T&D World - November 2024

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Hurricane Francine: Expediting Power Restoration to the Gulf Coast

This photo gallery showcases how Entergy’s crews, contractors and mutual aid workers leveraged specialized equipment and technology to restore power quickly to the impacted communities. https://tdworld.com/55140137

Hurricane Heroes: Line Crews Respond to Helene

Duke Energy Florida shared these photos of their lineworkers in action in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. https://tdworld. com/55233108

Utility Business Notes: Quanta Invests In Steel Mill and Siemens Buys Switchgear Maker

Also: GE Vernova is booking extra costs to catch up to offshore project delays. https://tdworld.com/55139948

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OUR ONE ASPLUNDH APPROACH DELIVERS TO OUR CLIENTS, PARTNERS AND COMMUNITIES, THE BEST EQUIPMENT, SERVICES AND RESOURCES THROUGH A SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT ACROSS OUR FULL SUITE OF VEGETATION, ENGINEERING AND UTILITY INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES.

AS ONE ASPLUNDH WE CAN SCALE OUR RESOURCES TO CREATE MORE INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO MEET THE DIVERSE NEEDS OF TODAY’S UTILITIES. BRINGING TOGETHER THE BEST PEOPLE, PROCESSES, EQUIPMENT AND KNOWLEDGE RESULTS IN A FUTURE THAT IS MORE CLIMATE READY, RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE FOR EVERYONE.

BY NIKKI CHANDLER,

Through It All

T&D World has been there throughout the years as our readers have restored, rebuilt, and recovered from devastating storms. We have been there through crises, technological breakthroughs and a pandemic.

This year we are celebrating our 75th anniversary in print and are still going strong. We consider ourselves for utilities, by utilities, as T&D World will continue to give a voice to utilities to share best practices and lessons learned in order to not only keep the lights on right now, but to be able to transition the grid with all the changes in technology, climate and regulations. Utilities HAVE to be able to learn from one another and T&D World’s magazine, website and event will continue to help you do that.

As I pored over archived issues and digital stories, I enjoyed diving into the rich history that T&D World has covered. When I first joined the editorial team as an intern in the mid-90s, T&D World’s editorial staff had recently won a NEAL award (which I was told was like a Pulitzer for trade journalism) for their in-depth article on the science vs hysteria on EMFs. We have covered the Enron crisis; we did special issues on the Northeast blackout, Katrina, and Sandy.

“Uncle” Vito Longo, with his attention to detail and quality. Rick retired in 2019. Sadly, Vito and Gerry have since passed away.

In 2021, Teresa Hansen took over leading T&D World as VP of content after 25 years as editor-in-chief of Electric Light & Power and heading the conference for DistribuTECH. She worked with our events team to launch T&D World Live, an event that is an extension of T&D World’s editorial history, coverage and leadership. She retired this past year, but she has left a strong, hardworking group of editors and contributors who will continue the purpose “for utilities, by utilities.”

Another team member who I must mention and thank is Susan Lakin. She has been the art director for T&D World since 1992, amazingly and beautifully illustrating our articles and covers. She is a one-of-akind designer. She reads all of the articles and sees beauty in the substations, power lines and components of the power delivery business. She really is the one who makes us look good.

Our editors embedded with utility crews after Katrina, Ike, Sandy and Harvey, to report from the front lines. When wildfires became a devastating, continuing problem, we launched a Wildfire Mitigation supplement and regularly share utilities’ best practices for grid hardening and resiliency. We covered the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on utilities, electricity demand, and field workers. When Winter Storm Uri hit, we shared stories debunking misinformation in social media, and Technical Editor Gene Wolf reported the facts from the engineer’s perspective.

The People

When I joined T&D World in 1996, it was two years after Editor-in-Chief Rick Bush came to the magazine after a 22year engineering career with Georgia Power. Mike Eby had also recently joined the crew from Florida Power & Light. They brought T&D World into the new millennium, adding an automation editor, Chuck Newton, in 1995 and an international editor, Gerry George, in 1996, reflecting everchanging technology and a more global focus on energy. Mike Eby eventually moved over to another magazine in 1999, Electrical Construction & Maintenance. Then came

Each of these editors brought their own passions and personality to T&D World, continuing the tradition of gathering and creating articles that help utilities navigate their daily operations while preparing and moving into the future. I am proud to be a part of this brand, now more than a magazine. It is a website, newsletters, an event, and a community. We are here to help electrify and keep the world electrified safely and securely.

Reflections

In the meantime, enjoy our issue looking back on the past 75 years. Gene Wolf first covers what has happened in the past 25 years in smart grid technology advancements. Then in our cover story, Managing Editor Jeff Postelwait explores the regulatory environment and utility business over the past 75 years.

Our Timeline of Electricity Milestones, events that shaped our industry, starts on page 24. And retired Editor-in-Chief Rick Bush remembers technological initiatives and innovations that worked, and some that maybe didn’t quite take off.

But as I mentioned, we’re not done. We have a lot more work to do, and we are here to celebrate your projects and wins and, when our industry has trials, what we can learn from to be better. So if you have a story to tell, let us know, we will share it, if you have questions and concerns, let us know so we can help find out the answers and solutions.

SHOW INSIGHTS

ABY CHRISTINA MARSH , SENIOR EDITOR

Overcoming Load Growth Challenges: Insights from T&D World Live Conference

s the energy sector continues to evolve, utilities are grappling with rapid load growth fueled by data centers, electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable energy. At the T&D World Live conference, industry experts shared their strategies for meeting these demands, emphasizing both regional and national trends affecting transmission and distribution (T&D) networks.

Georgia’s Data Center Boom: Planning for Massive Load Increases

Georgia has emerged as a key location for data centers, presenting unique challenges for utilities. Director of DER Strategy at Cobb EMC, Manish Murudkar highlighted how data centers require different types of planning due to their enormous energy demands, which can range from 100 to 1,500 MW.

“Data center load is really a different kind of planning — a different animal,” Murudkar explained. “Georgia is becoming a hotbed for data centers, and when you look at the scale of this load, it can be far higher than the entire service area capacity.”

With Cobb EMC operating in a 432-square-mile area, accommodating data center loads poses significant challenges.

“Our capacity is around 1,200 megawatts, and these loads can exceed that at one location,” he added.

The scarcity of available capacity means that new infrastructure will be essential, but this comes with long lead times and high capital costs.

“It will take another three to six years to build the necessary capacity, and there’s always credit risk tied to such large investments,” Murudkar said.

Addressing Reliability and Transmission Growth

Senior VP of Transmission Policy at Georgia Transmission, Keith Daniel emphasized the importance of reliable infrastructure amid rapid load and generation growth. Georgia’s transmission network has undergone significant changes due to new renewable energy sources, particularly in rural South Georgia, where large-scale generation plants are being developed.

“We’re seeing a lot of load growth, and it goes hand-inhand with generation growth. This is driving a level of capital investment we’ve never seen before,” he said.

To improve reliability, Georgia Transmission has been implementing advanced technologies like remote control switches for its transmission lines.

“These switches have been transformational in reducing outage durations. They allow us to operate the system from the control center and restore service more efficiently,” Daniel explained. He also shared that they are piloting the use of advanced conductors to increase transmission capacity

without overhauling existing infrastructure.

Georgia Transmission is also experimenting with microgrids to offer cost-effective solutions in rural areas.

“We’re building a microgrid in a rural region as an alternative to traditional transmission and substation infrastructure. Although battery costs are rising, the microgrid will still be less expensive than a traditional solution,” Daniel added.

Adopting Technology and AI to Drive Efficiency

Despite advancements in technology, VP of Energy, Utilities, and Resources at IFS, Carol Johnston pointed out that barriers to adoption still exist, particularly in terms of cost, operational complexity, and workforce resistance.

“There’s a lot of excitement around AI, and while AI isn’t new, we’re seeing a massive interest in its applications,” Johnston said. “...With increased load, demand, and a shrinking workforce, AI is helping utilities manage operations more efficiently.”

Johnston also highlighted how AI can be used for predictive maintenance and asset management, allowing utilities to anticipate outages, optimize grid operations, and enhance resiliency.

“We’re seeing AI being used for everything from vegetation management to predicting where EV loads will come from,” she said.

However, Johnston stressed that the success of technological solutions relies heavily on change management within utilities.

“Rolling out new technology will impact daily operations. It’s important to ensure that everyone—vendors, staff, and decisionmakers—are on board with the changes and understand how it will benefit their work,” she explained.

A Transformative Time for Utilities

The T&D World Live conference underscored how utilities are adapting to the increasing complexities of load growth and infrastructure demands. Whether it’s through advanced transmission technology, microgrids, or AI, the energy sector is evolving to meet the needs of the future.

Carol Johnston, IFS, VP of Energy, Utilities and Resources; Manish Murudkar, Director, DER Strategy, Cobb EMC; Keith Daniel, Georgia Transmission, Sr. VP of Transmission Policy.

Decades of Technological Advancements

Several months have passed since I started thinking about what to write about for the 75th anniversary of T&D World, and now I better get started. There is no shortage of topics. The problem is narrowing the field, so a visit to the archives seemed like a good idea. The 50th anniversary issue was published in November 1999 with a wealth of fascinating articles, but it was the advertisements and photos in the articles that proved invaluable.

There’s a reason for that old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” An eye-catching photo makes a reader stop and read the article. The photos in the 1950s section did exactly that for me. There were photos of linemen wearing soft, cloth hats hanging from the top of a pole, supported by their hooks and climbing belts. There wasn’t a bucket truck anywhere in sight, or any power tools.

boxes. It was a photo of the HVDC valve hall at Segall converter station. The article said, “in 1977 the Segall converter station was the first permanent tie between the eastern and western power grids.”

For the next decade this imaginary zigzagging boundary line became an HVDC hot-spot. Six more back-to-back converters were built along it to move power between the grids, and I was the project engineer who built one. Today this border is back in the news because of NREL’s Seam Study project. Bridging the boundary has increased in importance. Experts say it holds the key for grid resilience and meeting decarbonization goals.

In

the twenty-five years that have passed since VSC-HVDC technology debuted, VSC-HVDC has redefined moving large blocks of power across extreme distances.

The 1960s section had a really strange photo that certainly caught my attention. There were two linemen doing barehand work on a line, with a weird looking contraption attached to their buckets. I have been up in buckets with linemen doing barehand work, but I’ve never seen anything like this. The caption said I was looking at a basket bonded to the line.

That gadget was an overhead shield arrangement. It covered the back and top of the two buckets to absorb electrostatic field charges. The article went on to say this was the field test that proved workers were safe doing barehand work. It continued saying that a totally new method of line maintenance had been born, which got me thinking. What other technologies introduced in their era are now a major player in ours and will continue?

