CPqD

Brazilian telecoms research and development company CPqD will guide the IT and telecom elements of a strategy for migrating the Brazilian electrical sector to a smart grid, the company said in a statement.

Electricity distributors association Abradee - covering private and public entities responsible for 99% of the Brazilian electricity market - and telecoms infrastructure association Aptel are responsible for the smart grid plan.

The CPqD is expected to take six months in producing its report. The company will start by surveying the current electricity distribution landscape through IT and telecom lenses. CPqD also will design models for IT and telecom systems, analyze network and systems management platforms and databases, and examine requirements for interoperability, interconnectivity and scalability, among other activities.

"For this, we will study models, topologies and telecommunications and computer network technologies up to the demands of the smart grid, to meet measurement, automation, distribution management and energy storage needs," said Mariangela Rino Pedrosa, manager of the electricity market sector for CPqD. "These guidelines will allow each [electricity] distribution company to cut its own path in implementing the smart grid."

CPqD's objective is to define economically viable budget targets for IT and telecom infrastructure construction. The company has 12 years of experience in the electricity sector and participates in the country's 10 biggest smart grid projects being carried out by power distributors.