Efacec ACS Marks 600th RTU Upgrade with Delivery to Seattle City Light

ATLANTA, June 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Efacec Advanced Control Systems (Efacec ACS) has successfully delivered an upgrade to a Moore Systems MPS-9000S substation remote terminal unit (RTU) for Seattle City Light, making it the 600th second-source RTU upgrade Efacec ACS has completed for utilities nationwide.

The 600 delivered units include upgrades to more than 26 other makes and models of RTUs, using Efacec ACS proprietary upgrade kits. Efacec ACS has manufactured and delivered more than 18,000 remote terminal units, data concentrators, and substation controllers over its 36-year history, including thousands of upgrades for its own RTU models.

"Efacec ACS was the right vendor with a field-proven upgrade solution for our specific RTU models," said Michael Pesin, Chief Technology Advisor and Smart Grid Architect at Seattle City Light. "Their expertise showed throughout the process as they smoothly transitioned to the new RTU elements in a single day. We would definitely recommend this as a cost-effective way to keep up with technology changes and improve speed, functionality, and long-term reliability."

Efacec ACS CEO Jose Barbosa says the company has seen retrofit solutions gaining traction over the old 'rip and replace' approach. "The sheer numbers of delivered units and the additional orders we continue to receive speak to the advantages of this innovative approach. Our data shows a typical savings of around $35,000 for every substation. Those numbers are compelling for utilities looking to recover costs, update functions, and extend the life of their assets."

The Efacec ACS approach to legacy RTU retrofits involves replacing the intelligent "controller" of the RTU with Efacec ACS' advanced Connex™ series substation system technology, while leaving I/O components and terminations from the previous hardware in place. This results in project cost savings of up to 60 percent, reducing many labor-intensive tasks such as re-wiring, drawing revisions and point-to-point checkout.

About Efacec ACS
Efacec Advanced Control Systems is a provider of smart grid solutions to the global electric power industry. The Efacec ACS software suite provides integrated distribution and outage management, simulation, optimization, and enterprise business intelligence. Our automation product lines include a wide range of flexible and cost-effective substation, distribution, and feeder automation solutions. Efacec ACS is powering the utility of the future – today. For more information, visit www.efacec-acs.com.

About Seattle City Light
Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States. It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents. City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.

SOURCE Efacec Advanced Control Systems