Kansas Municipal Energy Agency (KMEA) has selected Canadian firm Tantalus Systems to deliver purpose-built smart grids to its more than 80 member utilities.

As a joint action agency, KMEA will provide hosting services to assist its members in digitally transforming their distribution grids. Members will be able to license, access and use Tantalus’ software on KMEA’s hosted server.

The partnership enables members of KMEA to deploy the TUMet utility network smart grid in a flexible manner relative to their needs and available resources. TUNet includes an industrial IoT communications network, edge-computing endpoints, a suite of software applications and purpose-built data analytics designed to modernise the distribution grid.

By leveraging additional services from KMEA, member utilities will be able to reduce their upfront investment to digitise their grids while receiving immediate benefits from advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and data analytics to improve the resiliency, reliability and efficiency of their systems.

Three KMEA members are initiating deployments of TUNet to solve immediate operational problems such as remote disconnect and reconnect of power, outage management, and broader automation while simultaneously laying the foundation for future innovation.

“In an effort to make smart grid investments accessible through shared services, this partnership provides all of our members with an equal opportunity to install an AMI system while reducing upfront expenditures for utilities,” said Paul Mahlberg, general manager at KMEA. “We partnered with Tantalus because of their flexible approach in providing utilities with a range of deployment options that meet the specific needs of our member utilities, and we look forward to providing our membership with additional support through our hosted offering of Tantalus’ software applications.”

Peter Londa, CEO of Tantalus Systems, added: “Tantalus develops and delivers technology to help public power and electric cooperative utilities digitally transform and automate their distribution grids to become more sustainable. We are honoured to include KMEA among the growing number of joint action agencies that we serve and look forward to working alongside their team to ensure all member utilities in Kansas are able to access the necessary systems and tools to deliver reliable and cost-effective energy to their communities.”

Tantalus is a smart-grid technology company that transforms aging one-way grids into future-proofed multi-directional grids that improve the efficiency, reliability and sustainability of public power and electric cooperative utilities and the communities they serve.