August 29, 2002 -- Sutron Corp., a U.S. provider of real-time monitoring and control systems, has been awarded a contract with PacifiCorp of Portland, Oregon, to help the utility company comply with Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) licensing regulations.
As one of the lowest-cost hydropower producers in the U.S., PacifiCorp generates 8,000 megawatts of energy for nearly 1.5 million customers in the Pacific Northwest. On July 19th of 2000 PacifiCorp agreed to monitor flow in the network of canals withdrawing water from the North Umpqua River and its tributaries near Toketee Lake to assure water rights compliance.
Sutron received contracts for the first two phases of the project. The contract for the first phase, valued at $200,412, was completed in 2001.
The contract for the second phase of the project, valued at over $369,500, was awarded to Sutron in July 2002 (included with July 2002 bookings) to be completed by October 31, 2002. The contract for the third phase of the project, which will include real-time telemetry for all existing gauging stations, is expected in 2004.
In the first phase a set of four stream gauging stations were established on the main canals supplying water for generation. In the second phase an additional 15 monitoring stations will be added on the natural stream reaches adjacent to the canals and on the penstocks that feed the project generators.
Data from all the sites will be brought to PacifiCorp's Toketee Control Center where it will be available to system operators. The system will produce daily water usage reports and compare water usage to minimum and maximum allowable flows.
The turnkey system is designed, built, installed, supported and maintained by Sutron. Sutron also provides PacifiCorp with the following: hydrologic engineering services, stream gauging, installation of staff gauges, all data logging instrumentation and equipment, gauge houses, data reporting software and training of PacificCorp employees for maintenance and operation.
Sutron, a major supplier of real-time environmental remote monitoring and control systems, provides responsive, cost effective solutions for environmental problems all over the world. Their extensive customer list includes a number of Federal Agencies such as the US Geological Survey, the National Ocean Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Weather Service.
For 27 years Sutron designed and manufactured equipment has operated unattended under the most extreme conditions in remote, inhospitable locales. Sutron's real-time data collection systems, over 27,000 in operation globally, include dataloggers, a variety of telemetry options, sensors, and data management software.
Source: Sutron