The McDonnell Group

32-year veteran of efforts to advance smart grid open standards applauds milestone gathering of business and government leaders

ATLANTA – January 13, 2010 — Efacec Advanced Control Systems -- which for more than 32 years has conducted the industry’s most enduring user group meeting for utility executives and engineers –- applauds next week’s landmark “Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT).” 

The workshop, the first sponsored by the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will be held January 19- 21, 2010 in Gaithersburg, Maryland. 

“Our experience as a provider of smart grid solutions to utilities worldwide has convinced us of the importance of sharing knowledge to advance smart grid open standards,” said José Barbosa, chief executive officer at Efacec Advanced Control Systems.  “We look forward to the open exchange of ideas in this type of forum.  As our long history of innovation demonstrates, we are fully committed to advancing the state of the intelligent grid in the US and worldwide.” 

Efacec Advanced Control Systems continues it record of industry-leading milestones with activities such as:

• Delivering 30 IEC 61850-compliant substation controllers in August 2009 to the Jordanian Electric Power Company (JEPCO) in Amman, Jordan. This project is one of the most world’s most advanced smart grid efforts and includes implementation of an ACS PRISM Distribution Management System, with substation controllers replacing legacy remote terminal units (RTUs).
• In March 2009, ACS’ Connex 30 substation manager passed ISO New England DNP3 conformance testing, which includes DNP3 2009 Level 4 functionality, meeting all RTU specification requirements for the mandated replacement of the obsolete Remote Intelligent Gateways (RIG) for ISO-NE market participants.
• Active and long-term participation in the influential, non-profit DNP Users Group, supporting the comprehensive effort to achieve open, standards-based Interoperability between substation computers, RTUs, IEDs (Intelligent Electronic Devices) and master stations (except inter-master station communications) for the electric utility industry.

About Efacec Advanced Control Systems

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

CONTACT:

Delores Edwards
Marketing Communications
Efacec Advanced Control Systems
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Nancy Broe
Marketing Communications Manager
The McDonnell Group, Inc.
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