Eastern Colorado Co-op SCADA/AMI Team in Capable Hands

Reliability and timeliness are what drives Fort Morgan-based Morgan County Rural Electric Association’s SCADA/AMI team. Led by Ray Mann, the team monitors outages through the system, which allows the co-op to proactively deal with power outages quickly — in some instances, even before the member knows the power is out.

SCADA — supervisory control and data acquisition — is a control system architecture that uses technology such as computers and other peripheral devices including programmable controllers to interface with electrical substations. AMI — advanced metering infrastructure — are electrical meters in homes and businesses that measure electrical consumption, and also can communicate with the MCREA network to report measurements. The hardware and software monitor the electrical infrastructure throughout MCREA’s service territory and communicate system status to the control center at MCREA headquarters.

Not only does the system technology restore power quickly, the issue can often be resolved without having to send a serviceman or lineman to the location of the outage. This has the potential to cut vehicle use and fuel consumption, as well as save the cooperative labor costs.

Mann reports that even with the upgraded technology, communication from co-op members is still extremely important, especially in widespread outages. MCREA even has a texting service for members to report outages, which further promotes their innovative approach to serving co-op members.