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Utility Automation & Monitoring T&D


Extracting Value From Big Data

Moving forward with distribution automation and intelligent electronic devices BY JOHN MCDONALD, GE Digital Energy The ongoing rollout of interval (aka “smart”) meters and the resulting deluge of data have rightly received much attention and triggered the initial impetus for electric utility...

Distribution Automation


Underground Smart Grid

In recent years, the cost to bury high-voltage power lines has decreased dramatically. The American Transmission Company reports that installation costs for underground transmission lines (over 100 kilovolts) are now only 2.5 to 10 times the cost of an equivalent overhead line. Consequently, the...

Substation Automation T&D


Deep Packet Inspection Firewalls

Protecting legacy SCADA systems from cyberattacks BY ERIC BYRES, Belden Over the past decade, the power industry has embraced network technologies such as Ethernet and transmission control protocol (TCP)/Internet protocol suite (IP) for supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and...

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...

Asset Management & Maintenance


The End of the Road for Transmission Incentives

In a significant shift, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has decided to abandon its transmission incentives policy, particularly the construction work in progress (CWIP) incentives. This decision marks a pivotal change in how transmission projects are financed and regulated,...

Smart Metering T&D


FirstEnergy Explores Alternatives to PJM Capacity Market

In a strategic move aimed at enhancing its power supply reliability, FirstEnergy is actively exploring alternatives to the PJM capacity market. This development reflects the company’s proactive approach to addressing challenges within the existing market structure and ensuring a more robust...

T&D Automation

U.S. Electric Grid Under Cyberattack

Taking a stand against threats to ensure reliability

BY JOHN FINNIGAN, Environmental Defense Fund

If Ben Franklin lived today, he might say that nothing is certain but death, taxes, and cyberattacks. The U.S. electric grid is under constant cyberattack, according to a survey of electric utilities by U.S. House Representatives Henry Waxman and (now Senator) Edward Markey.

The grid was the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th Century, but cybersecurity was as unknown to those...

T&D Automation Articles