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overseas
This page considers overseas trials of internet-over-powerline
technologies.
It covers -
introduction
It is clear that internet traffic can be sent over powerlines,
whether within an individual building (eg an office or
a house) or to multiple urban and rural sites (eg to all
households within a city or suburb, to farms and to telemetric
devices).
Technical aspects of that communication have been explored
in a range of non-commercial trials in Australia and overseas.
Such exploration, with research by individual organisations
and through projects such as Opera,
is likely to continue, although some work appears to involve
government-funded reinvention of the wheel (or investigation
of telemetrics and notions such as the smart home in the
guise of inhome BPL) rather than significant extension
of existing knowledge.
There have been fewer commercial trials, ie explorations
of BPL business models encompassing -
- large
numbers of users in environments that are representative
of 'real world' conditions (eg where buildings/precincts
have not been newly rewired)
- inclusion
of hardware maintenance costs
- inclusion
of realistic ISP costs (eg billing system, helpdesk
and user set-up charges)
- inclusion
of other connectivity charges (eg fees to operators
of other networks for telephone traffic)
- pricing
of equipment at realistic rates (eg addressing criticisms
that distortions have been introduced by some equipment
developers/venders providing gear on a heavily subsidised
basis or at what it might cost in future)
- measures
of customer satisfaction and service
- comparisons
with commercial provision of other technologies, including
ADSL over traditional copper phone networks, wireless,
cable and fibre-to-the-home
- inclusion
of costs for fixing existing powerlines to address interference
problems (ie the cost of hardware and labour involved
in its installation)
That
is of concern, given claims by enthusiasts that BPL is
"in use across the world", is "commercially
successful" or is "clearly competitive".
Essentially, those claims have not been substantiated.
As noted on the preceding page, it is possible to find
media releases and (generally naive) media coverage about
the initiation of technical trials and forecasts that
access BPL will deliver substantial benefits in the near
future to both utilities and consumers. Those trials have
typically been small scale and short term. As with much
exploratory work the conclusion of a technical trial has
rarely been marked by a media release or a detailed public
report from the individual utility. It is clear from media
coverage and from examination of corporate annual reports
that many utilities have been disappointed, choosing to
curtail a technical trial or not to proceed to a real
world commercial exploration.
One example is the Nor.Web joint venture formed by Nortel
Networks and British energy company United Utilities in
1997. Technical problems in its access BPL trial in Manchester
(UK) - famously involving street lights near the test
site acting as antennas for the 2-10 MHz band with interference
to the BBC's World Service, Civil Aviation Authority and
GCHQ - and the expense of the joint venture led to closure
of Nor.Web in 1999. Across the Channel German equipment
giant Siemens abandoned the BPL business in 2001.
Proponents of access BPL have thus had difficulty in pointing
to a large scale implementation that appears to be commercially
viable and that addresses interference concerns.
Enthusiasts have tended to 'spin' some technical exploration
as commercial trials or to fudge specific aspects.
Claims about the economics of BPL for example often assume
there is no need to address interference concerns and
that maintenance of equipment housed in substations will
be low. That is unsurprising, given the potential to boost
the share price of a utility or a partner, gain favourable
media attention or merely justify a particular R&D
project. It is however problematical, with Aurora in Tasmania
and Country Energy in NSW admitting to concerns about
high temperatures; Country Energy commented that it "had
had to customise the cabinets enclosing the Mitsubishi
hardware to include 24-hour rotating fans as overheating
could be a problem".
Others have conflated figures for buildings that could
potentially access BPL (for example over 20,000 in the
Endesa trial in Barcelona) with substantially lower figures
for households/offices that have chosen to use the technology.
The Fribourg (Switzerland) trial has thus sometimes been
characterised as covering 250,000 households but in fact
only a fraction of 1% of that figure subscribed, the federal
regulator has criticised consistent breaches of standards
and the operator appears to lost substantially. In the
US the FCC reported that as of December 2005 there were
a mere 5,859 BPL customers across that nation.
Broadband - An Alternative Local Loop ESB Power Line
Trial in Tuam, a 2006 report (PDF)
by Mark Connolly, Pat Cooney & Mati Cleary of the
Irish Electricity Supply Board regarding the 'Tuam' (County
Galway) BPL project, commented that
- Broadband
Power Line has naturally attracted huge political and
financial support, particularly in Europe and the US
-
Enormous sums of money have been spent by very capable
companies since approximately 1997 trying to perfect
this technology
-
Most of these companies have exited the market or no
longer exist
-
Despite the significant prize (if or when achieved)
of enabling an alternative last mile infrastructure,
Broadband Power Line Technology is nowhere near an appropriate
state of development required for 'mass market' rollout
-
Additional provisioning issues identified during trial
push significant additional cost into an already marginal
business case ...
- despite
significant hype and R&D spending by vendors and
certain utilities, Broadband Power Line Technology is
nowhere near an appropriate state of development required
for commercial 'mass market' rollout
New Zealand BPL trials
BPL in New Zealand has followed the same trajectory as
overseas, with initial hoopla, small-scale trials and
little follow-up.
