Maine Public Service Co. (MPS) awarded Open Systems International, Inc. (OSI) a contract for a comprehensive SCADA system to monitor and control MPS’s transmission and distribution networks in the summer of 2007.

The new, totally mirrored system is based on OSI’s Monarch distributed open architecture and includes Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, Historical Information System, Secure ICCP communications and Calculation and Trending Subsystems. Optionally, in a later phase, Backup Control Center and Energy Management System applications, including Transmission Security Analysis and Operator Training Simulator, will be added to the present system.

The project implementation, based on OSI’s Rapid Project Methodology (RPM), was accomplished in a completion time of five months. The system recently underwent field commissioning activities and was successfully cutover, replacing MPS’s legacy SCADA system.

MPS serves energy to approximately 40,000 retail customers in a 4,000 square mile area in rural northern New England via a transmission and distribution network which spans nearly 2,500 circuit miles. MPS’s primary objective for this project has been the implementation of a modern, open and secure architecture, facilitating the utility’s growth requirements and compliance with NERC mandated security and reliability standards.