Joining the Power Grids

From that point on I started studying the technological photos more closely. It quickly became evident there were many of these suitable subjects and I’d have to be very selective. As I started the 1970s section. I found one that checked all of the

Moving on to the 1990s section, there was a 1999 news item that really jumped out. HVDC took a quantum leap forward with the debut of voltage source converter (VSC) technology. The first application was a VSC-HVDC submarine cable connection in Sweden followed by a VSCHVDC back-to-back converter in Texas. Looking back from today’s perspective, it’s doubtful anyone appreciated the full implications of what that VSC-HVDC technology announcement represented.

Never Expected

In the 25 years that have passed since VSC-HVDC technology debuted, it has redefined moving large blocks of power across extreme distances. It’s exceptionally flexible, utilizing overhead conductors, underground cables, or submarine cables technologies or a combination of them. This versatility makes it possible to aesthetically deliver power anywhere it’s needed even within the heart of congested metropolitan areas without being noticed.

Taking it another step further, the European Union (EU) has begun laying the groundwork for developing a VSCHVDC mesh-grid with multiterminal point-to-point delivery hubs. When completed, it will connect all of the EU’s VSCHVDC superhighways that transport wind power from the north, and solar power from the south, to load centers across the entire EU. This is a gamechanger that definitely needs to be watched as it develops.

With that in mind, I started thinking specifically about those technologies of the early 21st century that are going to be considered a trailblazing technology when our 100th anniversary issue rolls around. I know there are many technologies in the running for that distinction, but VSC-HDVC technology gets my vote hands-down. It’s current applications are impressive, and it’s a good bet that the next-gen VSC-HVDC technologies will continue that trend. Consider power corridors, multi-functional artificial energy islands, or mesh-grids: they’re under development along with many other VSC-HVDC applications. It’s going to be interesting to see if I’m correct!

Timing Is Everything

Why has smart grid technology been able to evolve so quickly?

It’s the 75th anniversary of T&D World, and it has been an amazing ride chronicling the technological history, trends, and transitions that got us here. Twenty-five years ago we marked the occasion with our 50th anniversary of T&D World . The first 50 years was an amazing time with some advancements in technology that changed our industry. The next 25 years are equally interesting. There are so many technological advancements that took place between the 50th and the 75th issues. It’s impossible to list them all, so why not look at something that continues shaking things up and will influence the next 25 years?

Surprisingly, there are quite a few technologies that make the cut, but space is limited. Let’s concentrate on “Smart Grid” tech. How did smart grid advance so far in such a short time? Author Ray Kurzweil said in his latest book The Singularity Is Nearer, that computing power and information technologies (IT) are exponentially getting cheaper with time. This is illustrated in a price-performance graph he provided using a constant 2023 dollar baseline. It shows that the last decade was a good time for applications needing computing power.

The section of the curve running from 2005 to 2023 is significant both to Kurzweil and this discussion. He points out that this section shows that a 2023 dollar, adjusted for inflation, buys about 11,200 times as much computing power as it did in 2005. For Kurzweil this portion represents the time between his first book in his singularity series and this one. It’s a period where computer power changed rapidly, and it anchors the smart grid tech’s development nicely.

That section of the graph gives a unique perspective of the rapid cost drop of computing power, and it shows the dramatic increase of computation speeds for the same period. There were other gains, but this demonstrates the point. It’s also important because the tech began being called smart grid in 2005, and by 2023, smart grid’s evolution was unbelievable. It’s not slowing down, which ties in with Kurzweil’s example.

Technology Transition

It’s hard to believe that smart grid tech has developed to the point it has in such a short period of time. Initially it had a niche market, but that’s no longer the case. Smart grid tech went mainstream, by adding intelligence to the power grid. Business models changed, and bidirectional power flows became a reality. It’s hasn’t stopped and there’s no end in sight. The next 25 years are going to be amazing.

On a more tangible level, smart grid’s components have gotten more compact with a smaller footprint than traditional equipment. That led to more efficient use of space like rightsof-way and site requirements for facilities. Most importantly smart grid has improved the electrical and mechanical ratings

of components and increased their operating characteristics.

This is illustrated by the 21st century’s bulk transmission systems need for more capacity. The customary method of adding more wire in the air is challenged by many obstacles. Smart grid tech addresses this with dynamic line rating (DLR) technology. The technology can be added to new or an existing transmission lines quickly and economically. Overall, the reports from utilities using the DLR technology are very positive. DLR installations have increased the capacities of existing transmission line between 25% to 40%, but it came with a price, big-data.

Connectivity Transformation

As the amount of the smart grid’s big-data grew, it became apparent that wireless communication systems were needed to move it. 5G networking is another digital-base technology benefiting from lowering computing power pricing. Its ability to upload and download large data blocks quickly is needed by those dealing with big-data, but that was only part of it. 5G’s wireless feature is perfect for an industry with assets scattered over miles of city and rural landscapes.

When 5G was integrated into the power grid, it took smart grid tech’s abilities to another level. Power grid equipment and personnel finally had direct access to state-of-the art communications, but that wasn’t only the benefit. 5G networking also provided the virtual link needed throughout the enterprise. It connected the office, field personnel, fellow workers, digital files, and many other work related applications making possible a variety of digital-based operations, and it didn’t stop within the enterprise.

Boundaries like the grid’s edge and behind-the-meter were no longer an obstacle. The IoT (internet of things), IIoT (industrial internet of things), and UIoT (utility internet of

things) provided seamless connectivity. Some experts say this has added more awareness of the power grid’s health and what is taking place across the entire power delivery network. More importantly, it provides two-way interconnectivity between the intelligent assets of the power network, the management platforms and the customers.

Real-time Dynamics

Let’s look at the nuts and bolts side of the power grid (i.e., the physical portion) too. During the past 25 years, the components have become smarter and more complex, but at the same time more user-friendly. In a nutshell, these elements have been transformed into intelligent electronic

devices (IEDs). IEDs integrated with Wi-Fi or 5G networking has led to power equipment capable of two-way communications between each other, control systems, and management platforms.

These IEDs produce real-time data and moved intelligence into the substation yard. It has been an immense lift for digital substation technology and has turned the control building into a mini data center. This improves the performance of the devices and the management of the assets. In addition, it upgrades the overall operating efficiency of the power grid itself. IEDs provided the link needed for operating technology (OT) to interconnect the enterprise with its critical assets.

Advancements in equipment, communications and computing power have led to something that seemed impossible at one time, the IT/OT convergence. The convergence merges the virtual worlds of IT and OT into one domain. It redefines the idea of remote assets, since they are no longer remote. According to Virtue Market Research, IT/OT convergence was valued at US$51.9 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach about US$134 billion by 2030, so it’s definitely a technological force that will easily extend into the next 25 years.

Adding to that value is an interesting innovation taking place within IT/OT tech. It’s the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). AI’s strong point is handling the massive amounts of big-data and pattern recognition, but that’s only

a starting point. The AI proponents say we have barely begun to understand the possibilities that IT/OT applications augmented with AI represents.

Digital twin technology was one of the earliest achievements from the IT/OT convergence to hit the industrial world. This tech has been called the digital bridge between the real world and the virtual world, More accurately it’s a digital copy of physical assets using software to represent not only those assets, but the processes that predict, understand, and optimize the performance of the assets. Let’s look at a couple of smart grid applications that have been augmented by digital twin tech reinforced with AI.

Smart Grid Gets Smarter

When computerized transmission modeling met LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) surveying, and both were blended with vegetation management, it was digital twin tech that made sense of it all. It came about when NERC encouraging utilities to survey their high-voltage transmission systems using LiDAR. Most utilities had detailed computer models of their transmission lines, but many were missing accurate field data, which is LiDAR’s strongpoint.

The LiDAR provided that detailed field data of not only the lines, but everything the LiDAR equipment saw during the survey. It proved to be a challenge, but digital twin tech

provided a perspective of the power grid never seen before. The AI enhanced digital twin application did a fantastic job of data-mining that resulted in a comprehensive virtual eco-system, which took transmission line asset management to another level.

Distributed energy resources (DERs) and decentralized energy generation are also benefiting from digital twin tech as it’s applied to the virtual power plant (VPP). DERs can have a wide variety of energy sources ranging from rooftop solar to electric vehicles, but it’s a challenge getting them to work collectively. Bringing AI, VPP, and DER together is proving to be a boost for the goal of decentralized energy generation among other things. There have been successful pilot projects, which are encouraging more VPP development.

It’s been an exciting 25 years, and we only scratched the surface. For the next 25 years, it’s a good bet that cloud connectivity, increasing computing power, big-data analytics, AI enhancements, advanced asset management systems, and performance platforms, will continue to move smart grid tech forward. The transition to a self-aware and self-managed power delivery system is evolving much faster than anyone expected. It’s almost like that proverbial perfect storm where all the technological pieces fall in place and are working together. Sure it’s uncomfortable and in some cases disruptive, but it’s exciting too!

$155 MILLION INVESTMENT BOOSTS NORTH AMERICAN MANUFACTURING CAPACITY AMID RISING DEMAND FOR ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

Hitachi Energy plans to invest an additional $155 million to expand its manufacturing capacity in North America.

Hitachi Energy has added over 8,000 employees between 2020-2023, including more than 1,200 in the U.S. The company has also announced over $150 million of investments in North America and future investment plans are under consideration.

“Demand for electrical equipment, including transformers and switchgear, is surging globally, and significantly in North America, and one of our highest priorities is making sure that we are growing our capabilities to address our customer’s present and future needs,” said Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of Hitachi Energy. “To achieve our goals, we will continue to expand and optimize our footprint in the North American region, leverage our expansive global presence, and prioritize R&D and innovation to drive the energy transition without compromising safety and reliability.”

The investments in North America include $70 million in the construction of a distribution transformer factory in Reynosa, Mexico along with an additional investment of over $25 million to expand its South Boston, Virginia transformer factory, in the US. The transformer factory in Reynosa will address the need for single-phase, padmount distribution transformers used in the North American market and will create 350 jobs in the region.

The investment in South Boston will help expand the production capacity for large distribution transformers and is expected to contribute to the region’s economic growth and development, creating about 100 new jobs ranging from skilled manufacturing to administrative roles.

Hitachi Energy announced projects in Canada of an overall $104.28 million investment to support the establishment of a HVDC

with more than seven factories supporting the market demand for transformers coming from Europe, South America, and Asia.

The company has also announced a $60 million investment in its Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania facility to double production capacity for high-voltage switchgear and breakers, including dead tank breakers, gas-insulated switchgear and hybrid switchgear. The investment will create around 100 new jobs.

A significant portion of the investment includes the implementation of a gas-management system for EconiQ switchgear production. The EconiQ eco-efficient technology eliminates the use of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), the most potent greenhouse gas from high-voltage equipment.

EV CUSTOMERS REWARDED FOR ASSISTING THE ELECTRIC GRID DURING PEAK ENERGY PERIODS

Ford Motor Company electric vehicle owners and lessees in Southern California Edison’s (SCE) service area will be rewarded for assisting the electric grid during peak periods of energy demand.

