ATLANTA, Jan. 16, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, has retained Adapt IP Ventures, LLC to monetize their patented innovation portfolio.
Southern Company is offering a patent pending solution to improve the safety and reliability of power substations, cell towers, solar farms, etc., while deterring copper theft. Southern Company is seeking a company to further commercialize their Non-Metallic Alarm System.
Copper theft at remote sites presents significant safety and financial threats to power companies, cell tower operators, etc., as the cost of downtime, replacement parts and potential exposure to lightning strikes cost companies millions of dollars each year. Theft deterrents (e.g., painting copper grounds, tin-coated copper, motion sensors, tracing) have been ineffective, and with economic pressure increasing, there has been no sign of the thefts subsiding.
This patent pending solution uses a multimode fiber cable to help protect the master ground bar (MGB) from being stolen and sounds an alarm to indicate that the MGB is missing. The alarm is activated if a fiber is broken or cut. The system can also include deterrents such as light and sound and can integrate with cameras and security systems. This device is currently being utilized at many sites throughout the Southern Company network.
"There is a need for an alert system capable of indicating when a portion or element of an electrical grounding system has been removed," said Don Frizzell, Southern Company telecommunication specialist, and inventor of the system. "Additionally, such an alert system can be a deterrent to potential thieves by discouraging disturbance of the grounding system."
"The market for the Non-Metallic Alarm System presents numerous opportunities, as it can be deployed in hundreds of thousands of power substations, cell towers and solar panel farms, among other applications," said Christopher Savage, manager of Intellectual Property at Georgia Power. "We are very excited to be partnering with Adapt IP Ventures on the monetization of our innovation portfolio, and we are seeking the most qualified partner to commercialize the patent pending Non-Metallic Alarm System. Companies can sell the Non-Metallic Alarm System as a service/installation product, provide monitoring or simply sell the hardware as a catalog item."
"We are confident in the capabilities that Adapt IP Ventures brings to the monetization process and we look forward to finding the right partner to further capitalize on our company's innovation," said Savage.
The market is significant and deal structures and financial consideration can be discussed in more detail. Companies interested in receiving information on this patent pending portfolio offering are encouraged to contact Grant Moss at Adapt IP Ventures.
About Adapt IP Ventures, LLC
Adapt IP Ventures (www.adaptipventures.com), based in Atlanta, Ga., provides strategic advisory services designed to assist innovative firms understand and extract value from their patents. By serving as a patent broker for its clients, Adapt IP Ventures develops custom strategies to sell or license patents.