Landis+Gyr (SIX: LAND), a global energy technology leader driving intelligent innovation across the grid, announced an agreement with Benton Rural Electric Association (Benton REA) to deploy grid edge sensing technology for AMI and energy management. 

Based in West Richland, WA, Benton REA delivers electric service to about 17,000 member accounts in the southeastern part of the state. The utility is deploying Revelo grid sensors and a network combining Gridstream RF Mesh IP and Cellular communications to economically reach remote services. 

“Our primary goal is ensuring we can maintain reliability, manage costs and provide flexible demand management options for our members,” said Aaron Welling, Lead Project Manager at Benton REA. “The Revelo platform expands our options with sensing capabilities that support load disaggregation, smart switching and power quality applications to improve system planning and maintenance.” 

Technology Enabling Demand Flexibility  

With new loads coming online, such as EV charging, as well as agricultural irrigation loads to manage, Benton REA will be utilizing high-resolution data to proactively identify and balance heavy appliance loads on the distribution system. This will help the utility pinpoint where and when demand is increasing, address potential grid constraints and support more reliable, cost-effective power delivery as energy use continues to evolve. 

The hybrid network options from Landis+Gyr also provide coverage in mountainous and remote areas with an omni-carrier cellular endpoint that ensures connectivity to the best available cellular network.  

"Rural utilities are being asked to manage increasingly complex demands on the grid while maintaining the reliability and affordability their members depend on," said Mark Ortega, Director of Distribution Sales at Landis+Gyr. "By combining advanced sensing, grid edge intelligence and flexible communications, Benton REA is building a stronger foundation for managing growth, improving visibility and making more informed operational decisions." 

Landis+Gyr’s Revelo platform combines advanced metering with grid sensing capabilities, giving utilities better visibility into energy usage, load behavior and emerging issues at the edge of the grid. Using high-resolution waveform data and edge computing, Revelo can analyze activity on both sides of the service connection to help utilities identify loads and anomalies, manage growing demand from EV chargers, heat pumps and other new loads, and improve reliability and system planning. Revelo also supports flexible communications options, including RF Mesh IP, Wi-SUN protocol, omni-carrier cellular and private LTE networks.