SAN DIEGO, CA: Lockheed Martin – a provider of energy management, engineering and cyber security solutions, and Dominion Resources – a producer of energy, have together launched VirtuGrid, a smart grid technology for remote detection of power outages.

With VirtuGrid, the voltage, power, energy readings, GPS location, phase and circuit connectivity can easily be transferred from a very remote area to an electrical substation in the same track of the power. These remote communications are controlled through low bandwidth communication networks, facilitating physical and electrical mapping of the entire distribution network.

“VirtuGrid will help utilities map the connectivity of the electrical distribution grid,” says Roger Flanagan, Director of Energy Services, Lockheed Martin.

VirtuGrid also provides information of energy usage locations across the grid. According to Mary Doswell, Dominion’s senior vice president of Alternative Energy Solutions VirtuGrid would benefit both utilities and energy consumers by providing much more precise information about where and how energy would be used across the grid.