Ford will help deliver customer participation in SCE’s Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP), one of the utility’s ongoing efforts to enhance grid resilience and improve vehicle grid integration (VGI).

Ford is supporting the ELRP through Olivine, which administers distributed energy resources and offering electric vehicle customers participation in ELRP through its California Power Response program.

California Power Response will benefit from Ford’s managed charging solution and is expected to provide a valuable source of load reduction in times of peak demand, which benefits the grid and customers, while advancing future innovations in energy management and grid interaction. Electric vehicle drivers in Ford’s California Power Response program will earn $1 per kWh of energy reduced during peak grid events.

While Ford and SCE are working with Olivine as the formal participant in the VGI component of the ELRP, Olivine will be responsible to manage the integration of EV charging into the ELRP for real-time adjustments and optimized charging strategies supporting grid requirements.

GEORGIA POWER RELEASES KEY ESTIMATED DAMAGE STATISTICS FROM HURRICANE HELENE

Georgia Power’s restoration efforts following Hurricane Helene continued Sept. 29, with the company having restored service to approximately 610,000 customers since the start of the storm. This rapid response has been possible through the implementation of new “smart grid” technologies and the quick work of pre-positioned teams who were ready to respond as soon as conditions were safe to do so on Sept. 27.

Crews continue to navigate treacherous conditions including extensive tree and flooding damage, as well as road closures. As of midday Sept. 29, efforts remain fully underway to restore power to approximately 425,000 customers who remain without power due to the storm. Additionally, there is the potential for further damage and power outages that could occur due to the saturated ground and weakened trees.

Georgia Power has determined Hurricane Helene was the most destructive hurricane in its history damaging infrastructure across the state. Initial damage estimates illustrating the extensive destruction of Hurricane Helene include:

• 5,000+ power poles that must be repaired or replaced

• 9,000+ spans of wire equivalent to an estimated 425 miles

• 500+ transformers

• 1,500+ trees on power lines that must be removed or addressed to restore power

Georgia Power appreciates the importance of accurate information for customers as they make plans for their families following this historic storm. As the company anticipated and announced before the arrival of the storm, restoration efforts will

take multiple days into this next week. Georgia Power continues to post updated estimated restoration times (ERTs) for communities on its Outage Map. As of Sept. 29, restoration efforts have been largely completed in areas such as Metro Atlanta, Columbus, Macon, Rome and Albany, while work continues in the hardest hit areas across the state. The company will continue to post updated information throughout the remainder of the restoration process and will make every effort to return power to customers sooner than expected.

Customers are encouraged to check the Outage Map often for the latest information and not rely on possibly inaccurate details they may see from non-company sources.

The company continues to utilize additional resources from outside of its system and currently has more than 15,000 personnel engaged in response, including support from Alabama Power, Mississippi Power and dozens of other companies. The response force currently engaged is larger than the company’s response to other major hurricanes including Michael, Irma and Zeta.

Preparation, Industry Support Key to Response

Georgia Power monitored the path of Hurricane Helene for more than a week prior to the storm entering Georgia. As part of its preparations, Georgia Power mobilized additional staff from across the industry to respond to Hurricane Helene. Mobilized crews across the state pre-positioned restoration workers, equipment, and supplies near areas of anticipated impact including extra transformers, poles, cable and other equipment. All this is part of advance planning and strategy to allow the company to restore power more quickly and efficiently for its customers as soon as weather conditions allow.

Georgia Power is also a member of a nationwide mutual assistance network, which consists of hundreds of utilities from around the country. Georgia Power has proactively mobilized crews from over 35 companies from states as far away as Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The company continues to acquire additional off-system resources to aid in response.

— Southern Company

DOE ANNOUNCES INTENT TO ISSUE $13 MILLION IN TWO NEW GRID MODERNIZATION FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) has released two Notices of Intent (NOIs) to issue funding to support R&D of groundbreaking electric grid technologies.

OE aims to issue two Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) totaling $13 million to promote a more reliable, resilient, secure, and affordable electric grid by the end of 2024.

Upgrading critical systems and controls will extend the life of existing grid components, increase the grid’s ability to receive, transmit, and deliver electricity, and improve communications to help predict and prevent failures. Additionally, quantifying and communicating risk and uncertainties to decision-makers and human operators will deliver more accurate and effective prediction, prevention, and mitigation of cascading failures in the grid.

“These funding opportunities will advance the development of innovative hardware and cutting-edge software solutions that will increase the reliability and lower the overall cost of America’s electricity transmission system,” said Gene Rodrigues, Assistant Secretary for Electricity.

The funding opportunities will include:

• $8 million Renewable Integration Management with Innovative High Voltage Direct Current Power Circuit Breakers (REIMAGINE BREAKERS) NOFO

• $5 million Human-Centric Analytics for Resilient & Modernized Power sYstems (HARMONY) NOFO

OE and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) plan to issue the REIMAGINE BREAKERS NOFO to support R&D related to HVDC power circuit breakers. This NOFO aims to support grid modernization and the advancement of clean energy by reducing the cost of high voltage circuit breaker technology, therefore supporting widespread adoption of HVDC transmission systems.

DOE expects announcing the $8 million NOFO ($7 million from OE, $1 million from WETO) by the end of 2024. The number of awards depends on applications submitted and fund availability.

If the NOFO is released, it will be posted at FedConnect.

Preventing and mitigating power grid failures is important for reliability and resiliency. The Human-Centric Analytics for Resilient & Modernized Power sYstems (HARMONY) NOFO from OE intends to improve risk assessment and communication for grid operators in the age of big data.

If the NOFO is released, approximately $5 million in funding is expected to be available to award new cooperative agreements for three-year research and development projects. OE is expected to announce the NOFO by the end of 2024 and it will be posted at FedConnect.

The past has much to teach the electric utility industry, and T&D World has been there to tell this story for 75 years.

By JEFF POSTELWAIT, Managing Editor

ur industry is faced with deregulation and aging transmission and distribution systems. Most of these systems have far exceeded their designed lives. At the same time, demand is pushing transmission assets to their stability, voltage and thermal limits. Add to that the pressure to reduce capital expenditures and operations and maintenance costs. Without innovation, the future of T&D would look bleak.”

This is from a concluding paragraph from a special Millennium Issue of T&D World released 25 years ago.

I’m not sure I need to even point this out, but the problems of aging infrastructure, demand pushing the grid harder than ever, and not enough funding for O&M concerns are ones we talk about year-round at T&D World and in the industry at large.

Realizing that it has been 25 years since the year 2000 — the year I graduated high school — made my bones hurt a little, but it also made me think of what a pivotal time the turn of the millennium was for electricity. The power grid and electronics in general fared well against the feared Y2K crisis, the name “Enron” had become fodder for late-night comedians and the US West was rocked with blackouts due to market manipulations by that company and others.

A View From the White House

In addition to this being an anniversary issue, this is also coming out in an election year. While it’s true presidents don’t often play as important a role as you might think in energy policy, they can still set national goals from time to time, and their stances on energy issues can be revealing as to where the US was at the time.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president during a pivotal time for the development of power grids in the US, and many electric co-ops still in operation today trace their roots to the Rural Electrification Act that created them. For areas that already had electricity, FDR emphasized firm regulation in the public interest of keeping power cheap. In a rather

florid speech he delivered Sept. 21, 1932 in Portland, Oregon, he said “Electricity is no longer a luxury. It is a definite necessity,” and said the US was to date backward in adopting it. He placed the blame on utilities themselves, saying rates were too high to encourage common use.

At the start of the 1930s, ten large holding companies owned and controlled

White House North Facade Lawn Washington, DC. dkfielding | iStock | Getty Images Plus

three quarters of the electricity industry — companies headed by J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Samuel Insull. Public ownership of utilities was seen at the time as “socialist,” but public opinion had turned against the power grid being mostly run by a handful of millionaires. FDR famously promised that the US government would never part with its control over its power resources for as long as he was president — a legacy seen in the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Bonneville Power Administration among others.

The impact of the New Deal on electrification was enormous, and it is hard to imagine the power grid being built any other way, particularly in so short a timeframe. Subsequent Democratic presidents deferred to New Deal era policies for the most part and public power expanded.

President Truman spoke about peaceful, civilian uses for nuclear power after ordering the use of atomic weapons. Eisenhower raised questions about public power’s impact on free enterprise, saying that if electricity was too cheap, businesses would not engage with the industry. He pressured Congress to make the TVA financially independent, and the utility — then the leading energy supplier in the US, according to the TVA’s website — found itself in a political fight that ended with it becoming self financing.

President Johnson was known to switch off lights in the White House to avoid wasting taxpayer money, but long before that he worked in the House of Representatives to fund electric co-op projects. Having grown up on a farm without electricity, the issue was one LBJ had some personal experience with. Johnson once said he was called a communist over his support for a group of six dams and the co-ops to distribute their electricity.

Further, Johnson’s signing of the Clean Air Act had a lasting impact on the utility industry. But it was his successor, President Nixon, who expanded the federal government’s oversight of the energy sector further, establishing the EPA. This was done chiefly in response to a global energy crisis whose aftershocks were felt throughout the ‘70s.

The economic fallout of those energy

crises continued into the Carter administration, with that president famously encouraging Americans to conserve power and installing solar panels on the White House roof. While some of Carter’s energy policies were repealed (and the solar panels removed by President Reagan), he did elevate the standing of renewable energy and energy efficiency as causes.

Reagan’s tenure following Carter established a familiar pattern of Republican presidents favoring deregulation and fossil fuel use and Democrats promoting renewable energy research and projects. At the risk of sounding reductive, this is broadly how the issue was handled through the next 40 years. President Bush, Sr. focuses on free trade agreements for natural gas and exempts certain utilities from regulation. President Clinton would pledge greenhouse gas reductions and funded alternative energy research.

The second President Bush promoted ethanol, coal power, fracking, nuclear power and oil production. By the time of the 2009 Recovery Act and the Obama administration, I was writing about electricity for the first time and the talk was all about infrastructure improvement and putting serious funding into renewable energy. There was talk of a nuclear renaissance then, but market forces more than politics made natural gas power a winner. Obama also unveiled the Clean Power Plan, intended to be the first-ever limits on pollution from the electricity sector, but then President Trump ordered the plan reviewed with an executive order while withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. This is what I mean in saying that presidents don’t often play an important role in energy policy. Global economic forces often have far more of an impact on what happens, even as presidents from the two

America, Nature, and Technology. Keith Lance | iStock | Getty Images Plus.

parties install solar panels on the White House or remove them, or enter the US into the Paris Agreement or withdraw from it as the case may be.

Could this constant tit for tat be different in the future? Well, a second Trump administration would likely be a continuation of the first, and the Vice President Harris campaign appears to mostly be a continuation of President Biden’s policies.

Checking the candidates’ campaign websites, Trump’s platform section mentions cutting electric vehicle mandates, cutting regulations and making “America the dominant energy producer in the world, by far!” The site contains a link to the 2024 Republican Party Platform, which declares an opposition to the “Socialist Green New Deal” and calls for “unleash[ing] American Energy.” It specifically mentions lowering energy costs for families and supporting nuclear, oil, natural gas and coal power.

