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Utility Automation & Monitoring


Changing Utility Business Models And Electricity Investment In Europe

The traditional utility business model of selling electricity from large-scale thermal power plants and expanding grids to meet rising demand historically has supported strong balance sheets. With this financial strength, utility retained earnings served as the primary financing source for the...

Substation Automation


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...

Energy Storage & Grid Integration


Integrating Renewables

Turning green generation into power BY THE EXPERTS AT THE WORLD WATCH INSTITUTE A grid system’s difficulty in absorbing variable generation can present an obstacle to the growth of renewable power, especially when continued improvements in infrastructure and market design are absent. There are...

Asset Management & Maintenance


A Grid With Multiple Applications

Examining the foundational elements in architecture decision BY TOM WILSON, Itron In recent years, the utility industry has seen a diverse set of use cases for Smart Grid deployments emerge. North American electric utilities are carefully considering architecture decisions to ensure that the...

Smart Metering


Tracking Smart City Trends

Already, smart city technologies are strong in Europe and the Middle East. Now, cities all over North America are joining the smart cities movement as well. Once the journey begins, a city quickly realizes that it cannot become smart and sustainable without the help of its electric power utility....

Distribution Automation


Moving Smart Grid to the Field

Ben Franklin famously said, “If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail”. This saying certainly holds true for Smart Grid deployments, which can cost utilities several hundred million dollars. Given these high stakes, effective planning is essential. Many North American electric utilities...

T&D Automation

Microgrids: Moving Away From Central Power

Asset management evolves as microgrids play various roles

BY MASSOUD AMIN, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Microgrids, as many readers are aware, are small power systems of several megawatts (MW) or less in scale that possess three primary characteristics: distributed generation with optional storage, autonomous load centers and the capability to operate interconnected with or islanded from a larger grid. These small-scale systems offer a variety of benefits in the Smart Grid era....

T&D Automation Articles