GridSense, a provider of advanced monitoring systems for distribution automation and grid operations of electric utilities worldwide, has acquired the assets of Pennsylvania-based On-Line Monitoring (OMI).
OMI will join Acorn Energy subsidiary GridSense to help develop new on-line monitoring products for the electric utility market and oversee production of the online bushing and transformer monitoring products.
GridSense said that it has been selected by OMI as a partner based on the flexibility, capability, and cost advantage of the transformer IQ.
The data accumulated from OMI’s systems provide utilities with information to prevent failures, which can result in forced outages and collateral damage of other equipment in the substation environment.
Jeff Benach, president of OMI, said: “When paired together, OMI’s PFLive Plus and GridSense’s Transformer IQ provide a powerful monitoring tool that will alert the utility engineer when a transformer has a problem.
”This technology provides an excellent and cost effective solution for determining the health and loading of a transformer without taking it out of service to test it.”
John Moore, CEO of Acorn Energy, said: “The aging of distribution systems is the most immediate and pressing issue facing electric utilities worldwide.
”The acquisition of OMI provides GridSense with an additional tool to strengthen its smart distribution automation platform and enable utilities to predict and prevent outages.”
OMI is a manufacturer of on-line substation monitoring equipment and offers products for continuous online testing and measurement of substation assets.