On the issues page of the Harris campaign’s website, bringing down the costs of everyday goods and services is prominently placed, with utility bills specifically mentioned alongside groceries, rent and pharmaceutical costs. The Biden-Harris administration, according to the site, created jobs in the EV and battery supply chains through legislation, going on to say Harris would, as president, “continue to support American leadership in semiconductors, clean energy, AI, and other cutting edge industries.” Harris said it is possible to create a clean energy economy while also cutting emissions and addressing climate change.

A Look at 25 Years Ago

Presidents come and go, but the electricity industry marches on with the clear and increasingly present task of meeting demand for its critical product. In the years that I’ve been covering this sector at least, I have seen more change come through technological and macroeconomic trends

than through legislation or regulation, although each driver obviously has a role to play.

My colleagues and I looked over that Millennium Issue of T&D World to see what the discourse on utilities was a quarter-century ago. Plenty of the issues identified then are still open questions and unsolved today. In a piece by James R. Dukart titled Culture Shock, several utility sources agree that high demand for electricity caused utilities to grow, but the growth came at a cost that is less tangible than the bottom line.

Bill Erdesky, an engineer for Florida Power & Light from 1970 to 1991 said working for a utility was a well-respected job and offered a shot at the good life.

“It was a secure job, or at least you thought it was. It was technical in nature and provided a good challenge. Everybody was trying to make a career out of it,” Erdesky told Dukart in the 2000 article. “[Now] everybody is downsizing and merging. You don’t know from one

week to the next who you are working for, and it sure doesn’t seem like there’s any security anymore.”

The cause for this change in utility culture could be blamed on a professionalization of utility leadership that came as companies shifted from being public goods to being deregulated, competitive and in many cases for-profit.

“All the CEOs are attorneys or bean counters. They run the companies now,” he said. “When I came in, engineers were running it. They became managers and rose through the ranks… More and more decisions are being made higher up by people unqualified to make engineering decisions — and without even consulting the engineers.”

The article also quotes Bill Eads, a district vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in Springfield, Missouri, as saying the globalization that accompanied the growth of utilities has led to a loss of community connection and a corresponding dip in customer service.

“The utilities are not localized like they used to be,” Eads said. “Missouri Public Service is a good example. It was a hometown utility, which grew up to be UtiliCorp United. They have holdings in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. It is no longer Missouri Public Service. They are focused on many other countries and cities around the world.”

Another IBEW member from Missouri, Mike Datillo, said utilities used to be extremely focused on customer services, with local offices in every major community they served. The closure of these offices saved money but created a rift between utilities and their customers.

“Now people are talking to customers who are 200 miles away, and the crews are coming from far away to work on those lines. The utilities have lost the customer service aspect,” Datillo said, going on to say his local utility Ameren was outsourcing its customer calls to North Carolina.

customer service line. Talking to a person at all, anywhere on Earth, is a bit of a rare treat.

While working for a utility was seen by some as steady and stimulating work, others quoted by T&D World 25 years ago said there was another way to look at a job like this: it could be boring. The changes in job duties that accompanied a changing corporate culture, for some anyway, shook things up in a welcome way.

Mickey Brown, then vice president of distribution at Georgia Power, told Dukart that delivering both power and profits could be more fun.

“I’ve been around for more than 30 years, so I lived through the ‘good old days.’ I didn’t like them. I thought they were dull. We did the same things year after year, with few new challenges or pressures. We just kept up with growth and did not worry about what we were spending to do it,” Brown said.

By contrast, for-profit utilities need to be creative and find new and more efficient ways to meet consumer demands,

which were changing in the 2000s as they continue to today.

“We have so much more load on the line. With more electric heat, VCRs and computers, customer expectations are much higher than they were,” he said. “When customers have a choice, we can’t always have our way. We have to figure out better ways to give them what we both want and need.”

Here is a trend that certainly hasn’t changed much in 25 years. New regulations on new construction buildings in some areas are making electric heat and cooking even more prevalent over gas, personal electronics are even more popular (and powerful) and this is to say nothing of the potential impacts of electric vehicles and the growth of data centers and cryptocurrency operations.

I can see how meeting demand while delivering profits could be a fun challenge if there was enough money and electricity to go around at all times and in all cases, but how often is this true for today’s utilities, if indeed it ever was?

I have to admit that reading complaints about a decay in customer service from 2000 made me think of the AIdriven labyrinth I often run into when I have to use just about any company’s

1840s: The first line workers are put to the task of stringing telegraph wire.

1880s: Polyphase power systems are independently invented by multiple people.

1882: J.P. Morgan and Thomas Edison build the Pearl Street Station, the first commercial power plant in the US. The same year, long-distance transmission of electricity is demonstrated at Miesbach-Munich Power Transmission.

1885: William Stanley Jr. invents the first practical alternating current transformer before going to work for George Westinghouse.

1886: In Barrington, Massachusetts, Stanley demonstrates a system of high voltage AC transmission with generators, lines and transformers linked together.

1888: In Richmond, Virginia, electric traction pioneer Frank Sprague’s company installs the first successful electric street railway, fed by overhead wires. Also, Nikola Tesla patents his three-phase electric motor.

1889: Edison General Electric is founded.

1890: The first single-phase AC transmission over a high voltage line sends power 14 miles from a dam to Portland, Oregon.

1891: The Current Wars see Tesla’s AC triumph over Thomas Edison’s direct current.

1893: Westinghouse and Tesla display AC polyphase generators at the Chicago World’s Fair.

1896: Tesla and Westinghouse open the Niagara hydroelectric plant.

1906: Switchgear pioneer Edward Hewlett invents the first practical suspension insulator.

1920: The Federal Power Act is passed to develop hydropower projects in the US. Martin Hochstadter invents a three-core power cable that can send higher voltages.

1926: The air-blast circuit breaker is invented by W.A. Whitney and E.B. Wedmore.

1932: On the campaign trail, President Roosevelt states “Never shall the federal government part with its sovereignty or with its control of its power resources while I’m President of the United States”.

1934: Less than 11% of US farms had electricity, compared with 90% of French and English farms.

1935: Public Utility Holding Company Act recognizes utilities as a public good and gives the government the authority to regulate, license and break up utility holding companies. At this time, utility operations are limited to one state. This act was repealed in 2005.

1936: The Rural Electrification Act is enacted as part of the New Deal, establishing hundreds of electric cooperatives.

1942: Nearly half of US farms have electricity.

1944: The REA is made permanent.

1945: President Truman approves the use of a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, and in his statement on it, adds that “Atomic energy may in the future supplement the power that now comes from coal, oil, and falling water, but at present it cannot be produced on a basis to compete with them commercially.”

1946: The Manhattan Project is folded into the Atomic Energy Commission (predecessor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and a system of National Laboratories is established.

1948: Engineers at Bell Laboratories invent the transistor, a foundational component for almost all modern electronics.

1949: Power Equipment magazine is launched, the precursor to T&D World.

1950: Most electricity in the US was used for lighting, but post-WWII economic activity and new household appliances begin to change this.

1952: Almost all farms in the US are electrified.

1956: Power Equipment changes its name to Transmission & Distribution.

1956: Siemens develops a process for making high-purity monocrystalline silicon, leading to thyristors, an important enabler of HVDC transmission. Westinghouse uses sulfur hexafluoride gas in circuit breakers.

1957: The first nuclear power plant solely devoted to power generation opens in the US.

1959: A sulfur-hexaflouride circuit breaker designed for 230 kV, 15,000 MVA was presented in our June 1959 issue.

1962: Visible spectrum LEDs are invented by Nick Holonyak.

1964: Polymer/fiberglass suspension insulators are field tested.

1966: Charles K. Kao and George Hockham discover breakthroughs in fiber optics. Today many fiber optic bundles run along power transmission cable rights of way, and are an enabler of smart grids.

1968: The National Electric Reliability Council, forerunner to today’s North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), is founded.

1970: The Environmental Protection Agency begins operations. The same year, the Clean Air Act is expanded.

1972: Theodore Paraskevakos develops sensors that advance meter reading capabilities. He goes on to develop the first smart meters in 1977.

1977: Congress creates the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in response to the oil crisis. FERC decides to leave it up to individual states how best to supply energy.

1979: The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act is enacted to promote conservation and renewable energy. The same year, a second oil crisis strikes following the Iranian Revolution. Also, the Three Mile Island accident occurs, leading to a halt in construction of new nuclear power plants.

1986: High temperature superconductivity is demonstrated.

1992: The Energy Policy Act of 1992 opens power grids to competition by decoupling T&D from generation. Also, utilities are required to consider integrated resource planning.

1995: The deregulation of the Texas power grid begins.

1996: FERC’s Order 888 triggers the establishment of regional transmission organizations (RTOs).

1998: Transmission & Distribution becomes Transmission & Distribution World.

Last cover of Power Equipment magazine.

Words of Wisdom from T&D World’s

50th Anniversary Issue, November 1999

“As history shows, the magazine became a success. What was the reason for this success? A good editorial idea. The basic idea behind T&D World was, and is, to bring buyers and sellers in the electric utility, and in particular the power delivery industry, together, in a common environment.”

– Barry LeCerf, T&D World Publisher

“At its founding, few T&D readers or editors would have believed that change would be the dominant force in the industry in 1999.”

– Barry LeCerf

“More than ever before, we intend to be a major source of information on the new and developing alternatives you may have at your disposal. This transition is a necessary part of the evolution of any business. With the significant changes occurring in the power delivery field almost daily, we at T&D World believe we have an obligation to inform you of the key developments and trends that can affect your decisions.”

– Barry LeCerf

“In the 1960s, overhead and underground residential construction exploded on the scene. Issues of T&D commonly exceeded 200 pages. Advertisements offered the latest in cable, splice and padmount transformer design. With the computer age still around

the corner, T&D articles demonstrated how to use nomographs to calculate distribution voltage drops and motor starting dips. Polymer insulators arrived, threatening to replace ceramic and laminated crossarms threatened to unseat solid wood.”

– Rick Bush, then Editor-in-Chief.

“I’ve developed my own personal top of the list views on technology and marketing developments. First the development of the microprocessor is undoubtedly the single most important technology development leading to almost all of today’s T&D automation infrastructure. Secondly the host of more recent developments that are having profound influence in our work with computer-based systems. In my book, the top developments are the Internet, yet to realize its full potential in the T&D world, and the availability of relational database management systems, which now are so pivotal in the control centers of today’s progressive utilities.”

– Chuck Newton, then T&D World automation editor.

“Regulation and competition were never a consideration for Thomas Edison when he developed a central-station generating system for than 100 years ago. That system supplied direct-current electricity for municipal and commercial lighting. After George Westinghouse’s development of the ac system, long-distance transmission was to be realized and the use of electric power in homes, offices and factories was to be the crowning achievement of the new industrial revolution around the world. At the time, there was not way that anyone could anticipate the crucial role electric utilities would play in the every day life of the people.”

