Trilliant Continues Global Expansion in Southeast Asia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Trilliant, a leading U.S.-based smart grid platform company, today announced further expansions of its smart grid projects with leading Southeast Asian utilities Tenaga Nasional Berhad ("TNB") in Malaysia, Manila Electric Company ("Meralco") in the Philippines and Provincial Electricity Authority ("PEA") in Thailand. This announcement is made at the Asian Utility Week, Asia's premier annual Smart Grid/Smart Energy conference.

Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand are all members of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an organization of ten Southeast Asian countries that represent a population of approximately 600 million people and a growing GDP of approximately U.S.$2.3 trillion. As part of the ASEAN 2020 Vision, the member nations vow to establish interconnecting arrangements in the field of energy, electricity, natural gas and water within ASEAN, promote cooperation in energy efficiency and conservation, as well as develop more new and renewable energy resources. Smart grid can be the one enabler that will help these countries modernize their energy infrastructures in the 21^st century to meet these goals.  It is within this strategic context that Trilliant continues to successfully partner with the leading utilities and other important stakeholders in ASEAN to help Southeast Asian countries achieve affordable, secure and clean energy supplies to meet and sustain their economic growths.

As a leading smart grid platform company that has helped utilities and energy retailers succeed globally, Trilliant understands that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and each utility has different business drivers, regulatory environments and service territories.

Trilliant understands that across the regions, smart grid drivers vary from one country to the next.  While the applications vary, however, the technology drivers have common themes, such as reliability, scalability, and high bandwidth to allow for future applications.  Trilliant made two strategic decisions years ago that have supported the company's growth into this region.  First, the company based its solution on frequencies that are unlicensed around the world, so it can take the exact core technology from country to county and its utility customers can benefit from the scale.  Second, Trilliant noticed the complex trend of utilities preference for a single communications platform for smart metering and distribution automation, but the variances in application requirements, and Trilliant acquired a company to combine a broadband mesh network for distribution automation and AMI backhaul to its existing AMI network, which provides an extremely high performance but cost effective end-to-end solution for its customers.  It is with this approach that Trilliant has been able to help its leading utility customers in the region.

In Malaysia, TNB, the nation's largest utility serving over 8 million customers is seeking to deliver consumer benefits such as better insight and control of energy consumption, improved reliability and enhanced energy efficiency, while meeting a demand growth of 4-5% and meeting the country's commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2020.  TNB recently chose Trilliant as one of the technology partners in Malaysia's first Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) smart grid pilot in Melaka state where TNB will demonstrate the aforementioned benefits to the consumers of Malaysia.

In the Philippines, Trilliant as one of the technology partners, helps MERALCO to deploy AMI prepay solution. AMI is part of MERALCO's long-term Smart Grid vision of integrating "smart intelligence and advanced solutions" into the electric network to provide consumers with real-time information, energy management capabilities and improved quality and reliability of power supply. "We continue to look for innovative ways to deliver superior service to our customers through information empowerment, consumption management capabilities and diversity of energy related services," said Dr. Bartosz Wojszczyk, Head of Strategy and Innovation at MERALCO.

PEA, the largest utility in Thailand, providing electricity to over 16 million customers is working towards a long term roadmap to modernize the electrical infrastructure to provide more reliable and efficient energy to their consumers across 99.4% of the country.  Trilliant was recently chosen by PEA to provide the broadband mesh communications for automation of the utility's smart substation pilot project.  Unlike traditional systems that rely mainly on manual operations, a feeder automation system can enhance reliability and quality for electric power feeder systems, reduce downtime, and monitor real-time operational status, reducing both risk and maintenance costs. "This project showcases how smart grid technology can help utilities deliver tangible benefits such as better quality and reliability, but also it gives us the flexibility to provide multiple other applications over the same infrastructure in the future,  said Mr. Pantong Thinsatit, Deputy Manager of System Management Centre. "We are excited to partner with Trilliant and others for this ongoing project."

"We are honored to work with some of the most prestigious utilities in Southeast Asia," said Bryan Spear, Asia Pacific Managing Director for Trilliant. "We look forward to our continued successful collaborations with these leading utilities, and other important stakeholders in the region, to build smart energy infrastructure that will help deliver benefits to their countries and societies."

About TNB (Malaysia)

Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is the largest electricity utility in Malaysia and a leading utility company in Asia. Listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia with almost RM99 billion in assets, the Company's more than 34,900 employees serve an estimated 8.4 million customers in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Labuan. TNB has been "Keeping the Lights On" in Malaysia ever since it was set up as the Central Electricity Board in 1949, powering national development via the provision of reliable and efficient electricity. For more information, please visit http://www.tnb.com.my/about-tnb/corporate-profile.html

About Meralco (The Phillippines)

Manila Electric Company (Meralco) is the Philippines' largest distribution utility. It is part of the Metro Pacific Group of Companies headed by one of Asia's leading businessmen, Manuel V. Pangilinan. The Meralco franchise of 9,337 km² is home to approximately 25 percent of the Philippine's population, generates about 50 percent of Philippine gross domestic product and produces 60 percent of Philippine manufacturing output. For more information, please visit http://www.meralco.com.ph/

About PEA (Thailand)

PEA, a Government Enterprise in the utility sector attached to the Interior Ministry, was established on 28 September 1960 under the Provincial Electricity Authority Act B.E. 1960. The Provincial Electricity Authority's primary responsibilities include generation, procurement, distribution and sale of electricity to the public, business and industrial sectors in 74 provinces, over a nationwide area of 510,000 square kilometers or 99.4% of Thailand. For more information, please visit https://www.pea.co.th/en/SitePages/home.aspx

About Trilliant

Trilliant (a company based in Silicon Valley) helps leading utilities and energy retailers achieve their smart grid visions through the Trilliant Communications Platform, the only communications platform purpose-built for the energy industry that integrates disparate systems of systems into a unified whole. The Trilliant Platform is deployed with more than 200 utilities worldwide to enhance energy efficiency, improve grid reliability, lower operating costs, integrate renewable energy resources and electric vehicles, and empower consumers to better manage their energy consumption. For more information, visit www.trilliantinc.com.

SOURCE Trilliant