Southwest Transmission Cooperative Arizona Cooperative Grid Modernization Project Final Project Description
July 15, 2015
U.S. Department of Energy
jvezina
Three electric cooperatives in Arizona joined forces together to upgrade their electric grid infrastructure: Southwest Transmission Cooperative (SWTC), Mohave Electric Cooperative (MEC), and Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative (SSVEC). SWTC provides transmission service to distribution cooperatives MEC and SSVEC. All three projects installed or upgraded communications networks and deployed or enhanced supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems or energy management systems (EMSs). SWTC upgraded the communications infrastructure of their transmission network by installing optical ground wire (OPGW) cables between several substations. SSVEC expanded their existing fiber optic communications infrastructure. MEC expanded the power line carrier (PLC)-based meter communications network as well as fiber optic and microwave radio communications between the substations and their call center. SWTC further enhanced the transmission network with microprocessor-based protective relays and equipment monitors. SSVEC and MEC jointly provided 59,745 smart meters to 59,358 customers and deployed a meter data management system (MDMS) to process and package the data to be leveraged