– Earl Hazan, then contributing feature editor.

2000: The California electricity crisis: Blackouts hit the US West after artificial power shortages caused by market manipulation by companies like Enron.

2003: A widespread power outage hits the Northeastern United States and Ontario, affecting 55 million people. It is mainly caused by a software bug in the alarm system in FirstEnergy’s control room, which causes operators to be unaware of the need to redistribute load after overgrown tree branches touch power lines in Ohio.

2005: Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans, causing 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion.

2005: The DOE kicks off its loan guarantee program to support emerging alternative energy technologies.

2008: The REA is amended to help spread rural broadband and internet to rural areas.

2009: The Recovery Act, a stimulus package signed by President Obama, includes billions for power transmission upgrades and renewable energy projects.

2012: Hurricane Sandy leaves millions without power; it is the largest Atlantic hurricane on record at the time, causing $70 billion in damage and killing 254 people in eight countries.

2013: The first offshore wind turbine connected to the grid was when the University of Maine deployed a 20kW floating wind turbine off the coast of Maine, marking the first grid-connected offshore wind turbine in the United States.

2015: The EPA finishes its Clean Power Plan to regulate power sector pollution. The Supreme Court rules the plan unconstitutional in 2022.

2017: Hurricane Harvey ties Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone on record, hitting Houston with catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding.

2017: Hurricane Maria devastates Puerto Rico, essentially wiping out its infrastructure. Utilities from all over the coastal US send mutual aid crews; LUMA Energy later in 2021 replaces Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority as part of public-private partnership agreement to help the island recover from bankruptcy and Maria.

2019: Power is shut off widely across California in an attempt to stop wildfires, affecting service to about 2.5 million.

2020: Improvements in fracking lead to cheap gas and a surge in its use as a power generation source.

2020: The AES Alamitos Battery Energy Storage System opens as the first stand-alone energy storage project for local capacity and the first standalone BESS procured to replace a natural gas peaker plant in the US.

2021: Texas Power Crisis: Winter Storm Uri’s severe cold weather leads to a collapse of much of ERCOT’s power grid.

2022: Renewable energy use surpasses that of nuclear power.

2022: The Inflation Reduction Act is signed into law, through which the Grid Depolyment Office has about $3 billion to support the buildout of transmission lines across the US.

2022: T&D World Live event is launched to address the pressing issues in the core T&D industry including operations, security and energy transition.

2024: The EPA writes new standards for power sector emissions.

2024: Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit the US; tens of thousands of crews from across the US and Canada respond. The damages are still being assessed as of press time.

By RICK BUSH, Editor-In-Chief, Retired

When I first showed up at Georgia Power at the ripe old age of 19, I was assigned to work at the test lab located within the General Services Headquarters. As an intern, my early assignments were to evaluate basic products including fuses, batteries and electrical tape.

I was also a member of the greater Georgia Power family. Here is an exam ple of the reach and breadth of family. Each summer the company would send buses all throughout Georgia to bring retirees to the services headquarters for a barbeque luncheon. This was a really big event where the president would share the company’s vision with the attendees. The message to retirees was clear. Yes, you might be retired, but you are family and you are also crucial to the function ing of the utility. The retirees took the insights they gained at the barbeque and shared this information back in their hometowns. Today, the company slogan, “A Citizen Wherever We Serve” remains central to the company’s identity.

And this culture is not unique to Georgia Power. We work in an industry where we look after our customers and we look after our own. To many of us, it’s family. At our core is the desire to serve our customers with an essential product at a reasonable price.

When Nikki asked me to share a few thoughts for this 75th anniversary issue, I was more than willing. But let me share with you why I joined T&D World back in 1994. Then, Vice President Al Gore stated that we were entering the Information Age that would drive economic growth. I knew that at T&D World, I could encourage and assist engineers in sharing insights and initiatives with one another — and in the process move our industry forward. And T&D World continues to provide this same knowledge transfer today.

In my 47 years engaged with the utility industry, first with Georgia Power and then with T&D World, I have had the privilege to participate in many technology advances.

the trading business.

Here is another initiative that didn’t last. Remember when just about every utility decided to launch an energy services company? The intent was that this for-profit arm would make up for some of the revenue lost to the Retailcos that were emerging in what was predicted to become a highly competitive market.

Flipping through back issues of T&D provided me with a bit of deja vu. Back in April of 1997, I predicted that we would see the emergence of Independent Transmission Companies. We now have ITCs, but they have’t had as significant an impact as I had anticipated. Difficulties in siting and permitting continue to slow progress in developing new transmission.

Some initiatives are now fully integrated into the business. Back in 1997, T&D World covered the first major Distribution Automation System that was installed in Detroit. Around the same time, there were seemingly a hundred companies trying to break into the Automated Meter Reading space. As with many new technologies, a handful of companies

prevailed and Distribution Automation and AMR systems are now ubiquitous. Same with Automated Customer Call Centers, Enterprise Resource Planning systems and Automated Mapping and Facilities Management systems.

I also predicted we would see a rise in telecommuting but I didn’t anticipate a virus would speed this trend along.

The way we respond to issues define us. Look at the incredible resources we expend in preparing for the next big weather event — whether it be a hurricane, an earthquake, an ice storm, a flood or a fire. We must be prepared to act, and act quickly. Among the major hurricanes I covered were Katrina, Ike and Sandy. This was the most exhausting, yet most fulfilling work I ever took on. And this might be said for all of us who work major weather events.

Here are a few recent examples of progress in intelligent systems applied during storm work: Duke Energy Florida customers saved more than 200 million outage minutes during hurricanes Ian, Nicole and Idalia with self-healing technology. Similarly Florida Power & Light’s smart grid technology enabled the utility to avoid nearly 70,000 outages when Hurricane Idalia hit.

So what big issues will we face going forward? Each utility perspective is different, but I expect that many utilities are focusing on how to deal with cyber hackers and how to address both the positive and negative aspects of artificial intelligence.

Probably the biggest hurdle we face today is the building out of a much more robust and sophisticated grid to handle the exponential growth in wind, solar and energy storage, while addressing increased loads driven by electric vehicles and cloud-based data center markets.

I have come to realize that our response to industry challenges define us.

My hope is that you have the opportunity to pour your heart and soul into our next great challenges and in so doing, significantly impact this great industry for the better.

Learn more about how the Endeavor Energy Market is providing utility professionals with insights for architecting a more sustainable and resilient future. www.endeavorbusinessmedia.com/markets-we-serve/energy/

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Clean Water Filter Device Tackles Oil Spills

Baltimore Gas and Electric successfully pilots a device that filters out oil in a hydrocarbon spill, so water can be safely discharged into the environment.

By MARK STASUK and MICHAEL K. SMITH, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.

No utility is immune to high-voltage transmission and distribution transformer hydrocarbon spills. Whether it is a failed gasket, a leaking valve or an unplanned release, every utility has experienced these. While the experience of such events is universal, the approaches to cleanup and remediation vary across different utilities.

Until recently, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.’s (BGE’s) typical remediation of a high-voltage transformer spill within an oil retention pit (ORP) consisted of removing the stone from the pit, replacing the felt liner, power washing the pit and then reinstalling all the components. This mitigation solution can be costly, potentially exceeding half a million dollars. Oil-contaminated materials must be disposed of in accordance with local regulations to minimize the environmental impact.

With more than 200 substations, several thousand assets and an average of at least one release per year, BGE’s remediation efforts incur significant costs.

Embracing The Challenge

BGE is committed to environmental protection and has a thorough training program for handling spills. In the summer of 2022, the utility experienced a hydrocarbon release of approximately 285 gal (1079 liter) due to a partially opened valve on a pressure-relief device associated with the conservator tank of a 110/13-kV power transformer. The spill was appropriately contained in the mother pit.

Following the recent replacement of the pit, the cost associated with cleaning it and BGE’s commitment to protecting the environment, the utility’s leadership tasked employees with developing a cost-effective solution. The construction and maintenance team embraced the challenge and began researching industry-standard spill hydrocarbon mitigation techniques. They formed a multidisciplinary team of engineers, environmental scientists, field technicians and consultants to tackle the issue.

The Bright Idea

The team conceived the idea of adapting and prototyping a decanter system manufactured by HalenHardy, which provides products and services for spill containment and cleanup. The oil decanter features filters that allow oil-contaminated water to be processed, enabling the water to be either discarded if it meets regulatory discharge limits or returned to the pit or another containment area.

Following several iterations with the manufacturer, BGE installed the decanter system on its mother pit. A modification was made to include a sump pump with an oil-smart switch — to prevent any oil from being reintroduced into the pit. The oil-smart pump switch controls the water level by activating the pump to operate when it senses water at the on and off points. When the probes sense oil, the pump is turned off, thereby preventing the discharge of oil from the sump pit. When combined with a sump pump, the

A contaminated sump can. BGE modified the system to include a sump pump with an oilsmart switch to prevent any oil from being reintroduced into the pit.

oil-smart pump switch allows water to be pumped without the risk of pumping oil.

BGE also routed the discharge pipe to the highest point of the pit system, to ensure clean water circulates through the pit system into the mother pit, thereby capturing any residual oil that might still be trapped in the filter cloth or stones. Additionally, the team devised a solution to introduce a surfactant that mobilizes the oil and cleanses the stone and filter liner. The utility applied an Environmental Protection Agency-approved dispersant at several locations over its ORP footprint, including the highest point. Additionally, it used a hot-water power washer to enhance infiltration and dispersion of the surfactant throughout the ORP.

BGE’s objective was to initiate and enhance the mobilization and migration of trapped oil — essentially flushing away residual oil coating the stone along with any oil trapped in the filter cloth — to the utility’s collection point.

After flushing the pit with surfactant, the utility deployed the decanter system and monitored its progress for several weeks, particularly following rain events. BGE’s team inspected the sump pit to verify the functionality of the decanter system and ensure the oilsmart switch had not been triggered. Regular inspections were conducted at multiple locations and at the decanter system’s discharge point until the visual presence of oil began to clear.

Transform Pollution Into Purity

In collaboration with BGE’s environmental team, it was determined that discharging the water back into the environment was not permissible until the appropriate regulatory discharge limits were met. Given the volume of oil and the extent of the contamination, the utility anticipated that removing the oil and achieving these limits would require several weeks of continuous system operation.

BGE deployed the decanter system in the fall of 2023 during the rainy season. This expedited the process and reduced cost by leveraging natural rainfall to provide the water to flush the pit. By February 2024, after successfully meeting the regulatory discharge limits, the utility’s environmental team approved commencement of discharging the water back into

The decanter allows the water to be either discarded if it meets regulatory discharge limits or returned to the pit or another containment area.

Stones, felt liners and decanter filters are part of the system’s filtration. The oil-smart pump switch, when combined with a sump pump, allows water to be pumped without the risk of pumping oil.

