North Little Rock Electric’s AMI Infrastructure Study Examines Smart Grid Options

The North Little Rock Electric Department (NLRED) in Central Arkansas provides power to 34,000 customers, whose non-automated meters must still be read manually, an inefficient use of manpower and transportation resources.

While AMRs (automated meter readers) could offset some of that monthly operating expense, they can only report consumption data. They can’t alert NLRED of power outages or other events requiring immediate attention—and they can’t receive or respond to diagnostic queries or other troubleshooting transmissions from maintenance personnel.

For that reason, Brown Engineers helped the city utility explore the next revolution in Smart Grid technology–an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system–as part of their Integrated Resource Master Plan.  Read more…