The Lone Star State is living up to its reputation of doing everything “big,” with the TXU buyout and two separate multi-billion-dollar transmission proposals announced—all within the space of a month.

18 Communications for Distribution Automation

Widescale deployment of automation on
distribution feeders is becoming a real-
ity in the electric power business.

34 AMR Communication Systems: Making an Intelligent Choice

It is often the communications compo-
nent, not the metering hardware, that
proves to be the weak link in an AMR
system. Choose with care.

38 BPL: Deployment Challenges on Overhead MV Distribution Networks

BPL offers a unique solution for manag-
ing distribution infrastructure, but it also
throws some equally unique hurdles into a
utility’s path to completion.

42 Focus on the Public Power Engineer: Orlando Utilities Commission

Associate editor Kathleen Davis talks
to Aaron Staley at OUC about his work
as manager of transmission planning
and reliability.

46 Reducing Distribution Losses without Breaking the Bank

Along with increasing concerns about
energy efficiency, distribution loss reduc-
tion is again assuming a role of promi-
nence in the utility industry.

54 Getting Equipped: ‘Hardening’ the Power Substation

Today’s IEDs can do in the space of a bread box what it once took a series of eight 8-foot-by-3-foot panels to do. Their Achilles heel, though, is a susceptibility to electromagnetic interference, hence the need for ‘hardening.’

DEPARTMENTS

❚ From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . 4

❚ News .................. 6

❚ Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

❚ New Products ........... 57

❚ Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

❚ Smart Grid Perspectives . . . . 60

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