A sump can flushed out with surfactant. The team devised a solution to introduce a surfactant to mobilize the oil and cleanse the stone and filter liner.

the environment. As of June 2024, the utility has continued to use the decanter system for discharging and plans to remove the prototype system entirely by the fall of 2024.

Although the process took nearly a year, it was significantly more cost effective than the alternative method of removing and replacing the stones and felt liner, power washing the pit and reinstalling the components, which would have taken only a few months. The prototype decanter system resulted in a 90% reduction in costs compared to the previous solution.

From Prototype To Production

Building on the prototype decanter system, the BGE team partnered with Ecotech to develop a final product that Ecotech will own, maintain and deploy in the event of a hydrocarbon release. By partnering with this company, BGE can leverage an environmental response vendor as a one-stop shop for managing both initial and post-cleanup activities comprehensively.

Ecotech designed a self-contained filtration system capable of removing sediment, residual oil and dissolved

hydrocarbons. Similar to how the decanter system works, this self-contained unit can be deployed within 24 hours of a release and subsequent initial cleanup. The unit is mounted on a skid, making it easy to transport with a forklift and deploy at any required location.

BGE anticipates substantial cost savings by using this unit instead of its prior process. This final product represents a significant achievement not just for BGE but, most importantly, for the environment.

MARK STASUK has worked for Baltimore Gas and Electric for 34 years. He was an operator for five years and served 21 years in the transmission and substations (T&S) maintenance group. Stasuk has been a senior engineering technical specialist for eight years in the T&S field service group. His main job assignment is focused around spill prevention, control and countermeasure of the T&S department.

MICHAEL K. SMITH has worked for Baltimore Gas and Electric for 21 years, serving the last four years as supervisor of construction and maintenance before recently being promoted to manager in the construction and maintenance unit. Prior to that, Smith worked in project management, in contract management and as a field technician in substation construction. He studied energy management from Bismarck State College, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree.

This oil decanter is a device that features filters that allow oil-contaminated water to be processed. A clean sump can. The oil-smart pump switch, when combined with a sump pump, allows water to be pumped without the risk of pumping oil.

Energizing the Grid with GRIP

Navigating federal funding opportunities for grid modernization under the GRIP program requires developers to balance rapid timelines with complex application demands.

By BRANDY SMART, POWER Engineers

To secure federal funding, developers must navigate various financing and investment options related to grid resiliency and modernization, transmission deployment and critical electric generation facilities. Responding to funding demands, however, can pose significant challenges. Balancing early-stage project commitments with application requirements blurs the line between speculating about long-term project details, being non-responsive and making costly project decisions. For applicants, a proactive approach toward the funding and submittal process can make the difference between a project moving forward with approved funding or application denial.

Goals and Funding

In 2022, under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released its plan to provide $10.5 billion over five years through the Grid Resilience and Innovative Partnership (GRIP) program. Administered through the DOE’s new Grid Deployment Office (GDO), the GRIP program is separated into three funding categories:

grid resilience, smart grid and grid innovation.

In October 2023, the GDO announced $3.46 billion in grants for 58 projects across 44 states to strengthen electric grid resilience and reliability. Most recently, on Nov. 14, 2023, the DOE released its second round of funding: $3.9 billion for projects that will improve the electric transmission grid and advance the interconnection processes.

Additionally, the funding aims to create comprehensive solutions that link grid communication systems with operations, increasing resilience and reducing power outages and threats. It focuses on projects that deploy advanced technologies — distributed energy resources and battery systems, for example — to provide essential grid services that ensure communities across the country have access to affordable, reliable and clean electricity.

The Process

The GRIP program initially laid out a rigid, multi-phased schedule for funding applications. In phase one, entities were given two months (a Jan. 12, 2024 deadline) to submit a concept paper consisting of:

Utility projects backed by GRIP include strengthening transmission lines with steel towers in areas that are heavily wooded and prone to fallen limbs.

ID 143028609 © Patrick Daxenbichler | Dreamstime.com

DOE GRIPs Project Examples

Oregon: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon and Portland General Electric will upgrade transmission capacity serving the Warm Springs Reservation and some isolated communities in the Cascade Mountains. The DOE says PGE will also deploy an artificial intelligence-enabled, grid-edge computing platform to improve the connection of distributed energy resources, such as solar, as well as informed modeling that can predict pre-outage conditions and assist real-time decisions.

Pennsylvania: PECO Energy will boost reliability with flood-resistant substations, better underground power cable monitoring and control, new battery storage systems and replacing aging infrastructure. PPL Electric Utilities Corporation will integrate DERs and enable real-time grid control to reduce outage duration and frequency.

Maryland: Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) will deploy a transmission, distribution and communications resiliency effort designed to help the cooperative strengthen its power grid in its heavily wooded service territory. Projects include installing steel structures along transmission lines, under grounding in select locations and installing high-capacity fiber optical wire to shore up communications resiliency.

New York: The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities will deliver uninterruptible power to several key city facilities via a microgrid. The microgrid will power critical infrastructure and public services, including a regional hospital, emergency services, and a homeless shelter.

Georgia: In a $507 million project, the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority and several electric cooperatives will build smart grid infrastructure upgrades served by battery storage, improved power grid technology and new transmission lines. The project will focus on rural areas and help reduce outages while lowering electricity bills.

• Project overview — project location, project partners and topic area of funding.

• Project details — how the project addresses the topic area’s eligible uses and technical approaches, the impact of DOE funding, project readiness and viability, and the key project management team and partners.

• Project impacts — benefit to the grid; potential of the project to reduce innovative technology risks; project support for state, local, tribal, community and regional resilience; and the ability to spur private sector investments.

• Community Benefits Plan — community and labor engagement and agreements; investment in job quality and workforce; advancement of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility; and contributions to the Justice40 Initiative.

For many developers, the short timeline posed the first significant challenge for putting forward a successful concept paper.

New Mexico: Kit Carson Electric Cooperative will deploy battery energy storage systems and microgrids across three locations, which will allow the cooperative to shut off power safely while maintaining critical infrastructure in the event of an unplanned outage. The resiliency solution will help prevent utility-sparked wildfires, according to the DOE. Mora-San Miguel Electric Cooperative will also deploy a three-part wildfire mitigation program that includes enhanced vegetation management, distribution automation and fault finding.

Hawaii: Hawaiian Electric Company will harden and improve its transmission and distribution system across its entire service territory. This will help the power grid be more resilient in the face of hurricanes and wildfires. Solutions include hardening of critical transmission lines, customer circuits, control centers, and critical poles. Additionally, the project will perform work on lateral undergrounding and wildfire prevention and mitigation efforts such as hazard tree removal and improved situational awareness measures, according to the DOE.

Michigan: DTE Energy is deploying networked microgrids to integrate more DER use and adapt to severe weather impacts. The microgrids will rely on grid sensing and fault location devices and communication tools to enhance reliability and cut the number and total duration of outages, according to the DOE. Consumers Energy will build out infrastructure upgrades and upgrade circuit systems, increasing capacity at local substations.

Louisiana: In this state, a network of Community Resilience Hubs will power critical infrastructure such as government agencies, utilities, academic institutions and emergency responders. These hubs will be powered by microgrids networked with DERs. These microgrids can stand alone or integrate with utility-owned electric grid infrastructure and back-up generation assets, according to the DOE.

In phase two, applicants were required to submit a complete technical application by either April 17 or May 22, depending on the application’s funding category. Given the expedited

schedules and the extensive preparation required for technical applications, waiting for the DOE’s feedback was not an option for most applicants. Many applicants were required to incur the costs of developing the front-end engineering design phases of the project before receiving the DOE’s application response.

Once the DOE reviewed the technical applications, phase three began by scheduling pre-selection interviews with the applicants to question the proposed project. In phases four and five, the DOE will announce award recipients at the end of summer and early fall 2024, with award negotiations finalizing by early 2025.

The Challenges

The DOE has provided a clear outline and expectations for a full technical application and the weight of each criterion. The limited time provided to prepare a detailed and accurate account of the proposed project and its approach, however, poses some significant challenges.

First, the DOE application requires detailed information about the potential for environmental and cultural resource impacts and, more importantly, the mitigative strategies to overcome them. Despite having a clear overall project scope, these projects — so early in the project development cycle — may have only high-level concepts about the environmental approach.

In many cases, field surveys that assess the potential for project impacts have not occurred, making it difficult to prepare accurate avoidance and mitigative strategies. Applicants must therefore either commit the project to protective measures without regulatory agencies’ buy-in or have costly impacts during construction that had not been accounted for in the project budgeting process.

Another challenge is identifying the project management team. The DOE understandably wants a qualified and committed

project management team identified within an application. However, the industry has experienced a high turnover rate among both developers and environmental consultants. Given how many of these projects span more than five years, securing a team with the appropriate experience may be unrealistic.

The Community Benefits Plan (CBP) poses another challenge, given the significant weight it carries in an application. Applicants must provide a robust plan that demonstrates meaningful community and labor engagements with stakeholders — labor unions, tribal nations, local universities and organizations that work with disadvantaged communities, to name a few. The CBP must also demonstrate a project’s ability to bring workforce opportunities to the communities within the project region.

Lastly, it is difficult to meet the DOE assurance that labor agreements have been thoroughly addressed. These agreements reduce the risk of skilled worker shortages, labor disputes or disruptions; however, given the tight timeframe and limited project scope, they can add significant time and cost to developed properly.

Next Steps

Given the scope of application requirements, there are some actions that may improve the likelihood of qualifying for GRIP funding. First, between required submittals to the DOE, applicants should consider proactively reviewing previously submitted information. Identifying any gaps and anticipating potential requests for additional information ensures accuracy and reduces the likelihood of compressed schedules.

By intentionally and purposefully working towards the next phase requirements, applicants minimize the risk to investment dollars. It also allows the project team to refine project details, resulting in a more successful application and overall project outcome.

At this time, it is uncertain whether the DOE will release another round of funding based on the large number of applications received thus far. However, developers are encouraged to contact the GDO about the GRIP program and other funding opportunities available through the DOE.

Ultimately, the GRIP program represents a significant step towards a more resilient and modernized grid, benefiting communities across the country with access to affordable, reliable and clean electricity.

BRANDY SMART (brandy.smart@powereng.com) is a senior project manager for POWER Engineers. She specializes in environmental project management and consulting. She is based in Houston, Texas.

As more distributed energy resources are built out, they need corresponding power grid upgrades to ensure they deliver electricity when and where it is needed. ID 155904486 © Agnormark | Dreamstime.com

UTILITY ANALYTICS

More Than Metering

Alabama Power sees advance metering infrastructure’s vast potential for bringing utilities closer to their customers and to the grid of the future.

By BRANDON LUNDY, Alabama Power, WESLEY GRANADE, Georgia Power, and DONNA CORR, Mississippi Power

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) has traditionally been associated with accurate billing and costeffective meter reading. Billing customers accurately and cost effectively will remain the primary use case for AMI. However, AMI’s potential is far greater than this foundational use case.

