Small town aims at big-time 'future proofing'

Despite continued opposition by some in the public (and in government as well), cities across the US continue to roll out smart meters and other improvements aimed at reducing energy consumption, cutting carbon emissions and smoothing out grid-stressing peaks and troughs in electricity demand.

The latest to come on board is Dayton, Tennessee, a small community (population of under 10,000) with a big history (it was the site of the 1925 Scopes Trial on evolution).

Dayton plans to deploy 8,000 residential smart meters from Elster, along with another 2,000 commercial smart meters, as part of its advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project. The city will also adopt Elster’s EnergyAxis smart-grid solution, which provides support for demand response, distribution automation, outage detection and other energy-efficiency-focused services.

The city expects to complete the project by September of 2012.

Frank Welch, Dayton’s city manager, says the goal is “future-proofing our technology and driving operational efficiency and business process improvements that will help cut energy costs.”

The project will also help the city move from seasonal electricity rates to more efficiency-promoting time-of-use (TOU) rates. The region’s Tennessee Valley Authority has recommended that its power association members migrate to TOU pricing, in which electricity costs less when demand is low and becomes more expensive at times of high demand.

“Elster’s work with the city of Dayton represents another significant step in the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association’s push to modernise its electric infrastructure with smart-grid technology,” said David Green, executive vice president, customers and markets, North America, Elster.