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WIA makes presentation to major conference
on BPL
Recently the WIA delivered a major presentation, 'BPL and Amateur Radio',
to an IIR conference on BPL held in Sydney.
The WIA presentation discussed the interference potential of BPL to both
the amateur radio service and HF radio communications generally.
The conference was attended by high level decision makers from the power
and utility industries, the Department of Defence, the Australian Communications
and Media Authority, ISPs, and others interested in providing access and
in-house BPL equipment and services.
The WIA presentation was very well received and we believe has increased
delegates awareness of both the amateur radio service, and the interference
potential of BPL technologies.
Some interesting general themes emerged from the presentations:
Firstly, BPL is no longer considered a magic bullet providing universal
broadband services. The technical difficulties of BPL are now well understood
and the greatest market opportunities for access BPL appear to be fringe
areas and niche markets where existing Telco's are not strong.
Secondly, BPL may be used extensively for electricity network management
and demand side management, such as automatic meter reading and dynamic
electricity pricing and load shedding.
Electricity generation capital costs run at about $600,000 per MW/H and
a large amount of money can be saved by reducing peak demand. In Australia,
the wholesale price of electricity is negotiated on the national electricity
market in 5 minute segments. This price is hedged through the banks and
averaged to arrive at the retail price to the consumer. The time may come
when major home appliances, like air conditioners, washing machines, and
refrigerators communicate with the power company to reduce their
electricity use when demand, and the spot price, is high.
It was also announced that NSW Energy supplier, Country Energy, is planning
a commercial trial later this year in a location to be announced. Country
Energy have indicated that the location chosen will have competition from
existing ADSL services and will also have underground power reticulation.
The WIA is continuing to work to ensure that all parties are fully aware
of the potential of BPL technology to cause severe interference to HF
radio communications, particularly amateur radio communications.
A copy of my PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from the WIA's
BPL page. This is a large file (almost 10Mb) and will require a broadband
connection and a copy of Microsoft PowerPoint. Clubs and others are welcome
to use this presentation without modification.
Phil Wait, VK2DKN
Source: Wireless
Institute of Australia
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