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 Previous: Surfin': Transceiver Under the Tree |  Next: Nominations Sought For 2006 Dayton Hamvention® Awards |
NEWINGTON, CT, December 28, 2005--The ARRL is viewing cautiously the recent announcement of a commercial broadband over power line (BPL) deployment by the largest electric power utility in Texas. TXU Electric Delivery and BPL manufacturer Current Communications Group have partnered to establish "the nation's first broadband-enabled Smart Grid" that will cover most of TXU's service area. That includes some two million homes and businesses in the Dallas-Forth Worth area as well as other Texas communities.
"If TXU is going to install a BPL system, the ARRL is glad that TXU has chosen Current's system--which avoids using spectrum allocated to the Amateur Radio Service--in preference to one that has proven to be problematic," commented ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ.
It was another story altogether when TXU operated a pilot BPL project in Irving, Texas, in 2004 and early 2005 using Amperion hardware. The system generated such interference on Amateur Radio frequencies that the League filed a formal complaint with the FCC in support of a Texas radio amateur seeking the system's shutdown and fines for the operator. Within two weeks of the League's filing, TXU dismantled the BPL trial, and the ARRL withdrew its complaint.
Sumner says the League is not expecting history to repeat itself when TXU and Current begin installing their "Smart Grid" BPL system in 2006. As he pointed out in his "It Seems to Us . . ." editorial in August 2005 QST, Cinergy Corp's deployment of the nation's largest BPL system in the country in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area so far "has proceeded without major interference problems." The Cinergy system also uses Current Technologies equipment.
"Current has avoided putting high-frequency energy on the medium-voltage lines by using low-band VHF (30-50 MHz) instead," Sumner wrote. Additionally, he noted, Current's system uses Homeplug modems, which avoid all ham bands except 60 meters, to connect individual customers. Limited testing of the Cinergy BPL deployment suggested its interference potential is minimal relative to Amateur Radio facilities.
While Sumner won't rule out some occurrences of RF interference in the TXU rollout, he says the League anticipates a low-enough probability to deal with it on a case-by-case basis. ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, has been in regular communications with engineers at Current Technologies. Hare summarized those conversations: "I have shared with Current Technologies just what those case-by-case interference problems would be. While they are taking the position that they will wait until problems actually occur, then determine what is needed to fix them, their open dialogue with ARRL will be an important part of the process. The opportunity for dialogue exists for all of the BPL companies, although not all of them want to work on solutions to the interference problems that have plagued this industry."
In October, the ARRL petitioned the FCC to issue a Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making modifying the Part 15 BPL rules it adopted a year earlier and sharply reduce BPL's potential to cause interference. In exchange, the League said it would withdraw its still-pending Petition for Reconsideration in the BPL proceeding, ET Docket 04-37.
"It is no longer the case that all BPL systems inherently radiate high levels of RF energy on amateur allocations on overhead medium-voltage power lines," the ARRL said in its petition. "Thus, not all BPL architectures have similar potential for harmful interference to the Amateur Radio Service (and to other licensed services)."
The League's petition cited BPL systems by Current Technologies, IBEC and Corridor Systems as being among those that meet the additional requirements it's proposed. The ARRL also has cooperated with Motorola in testing the interference potential of that company's Powerline LV BPL system. Results so far have been very encouraging.
According to a TXU news release, Current Technologies will design, build and operate the BPL network for TXU. In TXU's announcement, BPL's ability to provide broadband service to individual customers and businesses seemed to take a back seat to its potential to monitor the utility's power grid, preventing and detecting problems and outages and enabling automated meter reading.
The agreement between TXU and Current Technologies calls on the utility to pay approximately $150 million to Current to procure services over 10 years to utilize the BPL system's capabilities. "When the agreements become effective, TXU Corp will become an equity holder in Current," the announcement said. Cinergy, Google and Goldman Sachs are among Current's other shareholders.
| Previous: Surfin': Transceiver Under the Tree | Next: Nominations Sought For 2006 Dayton Hamvention® Awards |
