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Utility Automation & Monitoring T&D


Boost Power Grid Resilience

Exploring communications for real-time network visibility BY DONALD POLLOCK, Ambient Corporation In August 2013, a report entitled “Economic Benefits of Increasing Electric Grid Resilience to Weather Outages” prepared by the White House Council of Economic Advisors and the U.S. Department of...

Substation Automation T&D


Machine to Machine Communications

Connecting the ‘smart’ with the ‘grid’ with M2M technology BY JEFF DIXON, Freewave Technologies As the world becomes increasingly connected, the integration of smart devices and tools, such as sensors, process control devices, smart meters, and security cameras have increased the need for...

Smart Metering T&D


Texas PUC Shelves $1B Grid Credit Mechanism

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has unanimously decided to shelve the proposed $1 billion Performance Credit Mechanism (PCM) for power generators, concluding that it would not deliver the anticipated grid reliability benefits. The PCM was conceived as a means to incentivize power...

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


Building a better world of smart structures on the smart grid

It is a truth universally acknowledged that billions of people around the world live in poverty. But does it have to be that way? Today’s technological progress means that tomorrow we will be able to produce more, more efficiently – lifting people above the breadline with accelerated...

Energy Storage & Grid Integration


THE SMART GRID: STATUS AND OUTLOOK

The electrical grid in the United States comprises all of the power plants generating electricity, together with the transmission and distribution lines and systems that bring power to end-use customers. The “grid” also connects the many publicly and privately owned electric utility and power...

T&D Automation

Advancements in Electricity Metering

Taking metering technologies to the next level

BY BRIAN SEAL, Electric Power Research Institute

Between 2004 and 2009, the production of traditional electromechanical electricity meters in the U.S. was gradually shutdown in the wake of the successful introduction of solid-state electronic meters. This transition was the most significant change in metering technology in over a hundred years. Although it has been four years since the last electromechanical meters rolled off assembly lines, solid-state meters are...

T&D Automation Articles