Equipment owners and energy providers will soon be able to participate in large-scale power marketing, generate new revenue streams, and lower their energy costs significantly, thanks to a partnership between Woodward Governor Co., Rockford, Ill., and Sixth Dimension, Ft. Collins, Colo., in which the two entities will develop a “networked generation” control system for power generation equipment.
Based on a combination of Sixth Dimension’s Intelligent Network service delivery infrastructure and a line of digital generator system controls from Industrial Controls, a Woodward business, the networked generation approach allows energy managers to manage power generation, power consumption, and maintenance operations more efficiently.
A demonstration site has been set up at the Woodward Engine Lab in Ft. Collins, where a bank of EGCP-2 generator set controls are tied into Sixth Dimension’s fully managed, digital network. Through any Internet browser, Woodward engineers can issue commands to remotely dispatch and monitor any of three gensets at the site.
"Because our new controls network the entire engine/generator package, this connectivity provides a wide-open gateway for energy and service providers to monitor and control virtually every device on the generator platform - in real time," says Paul Johnson, marketing manager for Woodward's power management products.
