Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) has selected Landis+Gyr to deploy advanced meters and infrastructure as part of wide-ranging smart grid project aimed at improving energy efficiency, reducing costs and integrating alternative energy on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai.

As part of the pact, KIUC will be deploying Landis+Gyr's Gridstream RF mesh network technology that provides an intelligent communication path with advanced meters, distribution devices and home area networking equipment.

About half of the project is being funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

"New technology can ultimately result in our members saving money if we are able to better control our island's energy demand and be able to defer investing in baseload conventional generation," said Mike Yamane, KIUC chief of Operations and lead engineer on the project, in a statement.

KIUC is a not-for-profit generation, transmission and distribution cooperative owned and controlled by the members it serves.

Headquartered in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, the cooperative currently serves more than 32,000 electric accounts throughout Kauai. The utility is aggressively pursuing diversification of its energy portfolio to include a growing percentage of hydropower, photovoltaic, bio-fuel, and biomass.

Officials with Landis+Gyr said that in addition to automated meter reads, the utility will use the Gridstream platform to improve outage management, manage peak energy use, provide flexible billing options and help integrate emerging uses for electric energy, such as transportation.

Company officials said that Gridstream RF technology uses a highly versatile and proven radio mesh network to communicate with meters, in-premise devices and distribution automation equipment.

Gridstream devices use the Smart Energy Profile standard to enable communication with smart appliances and in-home units. This technology is currently being deployed to millions of residential and commercial sites across North America.

"This project will enable KIUC and Landis+Gyr to further demonstrate the value of smart grid technology for improving operational and energy efficiency," said Dave Connaker, vice president of Sales, at Landis+Gyr.

Connaker said that grid innovation also enhances reliability and gives consumers more options for managing their energy use.

Landis+Gyr is a global provider of integrated energy management products tailored to energy company needs and unique in its ability to deliver true end-to-end advanced metering solutions.