ONUG Communications Inc. of Raleigh, N.C., will be providing ongoing fiber optic splicing services to the city under a new contract with Danville Utilities.

Jason Grey, Danville Utilities’ broadband network manager, said ONUG has provided engineering services for the broadband initiative, but had expanded its services.

“They’ve been our engineering firm for almost two years now,” Grey said. “They got their Virginia Class A contractor license in the spring, and can now do the splicing work that needs to be done.”

The broadband initiative is part of an effort to build an energy “smart grid” in the city, in response to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

The broadband system, called nDanville, will ultimately provide improved power delivery to homes and businesses through an Advanced Metering Infrastructure that will replace electric, gas and water meters, as well as projects to improve substations, power monitoring and outage management.

“AMI will make the grid real smart,” Grey noted. “There are about 3,000 meters installed so far, but it’s just one piece of a smart grid.”

Grey said plans to improve outage management will mean that if one part of the grid goes down, another will take over in a “millisecond.”

Dan Huffman, president of ONUG, issued a news release about the company’s increased involvement in the city’s smart grid project, and his belief that improved energy management is necessary.

“The current electric grid has served the United States well for the last half century, but we must fully utilize out technological advances in communication to efficiently manage our resources, including energy,” Huffman said. “This is an exciting time, and the ONUG team is elated to be involved.”