The impact of Hurricane Sandy on electrical power
systems was widespread and in many areas extensive.
The key to many restoration efforts was information.
Beyond using basic information about the extent of
outages derived from traditional sources, some
utilities and grid operations were able to get more
granular and more detailed information about
specific problems by using some relatively new
technologies. This included using mobile devices in
the field to more accurately assess damage and
leveraging data from smart grid systems in order to
better understand the geographical extent of
outages.
Coming on the heels of tropical storm Irene in
August 2011 and the devastating October 2011
snowstorm, some power companies in the Northeast had
already started using new systems to help deal with
the aftermath of major storms. But more needs to be
done because most industry experts believe the
United States will experience more of these major
storms and other power grid-impacting natural
disasters, such as large forest fires from lingering
drought conditions in parts of the country.
So what were the lessons learned from Sandy that
will help going forward?
“Utilities and providers who invested in smart grid
technology had smart meters to help provide more
detailed information about outages and some also had
more sophisticated monitoring and control
capabilities of transmission and generation
equipment in their grids,” said Chris Dunn, a
partner in Booz & Company’s energy, chemicals and
utilities practice.
Some of the most useful information for assessing
the scope of outages came from smart meters.
Traditionally, customers would call their utility
to report an outage. Often there is a delay between
an outage and the time when a customer calls. This
gives utilities incomplete and perhaps inaccurate
information. Smart meters have the capability to
transmit a so-called “last gasp” message after power
is off, informing the utility of its state. The
information from many smart meters could be
assimilated to get a real-time, accurate
representation of the scope of an outage.
Some companies used new tools to better assess
damages and manage restoration resources. For
example, National Grid routinely makes use of a
geographic information system to integrate data from
multiple systems to aid restoration efforts. For
Sandy, the company was able to enhance the
usefulness of this system using a newly developed
and piloted mobile device capability. Specifically,
information from the system could be pushed down to
handheld devices in the field, providing timely
information to the workers.
Additionally, the workers could collect information
and send it back to the company for assessment. At a
site with downed power lines, a worker would fill
out a damage assessment form noting such things as
whether there was a wire on the ground, a pole down,
a tree on a wire, and other factors that contributed
to the problem. The workers could also take photos
and send them back to the company for additional
assessment.
“This helped us understand what equipment was needed
to make the repairs,” said Cheri Warren, National
Grid’s vice president of asset management. For
example, one site might need a tree cleared while
another might need a new pole installed, some sites
might need both. The integrated system also helped
with planning, prioritization efforts and logistics.
Obviously, utilities and operators can benefit from
technology to help with restoration efforts. But
there also needs to be more emphasis on preventing
disruptions.
A natural place to start is to look at the issues
with overhead power lines. The majority of Sandy
outages on Long Island and in parts of New Jersey
were from downed power lines due to falling trees
and branches.
Most utilities have, and many are required to have,
vegetation management plans. In the past, these were
mostly manually maintained plans. More recently,
there has been a move to employ more easy-to-use
geographic information systems that offer
integration with other systems. The systems have
long been used by utilities and oil and gas
companies for operational planning and asset
management. Increasingly, transmission system
operators and utilities are turning to this software
for vegetation management. Used in this manner,
companies marry systems maps, aerial photographs of
their rights of way, and data about the location of
vegetation. The combined information is then used to
plan tree pruning and removal efforts.
Other measures being discussed are the use of
stronger poles to avoid the impact of flooding and
winds. There is also discussion about installing
more water barriers at substations in areas that in
the past were not subjected to flooding, but perhaps
could be with major storms in the future.
Even more exotic technologies and concepts are on
the horizon. However, they squarely fit into the
realm of solutions needed to deal with future storms
and natural disasters. The benefits derived from the
technologies used in Sandy’s aftermath should serve
as an incentive to make more wide-scale use of them
to reduce the impact of future storms, minimize the
damage done and speed restoration efforts.
This excerpted story first appeared in
EnergyBiz magazine.
Copyright © 1996-2013 by
CyberTech,
Inc.
All rights reserved.
To subscribe or visit go to:
http://www.energycentral.com
To subscribe or visit go to:
http://www.energybiz.com
http://www.energybiz.com/article/13/04/preparing-next-mega-outage