Austin Energy

Organization

Austin Energy

Location

Austin, TX

Market

Energy

Solutions

Mission: See the Big Picture

Austin Energy serves over 1 million customers across 430 square miles in the Austin, Texas, area. So when the company moved forward to renovate its operations center, it wanted visualization technology that would allow for oversight of the entire network at a glance.

“Our mission was to build a state-of-the-art control center,”
— Craig Schaub, Austin Energy’s manager of control engineering.

“Being able to display our entire service network, including every substation, on one continuous wall display, was a critical element.”

Action: A High Resolution Video Wall

To provide that kind of situational awareness, AVI-SPL installed a 17-by-4 video wall of 80-inch Barco cubes.  The display stretches 89 feet wide and 16 feet high. For news and weather updates, four 70-inch displays are connected through IPTV.

Impact: Energy Efficient and High-Definition  Visuals

From their control room, Austin Energy staff monitors the transmission and distribution grid. Operators can see AE SCADA system information, a dynamic schematic transmission display, and two dynamic geographic distribution displays used by the wing operators. Operators can zoom into images without leaving their seats.

The size and high-resolution of the display wall combine to give operators a clear view of the data, enabling them to accurately monitor the network.

The wall is also powered by energy-efficient LED lighting, lighting that can last over 80,000 hours in eco mode.