Aclara Shortlisted for Prestigious UK Energy Innovation Awards

CAMBRIDGE, England, Sept. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aclara, a leading supplier of smart infrastructure solutions (SIS) to electric, gas and water utilities around the world, has been shortlisted for the 2017 UK Energy Innovation Awards in the Losses Awards category. Sponsored by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, the Losses Award aims to identify innovative technologies, practices or solutions that could lead to a reduction in technical losses on the distribution network.

Technical losses refer to the energy lost in distribution networks by equipment such as transmission and distribution lines, transformers and measurement devices. Most technical losses are fixed, but some vary with current, voltage and load. Reducing these losses can help utilities be more cost-efficient.

The Aclara technology shortlisted for the Losses Award is its Grid Monitoring Platform, which provides an extremely cost-effective and scalable approach to continuously monitor and analyze load, voltage and power factor profiles at multiple points throughout the network with the aim of reducing technical losses.

The Aclara Grid Monitoring Platform is a combination of easy-to-install smart grid sensors and Predictive Grid® Analytics software that provides the information utilities need to mitigate inefficient operation of the network and reduce technical losses by as much as 0.5 percent. This is especially important today, when distributed energy resources (DERs) from wind and solar can unpredictably affect voltage, current and load in the network, increasing technical losses.

Aclara's scalable Grid Monitoring platform is a single integrated solution that provides key inputs for performing:

    --  Losses management
    --  CVR and Volt/VAR optimization
    --  Enhanced substation monitoring
    --  DER integration
    --  Enhanced demand management system (DMS) power flow modeling
    --  Power quality monitoring
    --  Reliability, fault notification and location

Aclara's Grid Monitoring Platform monitors real-time voltage to 0.5 percent accuracy, makes faults easier to detect and resolves and improves supply reliability. It offers power-grid monitoring with high accuracy voltage measurements, as well as load and fault current measurements, allowing utilities to meet sustainability goals and improve the overall resiliency and reliability of power delivery. Smart grid sensors deployed in the system require no batteries, field calibration or additional pole-mounted equipment. Hot-stick deployable, they can transmit voltage and power quality data in a matter of minutes.

"Aclara is honored to be shortlisted for one of UK's most prestigious energy awards. We are committed to providing utilities around the globe with world-class communication and smart infrastructure solutions. With these technologies, utilities can not only react and respond to network conditions more quickly; they can also leverage the power of predictive tools to enhance planning and result in a more proactive and cost effective approach to managing their systems," said Jason Subirana, vice-president, international.

Winners of the UK Energy Innovation Awards will be announced at the Titanic Hotel, Liverpool on September 28, 2017. Organized by the Energy Innovation Centre, the Awards celebrate the latest technologies that are helping to transform the UK's energy future.

About Aclara
Aclara, an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., is a world-class supplier of smart infrastructure solutions (SIS) and services to more than 800 water, gas, and electric utilities globally. Aclara SIS offerings include smart meters and other field devices, advanced metering infrastructure and software and services that enable utilities to predict and respond to conditions, leverage their distribution networks effectively and engage with their customers. Meter Reading Holdings LLC operates three sister companies, Aclara Technologies, Aclara Meters, and Smart Grid Solutions collectively referred as Aclara. Aclara won a Frost & Sullivan Global Smart Energy Networks Enabling Technology Leadership Award in 2017 and was named a finalist in three categories of the Platts Global Energy Awards in 2016. Visit us at Aclara.com, follow us on Twitter @AclaraSolutions or read our blog.

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SOURCE Aclara