AmerenUE, Saint Louis University Join Forces to Launch Pioneering Weather Monitoring, Forecasting, Response System
November 13 2008 - 9:25AM
PR Newswire (US)
Highly Detailed, Precise Weather Predictions Help UE Restore Power
Faster, Use Resources Even More Efficiently ST. LOUIS, Nov. 13
/PRNewswire/ -- AmerenUE and Saint Louis University's Department of
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences today announced Quantum Weather(TM)
-- a highly precise weather monitoring, forecasting, and response
system for UE's Missouri service territory. Part of UE's Project
Power On reliability initiative, this pioneering system can
pinpoint severe weather activity on a neighborhood-by- neighborhood
basis. Current weather tracking systems are unable to distinguish
what's happening in individual neighborhoods because monitors are
often more than 100 miles apart and provide information only on an
hour-by-hour basis. Quantum Weather feeds detailed, near real-time
information over UE radio communications systems to central
computers in Saint Louis University's Department of Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences. Using computer models and analytical tools
created by SLU researchers, the system produces highly detailed
maps of weather activity that may affect neighborhoods across UE's
service territory. Quantum Weather will eventually include a
network of up to 100 weather stations mounted on existing UE poles
and deployed in key locations throughout the region to measure
temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed, wind
direction, and rainfall rates. UE has already erected 50 of these
stations -- primarily in the St. Louis metropolitan area. "Hours in
advance of severe weather, Quantum Weather provides predictions
that are much more precise than are currently available -- allowing
UE to further improve restoration times and increase efficiencies,"
says UE President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas R. Voss. "We
expect this system to make a real difference in our efforts to
offer restoration times even more quickly and to continue to
improve our service. And partnering with SLU helps us support
valuable science education programs in our own community," says
Richard J. Mark, UE senior vice president, Missouri Energy
Delivery. Saint Louis University President Lawrence Biondi, S.J.,
adds that this SLU-UE partnership exemplifies the University's
commitment to private sector partnerships that benefit the public.
"Quantum Weather also allows the University to fulfill its promise
to pursue research that improves our community. In addition, this
project will provide graduate students and faculty cutting-edge
research opportunities, and will give undergraduate students
valuable operational weather forecasting experience. We appreciate
UE for supporting the purchase and installation of these weather
stations and for helping to fund two new graduate assistantships as
part of this partnership." Quantum Weather's more detailed
information helps UE managers decide whether additional crews
should be called in or held over. It can show the company where
crews should be concentrated based on the severity and detailed
location of damage -- speeding up power restoration. Quantum
Weather also helps the company better predict restoration times and
identify facilities that are most vulnerable to outages so that
those facilities might be considered for the improvement projects
under the company's aggressive Power On Project. Quantum Weather
stations are also energy-efficient. Scientifically placed
throughout the state, the weather stations are solar-powered with a
battery that stores power during the day and keeps them operating
at night and on cloudy days. Each monitor is adjusted for specific
local conditions, like nearby buildings that can affect monitoring
of wind speeds. "A key component of the success of Quantum Weather
is the SLU researchers' development of unique software that
provides near-real-time forecasts on a very local scale," says
Professor and Department Chair William P. Dannevik, Ph.D., of the
SLU Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. "This system has
been made possible by the development of low-cost, easily deployed
weather sensors; the advent of more cost-effective high-performance
computing systems; new generation weather prediction models; and
AmerenUE's broadband digital communications network." Saint Louis
University is a Jesuit, Catholic university ranked among the top
research institutions in the nation. The University fosters the
intellectual and character development of more than 12,700
students. Founded in 1818, it is the oldest university west of the
Mississippi and the second oldest Jesuit university in the United
States. Through teaching, research, health care and community
service, Saint Louis University has provided one-of-a-kind
education, leadership and service for 190 years. For more
information, visit http://www.slu.edu/. With 1.2 million customers,
UE is Missouri's largest electric company and third largest
provider of natural gas. Ameren, through its operating companies,
serves 2.4 million electric and 1 million natural gas customers in
a 64,000-square-mile area of Illinois and Missouri. For more
information, visit http://www.ameren.com/poweron. NOTE: The term
quantum leap has come to mean a major advance -- a revolutionary
change that happens all at once. "Quantum" clearly fits this
pioneering new system. The butterfly icon is based on an
illustration of chaos theory -- that the air movement caused by a
butterfly -- sometimes called the Quantum Butterfly -- flapping its
wings in one end of the world can result in a typhoon or hurricane
somewhere else on the globe. DATASOURCE: AmerenUE CONTACT: Clayton
Berry of SLU, +1-314-977-7117; or Lori Light, +1-314-554-2681, or
Susan Gallagher, +1-314-554-2175, both of AmerenUE Web site:
http://www.ameren.com/ http://www.slu.edu/
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