Electricity Forum Intelligent Power Today Magazine Arc Flash Clothing

Infrastructure & Technologies


Fighting Wildfires to Increase Pole Protection

Evaluating pole selection for increased protection BY BUTCH BERNHARDT, North American Wood Pole Council The number of wildland fires reached record levels in many states in 2014, prompting questions about what poles perform more efficiently in fires: steel or wood. Research from a bulletin...

Cutting Through the Noise

In a conference room in early 2017, a group of Transmission operators, supervisors, and executives at Ameren sat down in an effort to craft a strategic analytics roadmap that would tackle the new challenges associated with transmission operations. One of the first questions the group posed to...

Infrastructure & Technologies

Sustainable Smart Grid Systems

Making the World More Sustainable

Smart grid is an idea of upgradation of the traditional electric grid infrastructure. The efficiency of the existing electrical grid can be automated by integrating with innovative technical equipment such as: high-tech forecasting system, digital sensors, advanced two-way communication and two-way power flow systems. Smart grid establishes an interface between utility and consumer which helps to use energy, based on the preferences of price, eco-friendly and without technical system issues. It empowers the grid to be more secure, reliable...

Related Articles


Aging Infrastructure and Grid Modernization

Asset and risk management for electric utilities BY SIRI VARADAN, UISOL, & SERGE VANASSE, Clevest Aging transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure is a critical issue for electric utilities, resulting in the need for utilities to make decisions regarding the replacement, repair, or...

Utility Pole Showdown: Wood vs. Steel

A recent study that takes an in-depth look at the environmental performance of wood and steel utility poles challenges current perceptions on the sustainability advantages of wood poles when compared with steel poles. The detailed study, titled “Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Southern...

Transmission Line Design

Taking 3-D drawing techniques to new technological heights BY BOB ZAPPITELLI, & HAROLD HARKONEN, Nordmin Engineering Historically, transmission line design and drafting has been an arduous task. It often involved an iterative manipulation of several parameters to achieve a final solution. The...


Overhead T&D, Direct Current Technology

Direct current (DC) is the preferred technology for moving large amounts of power across long distances. DC results in overall higher efficiency and reliability than an equivalently-sized alternating current (AC) system moving the same amount of power. The Advantages of DC More efficient: Over long...

Distributed Energy Resourses

Distributed Energy Resources - Small Scale Power

Distributed energy resources (DERs) can benefit the power system and individual homes and businesses. DERs can increase the resiliency and reliability of the power grid, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the overall power cost, and provide power at the point of use. Several types of DERs can...

High Voltage AC Transmission Lines

Three-phase electric power systems are used for high and extra-high voltage AC transmission lines (50kV and above). The pylons must therefore be designed to carry three (or multiples of three) conductors. The towers are usually steel lattices or trusses (wooden structures are used in Germany in...

Facing Wildfire? Choose Toughened Glass Insulators

Insulators under fire, what are we talking about? A line directly in the fire is considered as lost A line near the heat of a fire can be saved What is the condition of insulators on a line nearby a fire? Reliability of insulators during or after a fire is a key consideration for T&D...

The Three R's: Reducing the Environmental Impact of SF6

Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) Gas is used as an electrical insulator and arc suppressant in high and medium voltage electrical equipment in the electrical power utility and industrial power industries. SF6 is also used in medical devices, metal production and other manufacturing applications. The same...

Page 1 of 10