GE’s SaaS Helps Holly Springs Modernise its Utility Grid

The combination of cloud delivered services and the Internet of Things can make a powerful and wide-ranging combination, as the recent contract between the City of Holly Springs in Missouri, USA, and engineering leviathan, GE, demonstrates.

Holly Springs has contracted with GE for the latter to provide its subscription-based Solutions as a Service (SaaS) to modernise its whole utility grid. “Together, Utility General Manager Don Hollingsworth and I have worked to seek out an all-encompassing grid-modernization solution to help unify and modernize our city’s electric, water and gas utility grids”

GE’s SaaS offering provides a complete, multi-utility solution for municipalities, and is planned to provide the city with comprehensive information on the status of all services, which feeds the ability to provide real-time management control over operations.

This will include advanced outage detection capabilities on its monitored meters, immediately notifying utility managers when an outage or power loss has been detected. In addition, its asset monitoring capabilities enable the city to register and monitor all meters connected to its utility network, logging and classifying any issues that may occur. This information is then analysed and reported, providing insight into the operational state of the city’s utility assets and an in-depth view of the city’s energy usage.

Under the terms of the agreement, GE will provide Holly Springs with a pre-integrated package of services ranging from electric, water and gas meter services for the city’s advanced metering infrastructure through to prepaid electric billing on a consumer web portal. The package also includes services such as asset monitoring and support for the city’s grid. The contract is set to last for 10 years.

"The improved reliability and efficiency that come along with a modernised grid are prime reasons why cities look to upgrade their utility infrastructure," said Todd Jackson, product line leader—software solutions, GE's Digital Energy business. "By equipping Holly Springs with our SaaS grid modernisation technology, we have helped the city to establish an advanced utility network capable of meeting 21^stcentury energy challenges."

GE will supply Holly Springs with a variety of advanced electric meter services and equipment including its I210+c single phase andKVC2c polyphase meters. The remote disconnect functionality of these electric meters allows for greater efficiency for the city’s utility grid. In addition, GE will provide meter-monitoring services, equipping the city with accurate and up-to-date data on its utility network.

This information also will be accessible to customers through GE’s Grid IQLanding Portal, which displays historical metering and billing data and provides easily accessible residential customer connect/disconnect services.

GE’s Solutions as a Service package enables utilities to implement a prepaid billing system, easing the billing and payment process for customers and provides a Web-based solution that allows individuals to view and take control of their energy usage. This prepaid electric billing service provides payment options to consumers such as paying with cash, cheques or credit/debit cards. It enables customers to pay their bills remotely using methods such as interactive voice response, text, email and the online payment portal set up for the city.

Introduced last year, GE’s SaaS provides small- and mid-market utilities with the grid moderniation technology they need without having to incur the overhead expenses associated with developing their own smart grid networks. As a cloud-based, fee-for-service grid management system, GE’s SaaS empowers utilities of all sizes to create interconnected grids to meet the needs of today’s ever-evolving businesses.

The company’s Industrial Internet solutions establish a constant flow of communication between a business operation and its machines, enabling big data to be converted into real-time analytical insight, improving grid reliability and efficiency. GE’s SaaS is already being utilised by both Electric Cities of Georgia (ECG)/City of Norcross, GA and the City of Leesburg, FL.