Communication upgrades are coming down the line for Marshall County REMC members.
REMC officials told the county commissioners on Monday morning that they are making efforts to bring fiber optic cable to the meter points at their substations so they can do automated switching and voltage reads in a more secure, quicker fashion. This will also increase the time in meter reading.
The Rural Utility Service (RUS) has offered to loan the Marshall County REMC the funds necessary to build the smartgrid to the metering points. Internet connectivity to members and those along the line would also be included in the project.
CEO Mark Batman says this has lead REMC to consider a pilot project north of the office at 11299 12th Road.
“They already have fiber into our office for our GNT, generation transmission system, so they can bring back their readings,” said Batman. “Rochester Telephone along with Indiana Fiber Net has that connection into our office. It’s a very simple project for us then to run up King Road to pick up one of our Lawrence substations into the Southfield subdivision, and bring it across into Southfield and Forest Hills. We’re doing that as a test pilot project. Obviously, there are a lot of legal and operational issues that we need to go through to make that happen.”
Once that pilot project is done, they will be able to work out an operating agreement as to how they bring the smartgrid into the system and the potential of connecting broadband service to the area.
Batman said they want to be able to provide service to rural residents who need it to operate farms.
REMC is working on financing for the project and will be working on the plan in the next few years.