The trial in Auckland by UnitedNetworks and Vector ceased
after it "failed to produce commercial results",
with Vector commenting that
we
haven't been able to get anything commercially viable
... We can't get enough distance and the equipment is
a bit expensive.
The
Canadian government's 2005 consultation paper on BPL (PDF)
comments that
A
number of foreign governments including Australia, Austria,
China, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,
Korea, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland are
currently studying BPL technology or have permitted
equipment trials. The outcomes have shown mixed results
and have led some administrations to ban BPL systems
while other administrations have allowed deployment
under various conditions. A number of administrations
have suspended BPL trials pending international
developments
Access
BPL trials have included -
American BPL trials
US powerline trials have included -
- Iowa
(2004) - Alliant trial, abandoned
- North
Carolina (2004) - PECC trial, no further action
- Penn
Yann (2004) - Data Ventures trial, no follow up because
"not commercially deployable"
- Cincinatti
(2004) Cinergy - BPL partnership with Current Technologies
2001, test deployment to 100 customers in 2002, 'commercial
deployment' in 2004/5 to 5,000 homes
- LeHigh
Valley (2003) - abandoned by PPL as uneconomic
- Manassas
(2003) - municipal system: proprietary technology, predominantly
fibre rather than BPL
- Manassas
(2004) - original solution vendor (Prospect Street Broadband)
replaced by municipal government, ComsTek announces
"first commercial, non-pilot deployment" in
US, abandoned 2010
- Potomac
(2004) - PEPCO trial, 115 households
- California
(2004) - AT&T ends BPL pilot
- Dallas
(2006) - Current abandons trial 2008, sells infrastructure
to Oncor
- Monroeville
(2005) - Duquesne Broadband joint venture, WiFi over
last mile
- Briarcliff
Manor, New York - Ambient and Consolidated Edison trial
(2005)
-
Solvay, New York - New Visions Powerline Communications
trial in (2005)
- Boise
- IDACOMM abandons BPL trial
- California
(2005): San Diego Gas & Electric launches BPL pilot
- Grand
Ledge, Michigan (2006) - 'proof of concept' trial by
Consumers Energy and Shpigler Group
- Hauppauge/Commack
(2006) - Long Island Power Authority announces plans
to test BPL with 105 homes
Trials
(or announcements that trials will commence if authorised)
in Latin America include -
- Ecuador
(2008): electricity provider Empresa Electrica Quito
(EEQ) foreshadows rollout in Quito
European BPL trials
European powerline trials have included -
Finland
- Vantaa
Power (2001): trial in apartment block: abandoned after
regulator says interference too severe
- Kuopio
Energia and Vantaan Energia (2003): precinct trial abandoned
2005?
Austria
- Tirol
(2002) TIWAG trial: abandoned
- Neuenkirchen
(2002) EVN trial: abandoned
- Linz
(2003) Linzstrom trial: litigation by regulator
France
-
Courbevoie, Levallois-Perret, Nanterre and Rosny sous
Bois (2002): Syndicat Intercommunal de la Périphéria
de Paris pour l'Electricité et les Réseaux
de Communication (SIPPEREC) and Electricité de
France (EDF) trial involving 1,500 homes
- Paris
(2003): EDF trial
- outer
Paris (2006) SIPPEREC and EDF trial
Spain
- Saragoza
(2003) Endesa trial
- Madrid
(2003) Iberdrola trial
- Barcelona
(2003): Endesa trial
- Seville
(2000) Endesa trial
UK
- Manchester
(1997) United Energy trial: abandoned
- Crieff
(2005) Scottish Power trial: regulator OFCOM says "is
not and cannot be ... compliant"
- Winchester
(2003) Southern Electric trial: aimed for 1,000 customers,
reportedly only 50 signed up
The
Netherlands
- Arnhem
(2001) Nuon trial: Dutch utility Nuon ceases access
BPL trial in 2003 as "uncompetitive", with
no further action
Ireland
- Tuam,
Galway (2003): small-scale trial , 15 customers in 2004,
"unable to overcome noise on overhead networks",
"due to complexity of installation of LV equipment
along the street rollout abandoned
Germany
- Mannheim
(2002): PowerPlus Communications trial, primarily underground
lines
- Dresden
(2002)
- Dusseldorf
(2002) E.ON trial: abandoned, with E.ON commenting "the
technology is too complicated and costly to deploy"
- Offenbach
(2002)
Norway
- Stavanger
(2001) Lyse Tele trial
Switzerland
- Solothurn
(2004) inhouse BPL: regulator OFCOM says interference
is outside acceptable limits
Iceland
- Reykjavik
(2001) Reykjavik Energy 'Raflina' project: uses local
fibre network
Elsewhere
Latin and Central America
- Mexican
state power utility CFE trials in Mérida, Monterrey
and Mexico City (2001)
Asia
- Singapore
(2003): no further action as "uneconomic"
after three pilots
next page (recent
BPL activity)
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