TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION TECHNOLOGY
automatic network reconfiguration to reroute power. Many will leverage an optimised architecture based on motorised and communicating switchgear (circuit breakers, reclosers, sectionalisers) and fault passage indicators (FPIs). In short, grid operators can rely on higher-fidelity data availability, siloed data consolidation into integrated databases, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based applications for their decision-making. In essence, sensors and software produce data that enables well-judged, predictive, instantaneous, and automatic choices to protect citizens, businesses and operations in moments of grid failure. Say high winds bring down a tap. A
smart grid pinpoints the closest suitable opportunity for a power diversion and automatically tells the network to use this route. Or, it could suggest activating other networks and microgrids, such as those connected to local wind farms, which could tide communities over until the grid is restored. In a wildfire, while outage management
Extreme weather is challenging for grid resilience
an advanced distribution management system (ADMS). By predicting where an impact such as a wildfire might hit, utilities can pre-emptively instruct the system to reconfigure energy to avoid an outage for customers, for instance by temporarily islanding a microgrid while engineers work to fix the damage. Even when planning is not possible, utilities can rely on technology by using
reroutes the power supply, a fire management module can use geo-awareness to detect affected equipment, minimising impact due to time saved and reducing potentially dangerous work for engineers. Or perhaps a set of junctions has been flooded by stormwater. Te outage management module predicts the damage and reroutes power while the grid is fixed. A digital twin for the network can identify what’s happened and why – reducing the time spent in diagnosis from hours to minutes. While engineers fix the lost nodes, customers aren’t left in the lurch.
HOW WILL THIS HELP BATTLE THE EFFECTS OF EXTREME WEATHER? Beyond providing resilience, incorporating and transitioning to smarter grids based
on data is crucial to the global shift towards greener, more sustainable energy. For instance, with a digital twin model of the network, engineers can replay the incident and figure out how to avoid it next time. By leveraging the full potential of digital technologies, energy grids can be incrementally improved with sustainable materials and approaches while costly disruption is reduced. In a natural disaster or extreme
weather event, critical services such as hospitals, emergency departments, and social infrastructure being cut off from power can have disastrous effects. To avoid the need for them to deploy their independent power – often coming from a diesel generator that’s far from sustainable – they must be able to rely on the grid’s ability to reroute power quickly. In a hospital, this could keep life support machines on the most reliable source of power possible. In care homes, this could keep vital heating units running. In schools, children can continue learning without disruption, whatever storm rages outside.
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE Governments and organisations are beginning to wake up to the systematic changes to be made to limit global warming and its effects. However, while those changes happen, consumers will still suffer these effects unless resilience is rapidly introduced to existing energy systems.
Te answer is making networks
smarter, so they can suggest better, faster, more sustainable decisions. Tis means that humans can then save time to maintain the resilient grid and plan to increase its resilience further in the future. Tis resilience makes the grid more sustainable, thus contributing to the longer-term goal of limiting climate change. Trough maintaining a resilient grid, organisations and governments can adapt to climate change, as well as make sustainable choices which curb climate change and save the earth for future generations.
Power systems must be updated to benefit from systemic resilience
Frédéric Godemel is EVP, Power Systems and Services at Schneider Electric.
www.se.com
www.engineerlive.com 11
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