SAO PAULO, BRAZIL — (Marketwired) — 09/24/13 — ., the industry leader in redefining the global standard for reliability at the world–s largest and telecommunications providers, and (ELO), one of the largest meter manufacturers in Latin America, announced today at DistribuTECH Brasil that they have signed a strategic agreement to bring increased reliability, visibility and modernization to the electric grid throughout Brazil and the other rapidly growing countries in Latin America. Under the terms of the agreement, ELO will offer and sell Tollgrade–s industry-leading , consisting of Medium Voltage (MV) Smart Grid Sensors and Sensor Management Software (SMS) with Predictive Grid(SM) Analytics. The LightHouse solution augments ELO–s existing product portfolio to provide an end-to-end solution that provides visibility to better pinpoint faults and outages that extend from the meter to the substation.
“We chose to partner with Tollgrade because they are the leader in providing inductively powered smart grid sensors with predictive analytics,” said Marcos Rizzo, vice president of Business Development of ELO. “This solution will allow us to improve reliability beyond the meter by monitoring the grid health conditions of the millions of miles of largely unmonitored feeder networks that connect cities and stretch out into rural areas of Brazil and Latin America.” According to the Edison Electric Institute, 90 percent of outages occur on the distribution network. The LightHouse solution, which is deployed outside substations and along feeders on the distribution network, helps utilities increase reliability, reduce outages, and achieve faster restoration by providing the real-time grid health information needed to troubleshoot some of the leading causes of power outages. Tollgrade–s library of fault events, outage detection and load planning data all in one software package provides the intelligence utilities need to restore outages faster, and to better understand the causes of outages on the distribution network.
“Brazil is a global leader in smart grid deployment and ELO is a key leader in the region–s charge toward grid modernization,” said Erik Christian, Vice President Smart Grid at Tollgrade Communications. “Our solution helps utilities restore power after outages faster and more affordably, which will in turn help Brazil to lead the region and the world in providing a reliable and affordable supply of energy to support its rapidly growing economy.”
The Tollgrade LightHouse platform consists of:
software-defined, inductively powered sensors with flexible cellular or Wi-Fi communications that operate all the way down to three amps. The sensors are lightweight and easily installed with a “hot stick” so they can be deployed on the line in a matter of minutes. Key sensor measurements include: load current, fault current, power factor, phase angle, sags, surges, wire temperature and harmonics.
classifies power disturbance events and provides the visualization and situational awareness needed to quickly respond to load planning, outages, and power quality challenges. Through a DNP3 interface, the software provides easy integration into a utility–s critical back office systems (SCADA, Outage Management Systems, Distribution Management Systems, etc.).
Tollgrade is the only sensing solution to deliver grid visibility down to three amps through inductively powered sensors that eliminate the maintenance costs required to support battery-powered alternatives. Unlike first-generation fault indicators, the LightHouse platform combines its highly accurate sensor technology with an analytics software package to classify grid conditions and assess the health of the network. This grid health data can be analyzed so utilities understand more of the “cause and effect” behind disturbances like momentaries, outages or equipment failures. Within the software, customizable rules can be defined to alert utilities to inefficient operating conditions, subtle system failures, or indications of anomalous behavior that are early indications of future outages. During an outage, visualization tools pinpoint locations to reduce drive and restoration times. The solution is used by some of the world–s largest Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs), Distribution System Operators (DSOs) and municipalities to reduce outage minutes, improve reliability metrics, balance loads and protect important assets like substation transformers.
Tollgrade will demonstrate their LightHouse solution at ELO–s booth #505 during the DistribuTECH Brazil conference which is taking place at the Transamerica Expo Center in São Paulo, Brazil from Sept 24 – 26, 2013.
Founded in 1980, ELO Sistemas Eletrônicos is a leading metering provider for the South America market. With offices in Brazil and Chile, ELO is recognized as a key supplier of quality electronic equipment and systems to the Brazilian and South American electricity supply market. ELO provides integrated product and system packages to utilities to automate processes, such as the collection and treatment of metering data. In 1993, ELO introduced the concept of electronic metering for C&I applications to energy metering in Brazil and is a recognized leader and innovator in the Brazilian energy market. More information about ELO can be found athttp://www.elonet.com.br.
With over 200 million lines under test, millions of utility outage minutes avoided annually and 25 years of experience successfully locating faults at the world–s largest electric utility companies and telecommunication service providers, Tollgrade is redefining the global standard for reliability. Our award-winning fault detection hardware and predictive analytics software is deployed on four continents to help operators avoid network outages and reduce customer downtime. Tollgrade has been recognized as one of the Top 13 Smart Grid Companies to Watch in 2013 by SmartGrid News, received the 2012 Smart Grid Product of the Year from TMCnet and is a 2013 Red Herring 100 Finalist. Learn more by visiting
Roberta Corvino
Marketing Manager
ELO Sistemas Electronicos
+55 19 2115-4900
Cathy Clarke
CNC Associates
+1 617-527-2089 (mobile)
Anne-Laure Leroyer
Marketing Communication Manager
Tollgrade Communications, Inc.
+1 202-701-0083 (mobile)
+1 703-707-4588