The AMI-enabled smart meter is a distribution device, and utilities could benefit from making better use of the data they produce. By harnessing the wealth of data provided by smart meters, utilities can transform their grid operations, inform grid investment and enhance customer service. In this way, the meter can become more than just a metering or billing device. Instead, it can become a powerful device that produces data representing customers’ relationships with the service utilities provide. In addition, AMI-connected meters could function as distribution sensors, with every meter also serving as a power quality meter.

The Evolution of Smart Meters

Just as smartphones have evolved from basic communication devices to indispensable tools in our daily lives, smart meters must also evolve. The next generation of meters will need to do more than communicate readings; they will serve as critical sensors that live at the edge of the distribution network, collecting granular data

A group of smart meters in a multi-resident dwelling.

Photo and Graphics courtesy of Alabama Power.

The proliferation of advanced metering technology has resulted in a vast increase in data, which is sometimes viewed as a burden, but it can be used to utilities’ advantage. These numbers represent Southern Co.’s meter readings performed annually before AMI and after AMI.

that can be leveraged for a variety of data science applications.

Alabama Power’s AMI Adoption

For a company Alabama Power’s size with the number of meters it has — roughly 1.5 million electric meters for Alabama Power and 4.4 million including all of Southern Co.’s operating companies — the utility was a relatively early adopter of smart metering technology and AMI. At the time, around 2010, the primary advantage was seen in efficiency gains, for example not having to send meter readers out into the field. The utility quickly realized there was a lot more that could be accomplished with these smart devices capable of two-way communication.

An important lesson came April 27, 2011 in the form of a violent outbreak of tornadoes. In a so-called “super outbreak,” Alabama saw more than 62 tornadoes. The damage was catastrophic, but as the outage restoration efforts progressed, Alabama Power grid operators found that the two-way communication capacity of the smart meter could help with tasks such as verifying that work crews had arrived at a site, verifying power restoration and even confirming the paths taken by the tornadoes themselves. Subsequent severe weather events such as ice storms

and lightning strikes confirmed that AMI data could be more valuable in a pinch than data provided by a SCADA system.

Data Volume and Resolution

The usefulness of the smart meter is in the sheer amount of data they are capable of transmitting. The amount of data generated by AMI is immense. For example, at Southern Co., we have transitioned from millions of readings annually in the

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Shares how utilities and their partners are building out T&D infrastructure.

AMI meters can serve multiple purposes other than simply providing meter readings.

pre-AMI era to billions of readings annually post-AMI. This data, captured at varying intervals (from 15-minute to 1-hour resolutions), provides a view of usage patterns and distribution system performance.

Applications of AMI Data

Load Disaggregation — By analyzing high-resolution data, utilities can plan for how customers are using electricity. This enables more accurate load forecasting and demand response strategies. Rate Design and Customer Insights — AMI data accelerates the development of innovative rate designs by providing aggregation of customer behavior and analyzing different rate options. Additionally, AMI data can aid before and after enrollment analysis to ensure the new rate is having the desired customer benefit. Understanding how customers use energy enables utilities to design rates, including those that promote off-peak usage, helping to shift load and reduce system stress.

Demand Response (DR) — DR programs are significantly enhanced by the capabilities of AMI meters. These advanced meters

provide real-time data on energy consumption, allowing utilities to quickly identify periods of high demand and implement strategies to reduce load.

Into the Technology Future

Grid Edge Computing — Much of the current value from AMI data comes from centralized analysis of the data. In the future, AMI meters will need to run data science models at the edge, using inference to deliver insights instead of just raw data.

Fault Detection, Classification, & Location — FLISR and similar systems usually use distribution lines to find and classify faults, however a deployment of AMI meters could perform this task even better. Using data to quickly identify and locate faults within the distribution network can improve reliability and response times. This type of FLISR analysis is currently performed using distribution line devices’ data with a modern ADMS system. However, due to the magnitude of endpoints and where they’re positioned in the distribution network, AMI data can detect the fault type, and locate faults with better precision.

Service Quality Analysis — Predictive analytics using AMI data can anticipate service quality issues before they become an issue for the customer, enabling the utility to provide proactive maintenance and reducing downtime.

Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Management — Managing and integrating DERs like solar panels and battery storage to optimize grid performance and enhance resiliency.

Electric Vehicle Integration — Many utilities are concerned about the impact of EVs on the grid. According to a 2023 Edison Electric Institute report, EVs could account for nearly 30% of the US passenger vehicle sales market by 2030. One impact of this could be a shift in the demand curve utilities are used to seeing. Utilities may not have a clear idea of which customers are charging their vehicles, or when or where. Not without using AMI data, that is.

AMI data could tell utilities when customers are charging their EVs, assist with load forecasting, help shift usage off peak, provide savings incentives to customers who charge during off-peak times, and overall help utilities feel more confident about their ability to manage widespread EV adoption.

The meter represents the point of sale of the product utilities sell – that product being energy. Looking at the world’s largest businesses, from Amazon to Apple, these companies have achieved great success by understanding their customers’ needs, and utilities should too. Utilities want to keep a strong relationship

AMI systems can be made to serve a variety of purposes, offering uses in customer service, power delivery and other valuable functions.

The uses for AMI technology described here can require utilities to take readings more often, at intervals of up to five minutes.

with their customers, understand their customers’ experience with their product, and the quality of the product being delivered.

AMI is a fundamental part of modern electric utility operations, providing far more than just accurate and efficient billing. By leveraging AMI data, utilities can unlock new efficiencies, enhance customer satisfaction, and support grid investment. At Southern Co., we are committed to challenging our vendor partners to expand these capabilities, ensuring that our smart meters truly provide grid-edge intelligence — more than billing.

BRANDON LUNDY (blundy@southernco.com) is a manager of AMI systems at Alabama Power, a unit of Southern Co. Brandon oversees the operations and support of the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network, which enables smart grid applications and customer services for millions of customers across Alabama. Brandon is a licensed professional engineer (P.E.) and an MBA holder who combines technical and business skills to deliver innovative and reliable solutions for AMI network management, optimization and performance.

WESLEY GRANADE (wgranade@southernco.com) has nearly 25 years of experience with Georgia Power and Southern Co. in customer service,

distribution and information technology roles.

Currently, he oversees the strategic planning and daily operations of Georgia Power’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure systems. He previously held positions in Georgia Power’s distribution GIS and support organization focusing on the development and implementation of technologies to support distribution.

DONNA CORR (dcorr@southernco.com) has worked for Mississippi Power for nearly 40 years and holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern Mississippi. She spent 29 years of her career in various roles within the human resources organization before being chosen as AMI Project Manager in 2012 to lead the company’s effort to choose and implement an AMI solution.

Grid Edge Technologies Conference & Exposition: Transform the Edge

Hosted by

What happens when city planners, utility leads, and EV charging station developers engage in face-to-face conversations about distributed generation? Or when policymakers and design consultants align on how to maximize resources for the greatest impact? The answer is we get closer to creating the more efficient, sustainable environments of tomorrow. The IEEE PES Grid Edge Technologies Conference & Exposition, which will take place in San Diego from Jan. 21–23, 2025, provides a forum for this kind of collaboration between stakeholders actively working at the edge.

Building on the inaugural 2023 event, IEEE Power & Energy Society will once again host a collaborative forum, connecting leading organizations essential to enhancing the productivity, efficiency, and interoperability of the grid.

In addition to IEEE PES, the conference and expo is supported and planned by volunteers from the industry, including leadership from a local host utility, which helps ensure insights and solutions delivered to attendees are relevant and impactful to their day-to-day work. San Diego Gas & Electric will host the event for 2025, helping to produce a lineup of learning opportunities and experiences that can offer value to professionals at every stage of their career.

“Now, more than ever, it’s critical for industry professionals to come together to exchange ideas, discuss innovations and

Panel sessions provide comprehensive discussions on a diverse range of important trends, issues, and real-world applications and solutions.

photos courtesy of IEEE PES.

share lessons learned that can help increase productivity, efficiency, interoperability, and resiliency,” said Kevin Geraghty, chief operating officer and chief safety officer, at San Diego Gas & Electric. “I truly believe this conference can be the CES of the power and energy industry.”

The event will take place at the San Diego Convention Center, a 2.6-million-square-foot facility located along the waterfront in

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

Monday, January 20

12:00 PM – 5:00 PM Onsite Registration Opens 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM Pre-conference Tutorials

Tuesday, January 21

6:30 AM – 6:00 PM Registration Open

7:00 AM – 8:00 AM Breakfast & Networking

8:00 AM – 8:30 AM Welcome, Opening Remarks, & Keynote

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM Super Session I 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM Break

AM – 12:00 PM Super Session II 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Conference Lunch

1:00 PM – 3:15 PM Breakout Sessions – Technical Panels

3:15 PM – 3:30 PM Afternoon Break

3:30 PM – 5:45

6:00

6:30

downtown San Diego, steps from the bustling Gaslamp District. The Grid Edge conference advances new ideas for how electricity is managed at the point where it meets homes and businesses, focusing specifically on the solutions necessary to achieve increased productivity and efficiency. The future of the electric grid will not only integrate a high penetration of renewables but also accommodate the convergence of millions of diverse

Caroline Winn, CEO at San Diego Gas and Electric will once again provide the opening keynote address.

Similar panels planned for next year’s event. (L to R): Damir Novosel, president Quanta Technology; Kevin Geraghty, COO, San Diego Gas and Electric; Colton Ching, senior VP Planning & Technology, Hawaiian Electric; Elliot Mainzer, president & CEO California Independent System Operator: Mark Lauby, chief engineer and senior VP at NERC.

IEEE PES GRID EDGE TECHNOLOGIES CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION

intelligent devices connected at the edge, making optimizing the grid essential for delivering the energy needed to support more sustainable environments.

Power Program

The IEEE PES Grid Edge Technologies event will deliver a comprehensive technical program, equipping a variety of stakeholders working at the edge with key insights necessary to maximize productivity and efficiency.

“You don’t need too much convincing from me about how critical this moment is for our industry,” Geraghty said. “Our list of urgent challenges is immense: ambitious goals for netzero energy, the continued acceleration of electrification, the relentless pressure of climate emergencies on energy safety, security, and reliability.”

