May 27 2014
Metrycom Communications Ltd., a leading T&D Grid Monitoring Company announced today that Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) has implemented its solution for monitoring additional 100km of its high voltage transmission lines for the purpose of improving power quality and reducing maintenance costs.
Since 2008, Metrycom has been developing and deploying ultra-low power wireless sensor solutions for large area applications. The company enables power utilities to gain better visibility on their transmission and distribution lines, which suffer from insulator strings contamination and faults, typically in remote locations.
Following three years of stringent field tests of Metrycom’s solution, IEC has decided to deploy Metrycom’s MetrySense-4000 solution in order to monitor additional 100km of 161kV and 400kV high voltage grid lines.
Grid lines' insulator strings get contaminated over time by the accumulation of dust, industrial, coastal and agricultural pollution and lose their isolation properties, resulting in power interruptions and potential power supply failures. Electric companies spend millions of dollars every year in washing operations of insulator strings in order to remove the contamination. Metrycom’s system enables IEC to gain greater visibility on the grid lines, find the location of the contaminated insulators, and direct the washing operations to the exact locations where they are needed. It then monitors in real time the effectiveness of the wash, ensures its accurate application and thereby helps to reduce the overall maintenance costs.
“Following extensive field tests of MetrySense system we are very happy to expand the deployment of MetrySense system that enables IEC to improve quality of service to our customers and significantly increase the efficiency of our maintenance operations,” says Dr. Adrian Bianu, Senior Vice President at IEC.
“The MetrySense-4000 system is unique of its kind, and is the result of many years of research and development and extensive field experience gained by close collaboration with IEC,” says Liron Frenkel, founder and CEO of Metrycom. “This is the only system that provide real-time, accurate and cost-effective visibility of contamination level of insulators in high voltage power lines, and allows our customers to apply preventive maintenance scheme that improves power quality and reduces maintenance costs.”
Metrycom has also installed its systems in power utilities outside Israel and is currently getting ready to worldwide deployment.
About Metrycom
Since 2008, Metrycom has been providing rapidly deployed ultra-low power consumption wireless sensor solutions for large area applications. The company enables power utilities to gain better visibility on their transmission and distribution lines, which suffer from contamination of insulator strings and faults, typically in remote locations. In 2010 Metrycom teamed up with the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), to utilize the experience and knowledge of both companies for the development of an inexpensive and practical solutions which resulted in a complete sensing and radio solution for high voltage lines that could be deployed live in on transmission lines.
About IEC
Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) is the main supplier of electrical power in Israel. IEC builds, maintains and operates power generation stations, sub-stations, as well as the transmission and distribution networks. The company employs over 12,000 employees, has a turnover of approximately $9 billion, and owns a generation capacity of approximately 13,000 Megawatt of electrical power.
Source: http://www.metrycom.com