“You Don't Have to Go Far to Get Much” is a Phrase Heard around Giles County, Tennessee. Since 2007, this has taken on a broad new meaning with the launch of a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network, which gives customers of the Pulaski Electric System (PES; Pulaski, Tennessee, U.S.) blazingly fast Internet access, high-definition video entertainment and high-quality digital phone service. PES is the municipal utility that owns and operates the FTTH network, is driving additional value from its fiber-optic network by using it as the communications backbone for a full range of Smart Grid applications.

Although many utilities are making the move to becoming broadband providers, PES is one of only a handful to simultaneously use its high-speed network as a way to shore up operational efficiencies, automate meter readings and backend utility processes, and engage customers in conservation.

RURAL COMMUNITY LOOKS TO THE FUTURE

Giles County is a resolutely rural community with an aggressive economic development plan, one that attracts people seeking a small town way of life, but is not lacking in modern conveniences. It is possible to see horses hitched outside the Pulaski Walmart on a Sunday afternoon. Yet major urban centers like Nashville, Tennessee, and Huntsville, Alabama, are just an hour away along a highway that skirts forests overflowing with kudzu and farmland filled with rolls of golden hay.

Maintaining this balance is important to a community striving to provide a better place to live, work and raise a family. Pulaski's civic leaders decided to implement FTTH, because they understood that in today's economy, the difference between a robust future and a community in decline comes down to providing state-of-the-art communication services. This was not lost on PES, which provides power to 15,000 homes and businesses in town, a handful of outlying communities as well as hundreds of farms spread around the county.

PES faced an array of challenges common to many small public utilities. How would it ensure reliability in the face of aging distribution equipment? How would it keep costs competitive despite rising energy prices? How would it attract and empower a world-class pool of skilled workers? How would it operate within an increasingly complex regulatory environment? How would it help customers realize the benefits of conservation? The list goes on.

As Tennessee's oldest municipal electric system, and the first in the state to receive power from the Tennessee Valley Authority, PES has a long history of providing top-tier service through the use of the latest technologies. FTTH was a logical step for a city-owned utility that prides itself on being one of the most progressive in the state.

The timing could not have been more opportune. PES realized the inherent benefits of using the network for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and demand response while the FTTH project was in its early planning stage. It offered a two-birds-with-one-stone solution. A common infrastructure would give immediate cost advantages as well as save a bundle in ongoing network maintenance costs.

A fiber-optic network cleared the path for utility modernization by allowing the use a single network for triple-play media and Smart Grid applications, including automated meter reading, instant outage detection and continual power-quality monitoring. It also enabled the launch of demand-response programs that require rapid and reliable two-way communication between the utility and energy consumers, including opt-in load control and in-home signaling, so customers can easily see kilowatt-hour consumption status or current price levels.

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

At first, some people questioned why their utility planned to boldly branch out into broadband. By and large, though, residents encouraged the project, and the board of mayor and alderman voted unanimously in favor of moving forward with a city-owned FTTH. They realized what a boon it would be, for everybody from casual Web surfers to those who depend on a reliable, high-speed network for day-to-day business.

Clearly, the community saw that providing enhanced consumer services and supporting the commercial needs of broadband services went hand-in-hand with efforts to improve the quality of life in Pulaski. They also realized that few, if any, big-name providers would bite at a project that involved laying 130 miles (209 km) of fiber optics to connect a mere 5000 premises in Pulaski city proper. A deployment of this size would not be a justifiable priority for the “big boys.”

PES's position was that FTTH is really an extension of critical urban infrastructure. Much like municipalities build roads, sewers and electric systems to attract people and support businesses, high-speed connectivity — with bit rate speeds averaging 10 Mbps and topping 30 Mbps — is now an essential service. In today's terms, it ranks near the same degree of importance as did the development of the electric power grid in the 1930s and the interstate highway system in the 1950s. The decision to build the FTTH network put PES among the new wave of municipal utilities, of which there are only about 50 currently in operation across the United States.

A municipally operated fiber network is not a new concept. Several cities were quick out of the gate in early 2000 with ambitious projects. Success was mixed as these early adopters ran headlong into technology, business and regulatory issues.

But a lot has changed recently. Fiber costs have come down, the technology has matured and the business model has become more viable now that municipal utilities, at least in Tennessee, can be both the wholesaler and retailer, or are free to pursue some kind of public-private partnership.

CLEARING THE SMART GRID PATH

What sets Pulaski apart is that it leverages the high-speed FTTH network for its Smart Grid program, rather than using a separate AMI system. PES expects large savings and benefits. Although the project just got off the ground, PES anticipates power savings as a result of its newfound ability to detect and correct chronic system losses from theft and malfunctioning equipment through faster outage detection and restoration, and especially by eliminating hard-to-read rural routes.

In the near future, PES will be able to create programs to help customers increase their own energy efficiency, putting them in greater control of their bills and use of power. Individual energy savings alone can help offset a good portion of the US$99 monthly bundle package for phone, Internet and television services.

To date, the fiber network passes 5000 homes and businesses in Pulaski. Uptake is around 30% and fast approaching the payback point. But with concurrent use of the network for both triple-play services and smart metering, PES will more rapidly achieve a return on its investment.

SMART METERS, SMART NETWORK

PES chose the Tantalus Utility Network (TUNet) to serve as the two-way, real-time AMI network. TUNet is a hybrid network that includes wide area network/local area network (WAN/LAN)/home area network components. In the city of Pulaski, where all the fiber is deployed, a Tantalus data collector that plugs into the meter socket is connected to the FTTH network and serves as the WAN gateway.

Only the WAN collector needs to be physically connected to the FTTH. The rest of the TUNet smart meter endpoints communicate via 900 MHz, which form a self-configuring, self-healing mesh network. PES just replaces an existing meter with a smart meter that automatically connects itself to the network.

Data from a cluster of LAN endpoints is funneled through this central WAN collector. It gathers meter data from dozens of associated endpoints — including electric, water and gas meters, as well as load control modules — and relays information to the operations center over the fiber network. The data it delivers can be integrated into backend applications such as billing, outage management, forecasting and customer service.