric grid while simultaneously elevating the quality of life for residents and spurring economic development opportunities for the community.

“When we chose to deploy fiber to power our smart grid, we knew we were making a smart investment in our community’s future,” said Mayor Gary Fuller of the City of Opelika. “Through comprehensive research, we concluded that Tantalus’ Homerun network offered the most solid business case for maximizing our network investment with a full portfolio of smart metering and demand management applications. We’re looking forward to gaining the advantage of the company’s unmatched expertise in deploying fiber-based AMI systems for public power utilities.”

In 2011, Itron and Tantalus partnered to offer a joint migration path to two-way AMI for municipal and cooperative utilities in North and Central America and the Caribbean. OPS represents the first joint win in Alabama as it joins the ranks of dozens of Itron-Tantalus customer including Jackson Energy Authority (JEA), Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (PMPA), and Guyana Power & Light (GPL). The joint solution is designed to utilize existing infrastructure to extend the value of those investments to dynamically view and manage grid performance, proactively diagnose and resolve problems like outages, and automate many operational processes resulting in improved customer service.