White River Electric Installs Wireless Data System
October 20, 2009--White River Electric Association (WREA) provides electricity to its member-owners, who are spread across vast rural terrain. Spotted with high peaks and deep valleys surrounding Colorado's White River, the territory proves challenging for most communications systems.
"We couldn't get fiber to all of our substations in time to launch our SCADA deployment," said Randall Otwell, substation technician at WREA. "We called NRTC for their advice. They recommended the MDS radio solution, so we followed [NRTC's] recommendation."
WREA used MDS iNET-II radios, provided by NRTC, to connect its SCADA substation control software to substation collection equipment throughout their territory. This equipment united WREA's system and provided seamless communications to even its most remote substations.
"The project was challenging, especially considering that some radio paths went from one mountaintop to another, meaning the signal had to travel over 11,500 feet," said NRTC Wireless Systems Applications Specialist Rick Russell. NRTC also helped WREA set up the internal IP and LAN configurations.
"I can't emphasize enough how valuable it was to have Rick Russell on the front lines in charge of everything. It's the NRTC employees that make all the difference," added Otwell. "We're very satisfied with everything that NRTC did to help us."