Smart grid infrastructure provider Trilliant (News - Alert) today announced a partnership with HD Supply Utilities, a large distributor to municipalities and co-ops in the U.S. The companies’ first engagement is with Victoria Electric Cooperative in Victoria, Texas.

The companies are working together on a pilot program that involves the deployment of Trilliant’s multi-tier SecureMesh Smart Grid solution to deliver advanced utility services. If the 90-day pilot is a success it could lead to a full rollout throughout Victoria Electric Cooperative’s 1,800- square-mile territory, which serves six counties with approximately 19,500 residential and 540 commercial and industrial customers.

While Trilliant has some domestic customers in the U.S., Sonita Lontoh, senior director of global corporate marketing at the company, says smart grid has been slow to take off here in the United States.

“This is definitely the view for the United States. It has been much slower than everybody expected,” she says, adding that perhaps educating end users on the value proposition of the smart grid could help give it more momentum in U.S.

Meanwhile, Trilliant is seeing a lot of momentum around smart grid in Europe, where regulators have been pushing the smart grid forward, and a competitive energy retailer environment is leading more utilities to deliver smart grid value-added service in an effort to capture and retain customers.

Trilliant Smart Grid Solutions cover the gamut of smart grid needs, including RF mesh technology; cellular-based technology; software/OS for the smart grid; and professional services such as network design, implementation and application hosting.

Lontoh says Trilliant is unique in the market because it addresses the WAN, home area network and the neighborhood area network. She says it’s also noteworthy that Trilliant uses the 2.4gHz unlicensed band, which means customers can use it to operate globally, whereas the other product relies on the 900mHz band, which is not available in many countries.

Trilliant has been providing smart grid communications solutions to many utilities around the world, including Centrica's British Gas, the largest energy retailer in the U.K.; Hydro One Networks in Ontario, Canada; and Iberdrola USA's Central Maine Power in the Northeastern U.S.