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Utility Automation & Monitoring T&D


Enabling Smart Grid Volt/VAR Control

Optimizing power flow using a distribution model BY TIM TAYLOR, Ventyx Today’s emphasis on implementing energy efficiency programs and limiting peak demand growth has driven renewed interest in the most effective method to implement Smart Grid volt-ampere reactive control, or Smart Grid volt/VAR...

Smart Metering T&D


Tracking Smart City Trends

Already, smart city technologies are strong in Europe and the Middle East. Now, cities all over North America are joining the smart cities movement as well. Once the journey begins, a city quickly realizes that it cannot become smart and sustainable without the help of its electric power utility....

Energy Storage & Grid Integration


Integrating Renewables

Turning green generation into power BY THE EXPERTS AT THE WORLD WATCH INSTITUTE A grid system’s difficulty in absorbing variable generation can present an obstacle to the growth of renewable power, especially when continued improvements in infrastructure and market design are absent. There are...

Asset Management & Maintenance


Storm Hardening Utility Communications

Save money and increase reliability. BY JEFF GROSSHAUSER, Motorola Preparing for winter is more than just a seasonal ritual for utility providers. Electricity and gas must still power cities during violent snowstorms and extreme cold. Arguably, that power is never more needed than when extreme...

Distribution Automation


How Much DER Fits?

The electric power industry is increasingly having to evaluate the growing penetration of distributed energy resources (DER). New sets of challenges exist for planning and operating the grid, especially with the distribution systems in which these new resources must be integrated. Now electric...

Substation Automation T&D


4 Benefits of Distribution Automation in a Decentralized Energy World

When dozens of utilities received stimulus funds for distribution automation projects in 2009, solar was barely a gigawatt-scale market in the U.S. Sandy was simply a lead character in Grease, not a superstorm that would prompt cities and states to reassess the future-readiness of their...

T&D Automation

How to Improve Crew Management

Utility implements new system to expedite restoration process

BY BILL PERRY, MARCH 24 Media LLC

Assembling and deploying utility crews for major events is often a manual, cumbersome process for utilities. When executives or the media ask the status of crews in the wake of storms, it can take some storm centers up to four hours to pinpoint the location and status of crews.

“Where are the crews?” is a perennial question that directly affects...

T&D Automation Articles