Alstom Grid has been chosen by Snohomish County Public Utility District (Snohomish PUD) in Washington state to help enhance grid efficiency and reliability. Integration of Alstom’s e-terradistribution (for Distribution Management System – DMS) with its existing SCADA and Energy Management System, also provided by Alstom, will be the utility’s first step in a full-scale deployment of smart distribution automation technologies and integration of green energy sources into the U.S. grid.
Snohomish PUD is a leader in research and development for integration of clean energy resources. The second largest publicly owned utility in Washington state and 12th in the United States, Snohomish PUD provides electricity to more than 320,000 customers in the Pacific Northwest. Snohomish PUD is one of the recipients of a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). It has used it toward a major smart grid technology upgrade, to create a stronger, more efficient and reliable electrical system. Alstom’s e-terradistribution solution will help to provide improved customer satisfaction through enhanced fault location, isolation and service restoration, while also enabling the adoption of green energy sources, community energy storage and plug-in electric vehicles.
The first phase of this project is scheduled to be operational in 2012.