Telkonet Teams with BPL Global(R) to Provide Secure Communications for Utility Substations

Monday July 28, 8:30 am ET
Telkonet's Series 5 Powerline Communications (PLC) technology approved for critical substation monitoring applications


GERMANTOWN, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Telkonet, Inc. (AMEX:TKO - News), the leading provider of innovative, centrally managed solutions for integrated energy management, networking, building automation and proactive support services, announces that its revolutionary PLC solutions have been approved after laboratory and field testing by BPL Global’s Serveron® subsidiary, a leading provider of smart grid solutions including online monitoring technology and services for electric utility assets. The Telkonet Series 5™ and the Telkonet iWire System™ use existing electrical low voltage power lines to provide high-speed communications, creating a highly secure and fast-deployment substation network. Telkonet's network enables the constant monitoring of power transformers, linking Serveron's remote monitoring Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) system to the control house, and transmitting vital data about the presence of dissolved gases in the power transformer insulating oil that indicate impending problems.

The two companies have been working closely, proving Telkonet's PLC solutions in the field with a large utility in the Southwest. Recently, Serveron has conducted extensive laboratory tests on the next generation Telkonet Series 5 platform launched earlier this year, designed specifically for demanding industrial applications, such as substations and power plants. Telkonet Series 5 has now received full approval for use with Serveron on-line transformer monitors in substation monitoring applications. As a result of these joint initiatives, Serveron has now customized its TM family of transformer monitor systems to incorporate the Telkonet iBridge™ prior to shipping, making it even simpler for the entire solution to be installed in a matter of hours by Serveron's technicians.

With transformers costing anywhere between $1 million and $10 million, keeping them in good health is clearly a critical issue. DGA is an essential means of preventing power transformer failures, providing utilities with a near real-time view of a transformer's state of health by analyzing the gases that are dissolved in its insulating oil. Secure and reliable substation communication is therefore an essential complement to Serveron's remote monitoring solutions, as Steve Jennings, Chief Marketing Officer of BPL Global, explains. "We are confident that Telkonet represents an ideal partner for our Serveron monitors, enabling us to offer a cost-effective alternative to wireless and cell-based options, or even a temporary solution while fiber is being installed. Above all, we have been extremely impressed at the resilience of Telkonet's technology, making it an ideal platform for the harsh and demanding substation environment."

Telkonet Series 5 PLC system delivers enhanced security, speed and Quality of Service (QoS), with capacity for high performance, critical applications, and provides a cost-effective method of rapidly adding communications to existing devices and applications. Telkonet Series 5 can provide support for both DC and AC applications, as well as the capability of withstanding extreme temperature ranges in tough industrial environments. With hardware-based 128-bit AES encryption, it also provides substantially improved security features, meeting stringent industry requirements as a highly secure remote management solution. Telkonet Series 5 also incorporates additional optional physical access ports, including both RS232 and RS485, enabling a wide range of different devices to be networked, such as non Ethernet-enabled monitoring and metering devices used in electric utility substations. It can also handle up to 8 different communication priority levels, across high-speed data, Voice over IP (VoIP), and surveillance, with rate-limited bandwidth management per application.