Last week we were talking about the possibility of a smart grid communications game changer when Consumers Energy selected cellular for its 1.8 million meter rollout in Michigan. We even asked in our Tuesday Topic discussion if private networks are dead.

But there's a piece of the smart grid communications puzzle that sometimes gets overlooked: Not all service territories are created equal.  And Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) is a perfect example. REC just announced it has chosen Full Spectrum's FullMAX Broadband Wireless system for its private, wide-area, smart grid communications network. The cooperative serves 22 counties in Virginia and considers its wireless network a critical component of its DOE-sponsored smart grid initiative, transporting mission critical data traffic including SCADA and AMI information.

So why FullMAX? This from Gary Schwartz, Director of SCADA / LM / Telecommunications for REC: "We needed a secure data solution to cover a very large territory without additional costly tower infrastructure. Full Spectrum's Base Stations are capable of creating 20 mile sectors including non-line of sight coverage."  That's important because significant portions of REC's service territory lack even basic cell phone service let alone advanced data.

"Another reason for choosing FullMAX was its ability to offer both mobile and fixed data communications in the same platform," Schwartz added. REC wants to evaluate utilizing the same private network for mobile workforce management applications in service vehicles.

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