Hydro Ottawa Manages Smart Grid Using Fiber Optic Network Solution

The Challenge

Hydro Ottawa is Ontario, Canada’s, third-largest municipally owned electric utility. A key part of its smart grid plan was the need for more robust high-speed communications infrastructure to support data transmission among smart grid systems and equipment.

The utility’s plan included upgrading existing fiber for high-speed use, building out fiber, and adding a wireless network for remote switches and sensors. After seeing an affiliate company struggle with managing this type of information on spreadsheets, Hydro Ottawa needed a system to help manage this process.

The Solution

Hydro Ottawa selected a fiber network management solution from Hexagon's Safety & Infrastructure division to maintain a definitive source of reliable, location-based information describing the network and its connectivity. The system helps front-end computer-aided design operators and communications technicians who oversee connections.

Hexagon's solution allows Hydro Ottawa to track which fiber lines are being used, what they’re being used for, and which circuit they belong to on the network. With Fiber Optic Works, Hydro Ottawa is improving efficiencies across the network with its fiber initiative.