PITTSBURGH, May 29 /PRNewswire/ --
- Partnership Begins Pilot Program in Ghana
BPL Global(TM), Ltd. (BPLG), a smart grid technology company dedicated to leading the transformation of energy and information delivery, has entered into a partnership with BPL Africa. Through this partnership, BPLG and BPL Africa plan to create joint ventures within a number of African countries to support development of smart grid projects and related operations. BPLG brings an integrated set of smart grid solutions allowing utilities to better manage supply and demand, integrate distributed energy resources and improve grid reliability to the venture. BPL Africa provides a capable local presence to accelerate regional business development and implementation.
Dieudonne Bakarani, President and founder of BPL Africa, has been deeply involved in developing smart grid and broadband markets in Africa for more than six years. His experience and connections in Africa will help BPLG and BPL Africa to open up partnership and implementation opportunities throughout the continent. BPL Africa serves the African market from sales and operations offices in South Africa and Ghana with plans to develop further operations across the continent.
"This partnership will allow us to further strengthen our local operating capability in Africa," said Pascal Julienne, President Executive Director of BPL Global EMEA. "Smart grid technology is ready to have a significant impact improving the efficiency and reliability of energy delivery, and countries around the globe are beginning to utilize this technology to improve the performance of their electric grids."
Initially, the partnership has created two joint ventures (JVs), one for South Africa and one for Ghana. The Ghana JV has already secured a smart grid demonstration project in Akosombo, Ghana with the national utility, Volta River Authority (VRA). The initial project is focused on delivering management and control applications for the medium voltage grid and broadband access to schools and VRA offices. Smart grid applications to be deployed included: BPLG's Power SG(R) Network Monitoring and Management, Rapid Fault Location, Residential Demand Management, and Broadband Communications. BPLG will integrate the smart grid applications with an advanced metering infrastructure. The smart grid system is designed to reduce frequency and duration of outages, improve the balance of supply and demand, and improve operational efficiency.
"We believe that this partnership can offer considerable socio economic benefits in Ghana, arising from introduction of intelligent electricity distribution and BPL technology for cost effective internet services. We are confident that the BPLG and BPL Africa teams will make this first deployment a success and as a result provide an example for many others to follow and implement throughout Africa," said Dieudonne Bakarani, President of BPL Africa.
About BPL Global
BPL Global, Ltd. (BPLG) is a smart grid technology company dedicated to leading the transformation of energy and information delivery. The company provides software solutions to electric utilities enabling an intelligent grid to more efficiently manage demand, integrate distributed energy resources, improve service reliability, and optimize cost and capital productivity. BPL Global partners with local utilities, Internet service providers, equipment suppliers and financiers to create end-to-end solutions integrating the best in software, communications, hardware and managed services to aggressively deploy smart grid solutions around the world. Part of the clean technology sector of the electric utility industry, our applications provide the critical foundation for a coordinated, intelligent grid to deliver energy more efficiently for a greener environment. www.bplglobal.net.
About BPL Africa
BPL Africa has been formed by a team of experienced industry executives who are committed to delivering the socio economic benefits across Africa that are offered by the latest "Smart Grid" utility applications and BPL communications technology. BPL Africa has offices in South Africa and Ghana with plans to develop further operations across the continent. BPL Africa was founded by Dieudonne Bakarani, who has considerable experience of building successful technology businesses in sub Saharan Africa. Mr. Bakarani leads a team of indigenous specialists from the fields of telecommunication, financial investment and power utility operations. www.bplafrica.com
Media Contacts: Thorne King BPL Global +1-724-933-7704 tking@bplglobal.net or Rhonda Lipschutz Manning Selvage & Lee +1-212-468-3050 Rhonda.Lipschutz@mslpr.com Web site: http://www.bplglobal.net http://www.bplafrica.com
Thorne King of BPL Global, +1-724-933-7704, or tking@bplglobal.net; or Rhonda Lipschutz of Manning Selvage & Lee, +1-212-468-3050, or Rhonda.Lipschutz@mslpr.com
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