São Luis, Brazil –  The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) awarded a grant to develop a smart grid telecommunications support plan for Brazilian energy and utility investment company Grupo Equatorial Energia. The plan will help improve the delivery of electricity to more than 2.4 million customers in the state of Maranhão.

“Smart grid telecommunications hold new and continued promise, and we are eager to play a leading role in this development in Brazil,” said USTDA Acting Director Thomas R. Hardy. “This project will open commercial opportunities for U.S. companies while supporting reliable power and economic growth for millions of people.”

USTDA is providing technical assistance in partnership with Equatorial Energia to define the telecommunications vision, architecture and build-out plan to support Companhia Energética do Maranhão (CEMAR), Equatorial Energia’s electric power subsidiary. The results will also be adapted for Equatorial’s other distribution companies in Para, Piaui, and Alagoas. 

Equatorial Energia’s Corporate Distribution Director Sérvio Túlio emphasized the company’s alignment with global technology trends through this technical assistance. “Grupo Equatorial Energia sees in this partnership with USTDA a way to enable the improvement of its telecommunication and automation processes, which are essential for the evolution of the distribution network towards a smart grid.  This partnership is an important step towards directing the company’s efforts to further modernize its operations and assets and serve the customer more quickly and safely,” he said.

U.S. businesses interested in submitting proposals for this USTDA-funded technical assistance should visit the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website at www.fbo.gov. A link to the FBO announcement will be posted to USTDA’s website at https://www.ustda.gov/business-opportunities.