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Underground Distribution


FERC Complaint Targets Duke, PJM Transmission Planning

A coalition of large energy consumers and ratepayer advocates has filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), urging the agency to prohibit transmission owners from independently planning "local" transmission projects exceeding 100 kilovolts (kV). The coalition argues...

Conductors & Materials


Improve Energy Efficiency in Underground Systems

Making appropriate cable component design and material choices BY DENNIS DOSS, General Cable ore than ever, society is realizing that energy resources are dwindling and becoming more expensive. In response, North American electric utilities offer consumers a variety of incentives to deploy energy...

Wire and Cable


The Evolution / Revolution of Overhead Conductors… and why it matters

Brief Background: In the early 1900's Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced (ACSR) conductor was developed to replace copper wires, due to the war effort when copper was needed for munitions. In the 1970's growing demand for electricity inspired the development of higher capacity Aluminum Conductor...

Disaster & Recovery


Outage Management Toolbox

Nine capabilities required for an effective OMS system BY MICHEL GILLES, Intergraph Increasing or maintaining power reliability is the fundamental charter for utility companies. For electric utilities to meet customer expectations and adhere to government regulations, they require an efficient way...

Vegetation Management


Implementing Advanced Vegetation Management Strategies

Improve grid reliability today. BY SARA SANKOWICH, Unitil In 2011, the New England region faced two significant weather events: Hurricane Irene and an unseasonably early October snowstorm—on top of other frequent major storm events in the preceding four years. Utilities could not avoid the...

Pole Line Hardware


Roping Electrical Equipment

How synthetic ropes show results for heavy lifts BY BILL PUTNAM, Yale Cordage Years ago in Oklahoma, an investigation ensued after a pole-mounted transformer dropped thirty feet off a wire winch line and onto the foot of a line worker during a routine maintenance operation. Initially thought to...

Overhead T&D

Advanced Survey Technologies Deliver Clear View of Geologic Hazards

Electric utilities commonly use trained foresters, traversing thousands of miles, to manually identify vegetation or other geographic hazards posing risks to transmission infrastructure. For one utility in the Western United States, the challenging terrain and accuracy limitations of laser range finders used to visually identify at-risk trees resulted in 1,424 trees assessed as requiring maintenance, potentially costing $200,000.
 

Months later, surveying the same assets using high-resolution LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) on fixed wing...

Overhead T&D Articles