GE Digital Energy in pact with largest US public power firm, Tennessee Valley

GE Digital Energy has signed a 10-year strategic agreement to supply the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the largest public power company in the United States, with Multilin universal relay (UR) products for its existing and future substations.

The Multilin URs, protection and control products that serve as the engine for industrial and utility substation automation, will be used throughout TVA's power system.

These products will monitor and protect TVA's power system from failures and outages.

TVA opted for Multilin UR products following a rigorous evaluation of the top global protection and control vendors. When TVA opened its bid in 2007, it required a solution that provided the most advanced substation protection technology available, reduced copper wiring to save on maintenance and installation costs, NERC CIP cyber security compliance, and most importantly, the flexibility to apply this platform across all substation applications.

The Multilin UR products not only met all of TVA's criteria but also offered comprehensive support for IEC 61850, the international standard for substation communication that reduces construction and design costs and will allow TVA to upgrade to future technology without having to replace its existing infrastructure.

''We are pleased to have been selected by TVA to provide solutions for their substations. Multilin Universal Relays are driving technology advancements in the protection & control industry and will help TVA provide reliable power to its customers throughout the southeastern United States. The Multilin UR common platform will decrease response time to system problems, help TVA improve efficiency, and support the latest protection and control technologies,'' said Vince Tullo, General Manager - Sales, GE Digital Energy. ''We look forward to our on-going relationship with TVA.''

GE Digital Energy began collaborating with TVA in 2005 on its innovative Bradley Substation project, the world's first multi-vendor IEC 61850 500 kV substation test site, ith  the goal to develop a substation with dramatically less wiring and improved communications, ultimately decreasing costs and increasing power system reliability.

The flexibility of Multilin's URs and the product's ability to seamlessly integrate and operate with other vendors' relays and software was key in the success of the project. This was a great team effort between TVA, GE Digital Energy and other dedicated, innovative vendors. The result was a state of the art substation that will help TVA provide highly reliable power to its customers.