RICHMOND, Va., March 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Dominion Voltage Inc. (DVI), a subsidiary of Dominion Energy (NYSE: D) announced its latest project with Lethbridge Electric Utility (LEU) of Alberta, Canada to enhance energy efficiency and lower customer bills without the use of additional customer-end hardware or behavioral changes.

In 2011, the City of Lethbridge commissioned LEU to begin implementing an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program. Upon completion of this program in May 2017, LEU began researching technologies that could maximize the recent AMI investment to increase energy savings and improve environmental outcomes, such as a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

"Choosing a Volt/Var ("VVO") solution that takes full advantage of our investment in AMI was very important to us," said Stewart Purkis, electric utility manager-LEU. "The EDGE^® solution allows our team to have full visibility of voltage readings at each customer location and thereby drive maximum results. DVI has a well-proven product and their team took the time to listen to our goals and support our needs."

"It is very rewarding to see an electric utility so passionate about bringing benefits to its customers, to the environment, and to their distribution grid by implementing an AMI-enabled VVO program," said Todd Headlee, executive director-DVI. "DVI is passionate about working with Lethbridge Electric to launch a project that is likely to be a model for this region in Canada."

A working group comprised of each of Alberta's Distribution Facility Operators is following the outcomes of the project to consider future expansion to their utilities across the province.

In addition, in support of LEU's VVO deployment, Alberta Innovates, a provincially-funded corporation, has partnered with the City of Lethbridge to help achieve provincial energy efficiency goals and promote technology-driven job creation in Canada's dynamic energy sector. 

About DVI

DVI is the leading provider of Volt/VAR optimization technology, providing solutions for energy efficiency, demand response, Volt/VAR control, and system reliability. DVI's patented approach plans, manages and validates utilities' grid optimization programs while delivering significant savings to both utilities and their customers (U.S. patents 8437883, 8577510, 9354641, 9563218, 9582020, and other U.S. and international patents pending). For more information about DVI, visit www.dvigridsolutions.com.

About Dominion Energy

Dominion Energy is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,000 megawatts of electric generation, 14,800 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,600 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion Energy operates one of the nation's largest natural gas storage systems with approximately 1 trillion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves nearly 6 million utility and retail energy customers. For more information about Dominion Energy, visit the company's website at www.dominionenergy.com.

About Alberta Innovates

Alberta Innovates is a provincially-funded Corporation with a mandate to deliver 21st century solutions for the most compelling challenges facing Albertans. We do this by building on our province's research and technology development strengths in the core sectors of health, environment, energy, food and fibre and platforms such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and omics. We are working with our partners to diversify Alberta's economy, improve our environmental performance and enhance our well-being through research and innovation.

SOURCE Dominion Voltage Inc.