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Photo by Drew Hamilton
Electricians install an automated utility meter in the utility room of Building 124. The automated meter will allow monitoring through the internet. |
Some offices at White Sands Missile Range will be seeing short power outages for the next year as contractors install new automated utility meters at almost two hundred buildings on main post. According to a Directorate of Public Works official, the new “smart” meters are an initiative of the Army Corps of Engineers and are to be installed at Army installations around the country.
According to Eric Swanson, Engineering Technician for DPW, the new, automated meters will make the job of monitoring energy consumption and accurately charging tenant units easier and more accurate.
“Basically, they monitor the consumption of gas and electricity to each individual building (where they are installed). Right now we have no buildings on the automated system and they must all be done manually – that is, physically on site, which costs time and money,” Swanson said.
According to Swanson, an electrical contractor is presently at WSMR to install 116 of new, automated electric meters and 70 new gas meters. There are about 200 older, manual meters already installed on post and some buildings are not even metered, he said.
“This way DPW will be able to bill the customer properly and accurately – there will be no disputes in the power consumption of the facility,” Swanson said.
A Florida firm, Williams Electric, has the contract to do the job and has already started smart meter installation at other Army posts.
“We have 17 (Army installations) under contract,” said Billy Jenkins, Williams’ Project Manager. “All the other services will eventually be doing them. The Army was the first to start the project.”
Although there are no plans to do so now, Swanson believes automated meters could be an effective tool for installations commanders to encourage energy conservation. He said the new system will give an accurate and timely picture of an organization’s energy consumption.
“I foresee a time when all buildings on post will have a meter of some type, probably automated meters similar to these,” he said.
The White Sands contract has already grown from 60 meters to 138 meters to be installed by Williams Electric by the Fall of 2009. Swanson said that means more power outages to buildings destined for the new metering.
“We’ve already done the (McAfee Medical Clinic), the Frontier Club, the Bowling Alley, the Museum, WTC Dining facility, Post Headquarters, and Buildings 124, 126, and 128,” Swanson said. A power outage is scheduled with the building custodian and installation usually takes about two hours. Every effort is made to minimize the inconvenience to the building occupants, he said.
Once installed, the automated meters are able to transmit energy usage data every 15 minutes by internet to a DPW hub computer where trends and spikes can be observed and recorded. Once converted, it is no longer necessary to send someone to the building to record the meter reading.
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