About Your Co-op

To improve electric system reliability and meet our OPALCO communication needs, grid-control began with the first fiber-optic network build out in 1999. This high-speed data communications backbone has been in operation since 2001 to connect our Co-op operations on three islands. This fiber-optic backbone lets OPALCO improve reliability, safety and energy efficiency by means of automated and remote control and monitoring of our system across the 20 islands we serve.

Today, the grid control backbone consists of more than 100 miles of fiber-optic lines that connect OPALCO substations and monitoring and communications devices. All Co-op members share the cost and the benefits of this backbone.

Through our wholly owned subsidiary, Rock Island Communications, members can now access fiber for high speed internet services where available.

OPALCO manages miles of transmission and distribution power cables as well as fiber-optic lines that form our grid communication infrastructure. Grid control describes how we manage the electric (and fiber) grid, as well as the two-way communications needed in this digital age. Modernization describes the work being done to give our grid intelligence and automation.

The importance of modernization include:

1. Modernization lets us get more out of the existing grid that has historically been one-way energy transmission
2. Lets us integrate local renewables as the grid incorporates two-way energy and information flow
3. Gives users new ways to manage their energy usage, for example, more control over when they use energy

When the first strands of fiber were laid as part of improved infrastructure management back in 2001, many of the connected devices were only imagined, and today we are seeing them in place to help us manage energy use, control power switching, and more and more to help manage demand.

We all benefit from the grid as the modern technologies help keep operational costs down and provide monitoring and control of our far-flung utility system.This same communications grid provides the backbone for Internet services that OPALCO sells access to at a cost to Rock Island Communications, as well as other communications enterprises.