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California PUC Advances Offshore Wind Procurement

The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) took a pivotal step in advancing the state's clean energy goals by approving a significant expansion in offshore wind procurement. This landmark decision is set to play a crucial role in California’s efforts to meet its ambitious climate targets and accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

Expanding Offshore Wind Capacity

The PUC’s new directive requires California utilities to secure up to 10,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind capacity by...

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Renewable Energy Job Creation

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Climate Change News

Starmer Faces Key Test on Carbon Budget Decisions

In December 2024, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is poised to confront a pivotal challenge in his climate leadership as the UK's independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) prepares to release its recommendations for the seventh carbon budget. Scheduled for February 26, 2025, this advisory will outline...
Utility News

LUMA to Add 1 GW Renewables and 700 MW Storage

Puerto Rico's electric utility, LUMA Energy, recently revealed plans to integrate nearly 1 GW of renewable energy and over 700 MW of energy storage into the island’s power grid. This initiative is part of a broader effort to move away from fossil fuels and to enhance the resilience and...

T&D Trends

Climate Change News

B.C. Climate Update: Key Actions in Climate Fight

In British Columbia (B.C.), the climate crisis remains an urgent issue, with various developments over the past few years underscoring the challenges and actions needed to address it. From projections of Earth's warming not improving in recent years to growing calls for a national youth climate...

Electrical Substations

Power Factor Testing of Circuit Breakers

Detecting contamination and deterioration in SF6 breakers to ensure longevity

BY LINDA NOWAK, Doble Engineering Company

The purpose of “Doble testing”, or power factor testing, SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) circuit breakers is to detect the presence of contamination and/or deterioration of the breaker’s insulating system. This process will allow corrective actions to be taken to ensure the integrity of the breaker.

The Doble test is completed by measuring the insulation’s dielectric-loss and capacitance and calculating the power factor. The increase of the dielectric loss and, consequently, the power factor, is representative of an increase in contamination and/or deterioration of the insulating system. The Doble test can detect a number of problems including the following items.

• Moisture contamination resulting from leaks or incomplete cleaning and drying • Deterioration of line-to-ground and contact-grading capacitors • Surface contamination of weathersheds • Deterioration of insulating components such as operating rods,...

Electrical Substations Articles

Substation Automation

Substation Automation Standard

Reducing engineering costs using IEC 61850 BY ADAM GAUCI, Schneider Electric As substation automation is moving towards software environments based on the International Electrotechnical Commission’s substation automation standard, IEC 61850: “Power Utility Automation”, the engineering process...

12 Tips to Protect Against Common Lineworker Safety Hazards

Lineworkers face numerous risks daily, from respiratory ailments to electrical hazards. These dangers can result in severe injuries, low blood pressure, bleeding, and vomiting. However, by adhering to established safety protocols, contractors and employers can significantly reduce the likelihood of...
Substation Automation

RTU and HMI Redundancy in Electrical Substations

As the substation RTU takes on more applications, such as Human-Machine-Interface (HMI), alarm annunciation, math & logic and “relay communication processing”, its need for high availability increases. Anything that takes the RTU out of service – configuration change, firmware update, or...