Canadian electricity company BC Hydro has placed an order for what will be the first fully operational TETRA network in North America. 

The network will provide improved communications and safety for BC Hydro staff in the Vancouver Lower Mainland region of British Columbia province. Serving the city of Vancouver and surrounding areas, it will consist of 25 TETRA base stations connected via the BC Hydro IP backhaul network, and up to 820 TETRA terminals – 450 mobiles, 350 handhelds, and 20 fixed units. They will operate in the 409–430 MHz range.

The introduction of TETRA technology was made possible by a change of the rules made recently by the Canadian telecoms regulator.

System integration for the project will be provided by S M Group International Inc. (SMi), a leading Canadian engineering and project management company, while the TETRA infrastructure and terminals will be supplied by PowerTrunk, an offshoot of the Spanish TETRA manufacturer Teltronic.

PowerTrunk will also provide three CeCoCo command and control centres, which will interface to BC Hydro’s existing VHF system. They will support 14 dispatchers.

“Utilities, transport and public safety organizations around the world have chosen PowerTrunk/Teltronic TETRA LMR due to our advanced technology and our willingness to deliver customized systems that meet each client’s unique requirements”, said Jose Martin, executive vice president and chief operating officer of PowerTrunk. “Together with our Canadian partner SMi, we will work closely with BC Hydro to deploy a network that is tailored to the company’s current and future needs while leveraging legacy systems.”

Safe working

BC Hydro is Canada’s third largest electrical utility. Serving more than 1·8 million customers, it operates 30 hydroelectric stations and three power plants fuelled by natural gas.

For efficient and safe working in both normal and emergency operating conditions, its crews require reliable and convenient mobile voice communications at dams, generating stations and substations, and along all distribution and transmission lines.

While their main requirement is for voice, BC Hydro will also use the mobile communications system for data applications such as short data and text messaging.

“I congratulate BC Hydro, PowerTrunk and SMi for being the first in North America to recognize the considerable benefits of choosing TETRA technology to deliver critical communications”, said Phil Kidner, chief executive of the TETRA Association. “We look forward to further TETRA contracts being awarded in the future in Canada as professional users come to appreciate the strengths and operational advantages of an open standard such as TETRA.”