Building & Construction Management

Network Construction and Commissioning

By using detailed network designs and project plans, IGSolutions establishes logistics flows, orders and stages equipment, trains line and construction crews and supervises work crews in placing Smart Grid network equipment and “turning up” the equipment to provide network connectivity. At the conclusion of this process, the Smart Grid network and all connected equipment linked to the Smart Grid and consumer SmartHome services become fully functional and operational.

Meter Deployment

Deploying an Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) is a complex task and requires an array of advanced, specialized skills including: Building the network infrastructure; systems integration; coordinating the actual testing; and deploying the meter itself. Those implementations that require remote connect and disconnect functionality are also included in this core service offering.

Further, IGSolutions' technical staff has capabilities to deliver each of these services with superior urgency, quality and professionalism. Other tasks relevant to an AMI roll out include: Building and deploying multiple vendor solutions; performing key warehouse management services; creating bar-coding meter systems; meter testing; disposal of old meters and marketing meter replacement programs; complete end-to-end testing of networks; deployment of MDM systems; and customer complete billing integration.

Demand Side Management

Demand side management (DSM) and energy efficiency programs are generally subscriber-based programs that use AMR meters, integrated thermostats, and individual circuit or load control mechanisms – Generally speaking, these measures allow utilities to reduce customer power use during peak demand time frames. Limiting peak power allows utilities to avoid and/or limit their investments in building excess capacity in their transmission and distribution grids; reduces their need to purchase or generate expensive spot power in response to peak demands; and lowers the strain put on their facilities and equipment during peak power demands.

IGSolutions uses the Smart Grid network to track, monitor, and control individual and collective customer loads when needed to manage the utility’s power. This program revolves around a smart meter gateway that connects to communicating thermostats and controllers, each capable of turning off high demand appliances like hot water heaters and pool pumps when necessary.

RF Spectrum Analysis and Mitigation

IGSolutions analyzes the environmental and grid-based RF spectrum levels, both prior to and after the deployment of a Smart Grid network. While analyzing the RF spectrum prior to the Smart Grid deployment, IGSolutions makes specific recommendations to each client utility regarding appropriate steps to be taken to minimize noise and make repairs and upgrades to their electric grid. When RF spectrum usage analysis is performed prior to the Smart Grid network deployment, the network often performs better in terms of speed and stability, and the cost of the network may be reduced by increasing the intervals between nodes.