PEARL HARBOR -- Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Hawaii and Weston Solutions Inc., began installing "smart meters" to utility service connections at major Navy facilities on Oahu as part of a $10.2 million Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project, Dec. 5.
"Increased energy efficiency and identifying operations to improve utility consumption management is needed throughout the Navy," said Glenn Todd, NAVFAC Hawaii Utilities and Energy Management projects manager. "The Navy in the State of Hawaii faces an extremely challenging energy environment with the cost of electricity on the island of Oahu among the highest in the nation."
AMI is a NAVFAC enterprise network solution that incorporates modern "smart meters" and a secure communications backbone to provide timely energy data to support energy awareness and validate energy reduction efforts at Navy facilities throughout the country. With almost half of the Navy's shore budget spent on utility bills, management of this costly resource requires modern tools and analysis.
"In addition to various federal energy reduction mandates that require all federal facilities to install meters were practical to meet energy goals by October 2012, there are federal requirements for a reduction in water usage as well," said Todd. "NAVFAC Hawaii's AMI project on Oahu includes approximately 290 water meters, 609 electric meters, and 560 radios to be installed on 550 facilities.
NAVFAC Hawaii officially began this effort with a contract award on Dec. 21, 2010, to Weston Solutions Inc.
In March 2011, AMI site survey work got underway where photography, and the surveying of existing electrical equipment occurred for design purposes. Then in April 2011, material ordering and server procurement was initiated.
The installation of water meters began Dec. 5, with electrical meters soon to follow in January 2012. Progression of all meters and radios will continue from Jan. 3, 2012, until scheduled completion in September 2012. Various locations have been mapped out to assist the installation process.
The first site is aboard Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) main facilities, then Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard/Intermediate Maintenance Facility; JBPHH Wahiawa Annex; JBPHH West Loch Annex/Lualualei; Camp Smith, and JBPHH waterfront.
Normal working hours for NAVFAC Hawaii and contracted personnel are from 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., daily. Electrical outages will be scheduled during non-working hours or during working hours if available.
Once all AMI equipment, meters and communications network are in place, then testing, training, and acceptance of the system will occur with a project completion date set in December 2012.
NAVFAC Hawaii's utility customers may notice contractors working around their facilities; however, this work should, in most cases, not interfere with Navy or Air Force military or civilian personnel. Any temporary power outages during installation will be announced in advance and should pose no danger to any customer employees.
"AMI is a high-end smart metering and network communications system that will gather consumption data in 15-minute intervals and make it available over the Navy Marine Corps Internet every four hours at a minimum," said Todd. "This data will provide energy managers and customers utility usage information essential to their energy reduction efforts."