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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...

Distribution Automation


Energy Storage & Grid Integration


PG&E Secures $15B Loan for Energy Upgrades

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), a major utility serving Northern and Central California, has secured a conditional $15 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office. This funding aims to enhance PG&E's hydropower generation, battery storage...

Utility Automation & Monitoring T&D


Protecting SCADA Systems with Defense-in-Depth Strategies

How utilities can utilize multi-layered security approaches BY RICHARD CLARK, InduSoft Defense-in-depth is a security strategy first developed by military leaders in which multiple layers of safeguards are placed throughout a system. The concept behind the strategy is that it is more difficult to...

Smart Metering 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...

Asset Management & Maintenance


Improving Grid Cyber Security

Addressing the impacts and the drawbacks BY ELIZAVETA MALASHENKO, CHRIS VILLARREAL, & J. DAVID ERICKSON, California Public Utilities Commission With grid modernization or “Smart Grid” efforts underway, cyber security is being recognized as an increasingly important factor in ensuring...

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