PPL Electric Utilities Leverages Alvarion's 4G Wireless Broadband Solution

Alvarion, a provider of 4G networks in the Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) market, announced that Pennsylvania's PPL Electric Utilities is deploying Alvarion's BreezeMAX Extreme 3650 WiMAX solution as part of its smart grid communications network.

According to a release, the communication network upgrade, enabled by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, constitutes the first phase of PPL's smart grid project with initial coverage of more than 60,000 customers over 150 square miles in the company's Harrisburg, PA, operating region. The utility's smart grid project also includes deployment of a new distribution management system. Future phases that will expand coverage of distribution automation to its other operating regions across central and eastern Pennsylvania are being planned. PPL Electric Utilities serves more than 1.4 million customers.

"We are very pleased with the deployment progress of our next-generation smart grid communication network in our Harrisburg region around the state capital," said Matthew Green, smart grid program manager, PPL Electric Utilities. "Alvarion's standards-compliant wireless broadband products have helped us create a robust and secure communication infrastructure in our network. This project enables us to completely transform the electric distribution system and introduce efficient energy optimization and outage management techniques that will benefit our customers."

PPL's smart grid project involves system upgrades geared toward operational improvements and enhanced service reliability. Alvarion's solution is being deployed as part of an agreement with Alcatel-Lucent, which is also providing a high-speed fiber-optic communication infrastructure for the project.

"The new, state-of-the-art IP based broadband communication infrastructure will help PPL Electric Utilities achieve its objectives of network modernization and service improvements for its customers," said Kamal Ballout, Global Vice President Energy Systems Integration Division. "The success of this deployment lays the foundation for many more upcoming joint projects in the industry.

"We are confident Alvarion's field-proven 4G broadband wireless solutions will play a significant part in achieving PPL's desired objectives," said Eran Gorev, president and CEO of Alvarion. "We are very pleased to work with Alcatel-Lucent on this important project as well. By working together, we can merge our complementary product portfolios and expertise to create exceptional smart grid solutions for utilities around the world."