Transmission & Distribution Technology
transmission network (when transmission voltage is too low). Te new STATCOMS are planned to be installed in
Auckland and North Auckland in 2013 and 2014. In Eastern Europe, Turkey connected to the
European electrical grid this September using smart grid technology, a move that will bring the country increased energy and economic opportunities. Te Turkish Electricity Transmission Company
(TEIAS) is now able to buy and sell power in the European electricity market and the connection should help strengthen the reliability and availability of energy throughout all of Europe. “Te territory serviced by the European Network
of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) is one of the highest demand regions for energy in the world,” according to a report issued in 2009 by the country’s Ministry of Energy. “Te energy policies of ENTSO-E’s countries are driving a single market model through the synchronisation of more networks, thus increasing the reliability of the supply of electricity to maximise the efficiency of generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy while minimising environmental impact,” the report added.
Cleaner energy mix Connecting Turkey with the rest of the European grid is an important step to help meet these initiatives. Te cross-border system may also enable a new, cleaner energy mix for Europe. Tere is a demand for renewable energy in European countries, and Turkey has massive renewable energy sources, which makes this new relationship mutually beneficial to both TEIAS and ENTSO-E. GE’s smart grid communications and wide-area
protection solutions will monitor grid status at the points of connection and automate the control of generation and load within the country. Te system will optimise power sharing and power quality while improving reliability and preventing cascading outages. GE completed the engineering for the system in a matter of months.
GE is also busy in the US, where Massachusetts- based NSTAR Electric is expanding its GE-powered ‘self-healing’ grid project throughout its service territory to improve power reliability for all its customers. GE’s smart grid technology automatically identifies the location of power outages, isolates faulted sections of the network and re-routes power from other sources, essentially ‘healing’ the system. Te initial rollout of GE’s switch controllers is expected to show a 50 per cent decrease in the number of customers affected by failures on main line circuits. Te technology is currently operating in a portion of NSTAR’s service territory and, with the help of US Department of Energy stimulus funding, NSTAR is now expanding the project — marking the nation’s first utility system-wide deployment of its kind.
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“Te hot, humid weather we’ve been experiencing this summer pushes electric systems to their limits,” said Tom May, NSTAR chairman, president and ceo. “Our investments in smart grid technology are already helping to lower the number and duration of outages. So our customers, who rely on electricity more than ever in this digital age, are seeing fewer disruptions in their lives. Te expansion of the GE technology throughout our system will help deliver increasingly reliable service.” By connecting sensors, switches and breakers with
smart communications and information processing throughout NSTAR’s service territory, GE is helping to ensure that the grid can monitor and diagnose many problems by itself. If a crew is required to respond to the problem in the field, the system can isolate the outage and reroute power so fewer customers are affected during the repair process. “Nobody likes it when the lights go out,” said
Bob Gilligan, vice president—digital energy for GE Energy Services. “Unplanned power outages are a major economic burden. In the US alone, they cost the economy over US$80b each year. While we don’t have the technology to prevent a traffic accident or stop a tree limb from falling, we do have the technology to dramatically reduce how these events affect the flow of electricity. Now, in a matter of minutes, NSTAR’s power grid will make decisions and alter energy flow to restore power to a portion of customers almost immediately.”
Smart grid components GE is providing hardware, software, communications equipment, configuration and testing services for this upgrade. Te project will be completed over the next three years. In other US news, with the final approval of a US$33.9 m matching grant to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association from the Department of Energy, 19 electric cooperatives now embark on a novel, nationwide demonstration project deploying more than 153 000 smart grid components across the country to test the value of the new technologies for cooperative consumer members. Authorised by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the smart grid research grants, together with the US$3.4b in smart grid investment grants, are part of a federal initiative to identify and develop new and more effective smart grid technologies Also Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) is now
moving forward with implementation of a smart grid throughout its Central Maryland service territory. “Following the Maryland Public Service Commission’s approval of our project ... BGE is pleased to move forward with our ambitious smart grid programme and deliver the significant transformational benefits of smart grid to each of our 1.2 million customers,” said Kenneth W DeFontes Jr, president and chief executive officer of BGE. l
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