Ameren wins Utility Technology Council APEX award for innovative private LTE trial with Nokia

Nokia announced that Ameren, a US-based utility company, has won the 2020 Utility Technology Council (UTC) APEX award for its groundbreaking Nokia-powered private LTE field trial. The trial, which exceeded performance and scalability expectations, is part of the company’s digital transformation journey to a more reliable and sustainable electric grid.

Ameren successfully executed the P-LTE field trial in Missouri and Illinois during 2019 to validate 14 use cases for DA and enabling workforce mobility. Each of the use cases represented an old methodology of connectivity being replaced by the new Nokia P-LTE network, which simplified the management and maintenance of the overall communications network by replacing 20 networks with just one. Ameren extended its proven IP/MPLS service, security and maintenance environment over P-LTE to critical grid assets on the edge.

Based upon the trial results, Nokia’s P-LTE far exceeded expectations for performance and scalability requirements for field communications. In addition to better than expected technical results, the trial also highlighted the significant daily operational impact. These included a dramatic reduction in the number of networks to support, fewer skillsets to maintain, fewer spares, and fewer maintenance contracts. The integration with the IP/MPLS backbone enabled its well-known service, security and management environment to be extended towards the distribution grid edge with P-LTE which ensures performance and simplifies operations.