The Evergy project created one unified network which Ericsson claimed is capable of supporting an “array of both known and future-focused use cases to modernise the grid”, increasing reliability and safety while decreasing latency for mission-critical applications.
Evergy awarded the project to Ericsson in March 2022 with 20 PLTE sites planned in the initial deployment for 2022 to support a smart grid across Kansas and Missouri. With the first of these originally set to be completed by October 2022, Evergy expedited the cell site build plan and launched the first site in May 2022, in what the duo claimed is a record time - less than two months from the project award.
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The new PLTE network will support a variety of utility use cases, including accelerating decarbonisation of the grid, engineering access, fault circuit indicators, advanced metering infrastructure solutions and transmitting grid data into our back-office systems for processing. Evergy is deploying Ericsson’s cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core and private RAN network for the project, which supports both LTE and 5G, allowing for a smooth transition to future 5G services.
Per Wahlen, vice president at Ericsson North America, said: “We’ve commercially deployed and operated secure mission-critical network solutions for both investor-owned utilities and rural municipal utilities across North America. Evergy in partnership with Burns & McDonnell chose Ericsson not only for our ability to deliver against aggressive timelines but for our technology leadership, meeting capital efficiency KPIs, and focus on security and safety.”
Evergy is the largest electric company in Kansas, serving more than 1.6 million residential, commercial and industrial customers with a generating capacity of 16,000 megawatt electricity from its over 40 power plants in Kansas and Missouri. The company, formed by the merger of Westar Energy of Topeka and Great Plains Energy of Kansas City in 2008, owns more than 13,700 miles of transmission lines and about 52,000 miles of distribution lines.
