PLN is a nationally owned company in Indonesia that has been managing electricity distribution throughout the country for over 50 years.
PLN chooses RipEX radio modems on a regular basis for networks throughout Indonesia. PT Surya Total Pertiwi, RACOM’s partner in Indonesia works extensively with PLN. They materialised a SCADA telemetry network to manage electricity distribution in Makassar district with a population over 2 million on Sulawesi Island in the East of the country.
Having considered the main products currently on the market that could potentially provide a solution to the problem, RipEX and M!DGE were chosen ahead of competition.
RipEX was the only product that was able to provide coverage to the remote geographical locations within the network and the complexities attached to servicing these endpoints; up to four repeating hops are required to reach some end points. Indeed, only RipEX offers an unlimited number of repeaters on the way; any endpoint can also work as a repeater simultaneously.
M!DGE is used in parts of the network for reclosers and RipEX for reclosers and RTU’s with one SCADA system used to control the entire network, regardless of the communication type.
The customer appreciates other of RipEX’s unique features such as multi-master applications. Thanks to the RipEX anti-collision Flexible protocol on the Radio channel, more applications can run simultaneously while using different SCADA protocols such as IEC101, IEC104 and DNP3. A Terminal server at the centre also allows the combination of Ethernet and serial RTU’s from five different manufacturers; ABB, Nulec, Cooper, Survalent and Kwang Myung.
As an additional control measure, RipEX had been successfully field tested to the top end of its operating temperature of 70 0 C to ensure it operates seamlessly in the extreme climate.
The first 66 RipEX units and 3 RipEX-HS base stations have been installed at key points in the first phase during 2016, with the total number of sites estimated to be over 500.
The Partner view is given by Mr. Irwinho Harlim, CEO of PT Surya Total Pertiwi: “This tender was one of a number of a similar scope we are participiating for with high levels of success due to RipEX features. PLN is a long term customer who have very good experiences with this product over a long time. Both PLN and PT Surya Total Pertiwi really appreciate RACOM’s pre-sales and after sales support.“