Through keynote and super sessions, panel sessions, poster contest, and more, the event will explore critical topics affecting the grid edge, including:

• Decarbonization

• Electrification and EV Charging

• Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)

• Sustainability and Resiliency

• Clean Transportation

• Solar

• Offshore Wind

• Data Analytics

• Microgrids

• Energy Storage

• Artificial Intelligence

• DERMS

• Virtual Power Plants

Over the course of four days, attendees can learn about everything from artificial intelligence to electrification. There will be five super session panels with all “C level” industry executives. Topics for the super session panels are:

• CEO Industry Roundtable: Grid Edge and the Changing Energy Landscape

• Global Perspectives on Decarbonization through Electrification

• Critical Needs for Energy Innovation: Solving for an Equitable Clean Energy Transition

• Strategy and Customer innovation at the Grid Edge

• Data Centers AI and its Impact on the Grid

Technology Features

In addition to the technical program with paper and panel sessions, the event also features an expo showcasing equipment, software and services. The exhibit floor will feature rapidly evolving services and solutions impacting the grid edge, including:

• AI/Computing Solutions

• Business Intelligence & Data Management

• Cyber Security

• Distributed Generation

• Electric Vehicles

• Energy Management and Storage

• Metering, Monitoring, and Measurement Equipment

• Microgrids

Telecommunications

The exhibit hall will also feature an extension of the education program, with several immersive features, including:

• Technology Stages – Five Technology Stages will provide an immersive experience where solution providers, municipalities, utilities, and more will engage on a number of focused topics impacting the industry.

• OATI Grid Edge Technology Pavilion – Operational orchestration is central to successfully unfolding the electricity grid transformation and energy transition. An orchestrated participatory grid is a vibrant, two-way, grid-interactive environment: it leverages demand side capabilities (including DR and DERs) and harmonizes DR/DER asset owners/operators, DR/DER aggregators, distribution grid operators, the bulk power grid, and wholesale energy markets. Learn how OATI brings retail and wholesale together while maintaining grid reliability and enhancing grid resilience.

• Startup Alley – Looking to meet the newest innovators in grid edge technologies? Head to Startup Alley and be the first to see the startups ready to make a big impact on the energy industry. Meet their founding members, learn about their products and services, and gain insights into how they’re addressing the latest trends and challenges in grid edge technologies. Also have the chance to meet with investors and venture capitalists looking to invest in these businesses.

To register for the event, visit https://pes-gridedge.org/.

The Exhibit Floor will feature rapidly evolving services and solutions impacting the grid edge.

The Exhibit Floor will feature rapidly evolving services and solutions impacting the grid edge.

Meet Andrew Ryan

As a journeyman lineworker for E-J Electric T&D, he works out of New York City’s IBEW Local 3 in the Brooklyn-Queens yard.

• Born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, as the youngest of three brothers from an Italian/Irish family.

• Married to his wife, Angelica. They have a four-year-old daughter, Alessandra.

• Enjoys spending quality time with his wife and daughter, traveling and doing many outdoor activities.

• Because there are a lot of different distribution projects going on his jurisdiction, he will keep learning for a long time.

• Nominated by Jorge Miranda, who says Andrew is a great lineworker, teacher, and one of the hardest workers in the yard.

Early Years

My journey into line work was unconventional. I earned my bachelor’s degree from a Catholic college named Franciscan University, and I had the opportunity to study abroad in Austria and live and travel throughout Europe for a year. During the summers, I worked for the family of my close friend, Ryan Newell, to pay my way through college. Once I graduated, I entered the white-collar workforce. Although it paid a great wage, the type of work wasn’t fulfilling, seemed super robotic and didn’t feed my need for adventure. When my wife and I were expecting our first child, we moved to New York City, and I made a career change. Ryan, and his older brother, Billy, reached out to me about pursuing a career in the power industry. They knew that the type of work I would be doing would help me to provide for my family as well as provide a challenging work environment that would meet my needs. They pointed me in the right direction, and I became an apprentice. Both of my friends tragically passed away before they could see me become a journeyman, but I’m very grateful for the impact they had on my life and the difference they made in my family’s life.

Day in the Life

I’m currently working as a contractor for Con Edison. My main responsibilities are maintaining and reconstructing the overhead power grid in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. A typical work day usually consists of reconstructing utility poles and power lines. The system currently in place is old and outdated and needs to be updated to accommodate the modern electrical needs of the many customers in the area we serve. I am involved in tasks such as setting poles, installing new wires and more efficient equipment and other similar distribution tasks in the industry.

Safety Lesson

I remember working a primary reconstruction job in Staten Island in a busy area, and our work site was properly set up with traffic cones and signs. The sidewalks were also coned and barricaded off as well. I was in the bucket clipping in the energized primary wire when suddenly an impaired driver plowed through our work zone, crashed into the truck I was operating, reversed her damaged car and then fled the scene. Luckily, I had my safety harness on properly with the straps secured around my legs. I got tossed around in the bucket, but I didn’t get ejected due to my PPE. Even though all the proper safety mitigations and warnings were in place, the unexpected happened. Had I gotten complacent and not properly worn my PPE, my life could have changed for the worst.

Memorable Storm

Hurricane Ida was my first big storm away from home, and I didn’t know what to expect. We went down to Louisiana, and by the time I arrived, it was very dark. The damage was severe. The hurricane destroyed power lines and utility poles, uprooted trees and damaged houses. It was a maze navigating the destruction just to be able to reach the area we needed to serve. I’ve never seen the destruction of Mother Nature in that way firsthand and seeing it for the first time in that way was very ominous. So many lineworkers from around the country came to help. Locals were put up in hotels while their houses lay in rubble. Initially, we were staged in a county prison before we made it to the campers and tents set up for us. We stayed there for about a month before we returned home. The devastation those people suffered from that event was sad, but the gratitude the people showed to us on a daily basis was very gratifying.

Plans for the Future

If I could do it over again, going into the power industry would definitely be one of my top choices. Hard work is gratifying to me. The skills I’ve learned and the people I’ve met along the way are also valuable and intangible assets. The electrical industry is growing with the future, and there’s only going to be a need for more electricity as technology advances, so it’s a good career to enter in that respect. This job also gives my family the opportunity to live comfortably.

In the future, Andrew Ryan would like to keep learning new things and expanding his knowledge and skill in the trade.

Director, Business Development

Stephen M. Lach

Phone: 708-542-5648

Email: slach@endeavorb2b.com

Account Manager

Brent Eklund

Phone: 303-888-8492

Email: beklund@endeavorb2b.com

Account Manager

Steve Rooney

Phone: 781-686-2024

Email: srooney@endeavorb2b.com

Account Director

Bailey Rice

Phone: 630-310-2598

Email: brice@endeavorb2b.com

Account Manager

John Blackwell

Phone: 518-339-4511

Email: jblackwell@endeavorb2b.com

Account Manager

Denne Johnson

Phone: 607-644-2050

Email: djohnson@endeavorb2b.com

Sales Director, Energy

Jeff Moriarty

Phone: 518-339-4511

Email: jmoriarty@endeavorb2b.com

International Linemen’s Rodeo, and Events

Sam Posa

Phone: 913-515-6604

Email: sposa@endeavorb2b.com

Utility Analytics Institute Memberships

James Wingate

Membership Development Manager

Phone: 404-226-3756

Email: jwingate@endeavorb2b.com

Utility Analytics Institute, Smart Utility Summit and Smart Water Summit

The Role of Private Broadband in a Resilient, Modern Grid

As utilities progress toward ambitious sustainability targets, many find themselves caught between competing priorities. Advancements in grid modernization have helped open doors for the accommodation of renewable energy, yet with this new era comes the challenge of maintaining the resiliency of an increasingly complex grid. High-speed, reliable communications infrastructure can be a key enabler of grid resiliency amid what can seem like a constant state of change.

In the 1990s, innovation in fiber optics made a lasting impact on the utility landscape. Many moved forward with fiber deployments to improve control and connectivity across their operations. Utilities couldn’t foresee all the ways they might harness these new capabilities, but they knew the infrastructure investments were necessary to adapt to a changing grid. As network demands have expanded since then, it’s now clear that they were on the right path.

The industry today stands at another inflection point with greater demands being placed on the grid. Just as they did in the 1990s, utilities are now called to apply a similar level of forethought as they re-envision the distribution model for the next stage of energy transformation.

To accommodate, utilities must transition away from the traditional one-way energy flow framework and toward a decentralized approach to enable bidirectional flow between provider and customers. This shift is important for improving sustainability and investments in new technology assets — including battery storage, microgrids and distributed energy resources — are needed to make it feasible.

That’s not all that is needed, however. New grid assets must be accompanied by a high degree of connectivity with the utility to ensure efficiency and mitigate potential disturbances across a decentralized grid — more connectivity than many are accustomed to with traditional networks.

As organizations weigh grid upgrades to help facilitate progress, a high-speed and highly secure communications infrastructure should be a top priority. For perspective on evolving communications needs, consider how the energy transition affects key objectives. Ensuring the safety of field techs is always a priority, reliant on the ability to effectively monitor grid conditions; yet increasing decentralization makes this more complicated. Priorities like Volt/VAR optimization also become more complex, but remain critical for operations efficiency.

Distributed intelligence and energy orchestration are important ways for utilities to streamline operations. A robust communications network can help maximize the efficiency and reliability of these systems as it can facilitate fast, 24/7 connectivity from central IT assets to the grid edge. Traditional carrier networks can help facilitate some siloed utility initiatives, but don’t typically possess low latency, layered

connectivity, and security needed to accommodate the demands of the modern grid.

The shift to a private LTE (PLTE) network serves as an important step for many utilities in modernizing operations as they look to advance energy objectives. Bringing assets together under a single, secure network, private broadband can give providers a level of control and connectivity needed to support ongoing expansion.

Depending on the environment, some utilities may want to explore a hybrid infrastructure that incorporates PLTE along with other topologies such as narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IOT), point-to-point and mesh. The size of the utility, as well as the specific needs and locations of devices, will dictate the appropriate network. For example, PLTE by itself won’t typically provide the right line of sight to cover all meters or capacitor banks across a territory. Therefore, a hybrid PLTE or combined NB-IOT and mesh network might be necessary.

PLTE remains a resource for utilities looking to adopt smart grid solutions, such as AMI and intelligent sensing systems. The high degree of communications speed and security provided with PLTE aligns with deployment of network-integrated solutions that can improve response and restoration time. Combined with smart metering, for example, utilities can initiate remote management capabilities that turn their customer response efforts from reactive to proactive.

PLTE also gives utilities the capacity, and in some cases, the latency requirements to continue expanding their grid strategies. Innovation in self-healing grids is now picking up steam as utilities look for effective ways to work through challenges of the 21st century. PLTE serves as a mechanism for utilities to explore these types of advancing applications.

While there are exciting developments happening within the energy transformation, it’s important to remember that progress doesn’t happen all at once, and it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Utilities are highly regulated and must go through regulatory and sometimes legislative processes with governments – as well as stakeholder engagement with communities – before embarking on major projects.

Collaboration is also important among utilities themselves as many are in different stages of their grid modernization journey, and some have already implemented private LTE networks. The process of sharing information and trading technical advice can help staff troubleshoot to ensure the best outcomes with new deployments. Creating a shared ecosystem rooted in the vision for advancement will help the industry move forward.

JUAN MACIAS is lead IT architect, Cellular Enterprise, with Duke Energy Corp.; and JEFF LIVINGSTON is senior manager, Telecom, Salt River Project.

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