Some utility customers are automating their own electrical systems in preparation for the deregulation to come. One of those customers is Gustavus Adolphus, a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minn. The school's administration decided to monitor and evaluate the electrical and steam energy use at each of the 24 campus buildings in January 1998, so that facilities staff could make adjustments to optimize power use, before the expected deregulation of Minnesota's utilities sometime in the next year or so.

Gustavus Adolphus officers contracted cfar International Ltd. of New Orleans in July 1998, to design an energy monitoring system to collect data from the electrical and steam distribution systems in each of the school's buildings, then transmit the data via the college's local area network to a single host computer. Facilities staff would then analyze and evaluate the data.

The cfar International designers selected a potpourri of sensor hardware and software for the Gustavus Adolphus project. This equipment included WattNode electric submeters manufactured by Continental Control Systems of Boulder, Colo.; steam turbine meters designed by EMCO of Longmont, Colo.; Visual Integrator software and Power Management Controllers developed by Circon Technology Corp. of Vancouver, B.C.; and Ethernet routers provided by Coactive Networks Inc. of Sausalito, Calif.

Kasmarik & Associates of Coon Rapids, Minn., assembled all the hardware, software, and communications elements on the St. Peter campus. Warren Wunderlich, an architect and facilities manager at Gustavus Adolphus, oversaw the project.

Metrix and Metrix Profiler software written by SRC Systems of Berkeley, Calif., provides utility bill and meter data analysis that enables Gustavus Adolphus facilities staff to zero in on any campus building to determine whether it is making the best use of its electricity and steam. This evaluation takes into consideration parameters such as outdoor temperature, building use, occupancy, time of day, and rate schedules that influence actual energy needs and costs.

"We will complete installing the energy monitoring system this summer and will use it initially only to acquire campus electricity and steam usage data," said Wunderlich. However, he suggested future applications for the system in a deregulated energy marketplace might include accepting downloaded variable rate schedules, making aggregate power purchases with affiliated colleges, gaining access to energy pricing and availability information, and purchasing power on-line.


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