Edison’s Smarter Transmission Grid
Electricity fuels the digital age. Consumers are using more electricity in more ways than ever before, powering complex, sensitive computerized equipment in the workplace and at home. However, many of the electricity grids supporting America's high-tech culture are still low-tech, employing technologies developed decades ago. Southern California Edison (SCE), an Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, leads the nation in applying 21st Century technologies to how electricity is delivered to our homes and businesses.
History
Following a significant disruption in August 1996 of the western states power grid, SCE began researching advanced phasor measurement unit technologies the utility believed had the potential to help prevent reoccurrences. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) and the Electric Power Research Institute.
The initial step was monitoring and analyzing WECC system disturbances. To do so, SCE installed phasor measurement units at most of its major 500 kilovolt and 230 kilovolt substations, technology that measures stress in the transmission grid based on the angle between the alternating current waveforms. Additionally, the utility began work on an offline analysis tool, which it eventually called Power System Outlook, for planning and operator training. SCE also worked on a real-time operations tool it now calls SCE SMART.
What Makes a Grid Smarter?
- Because electricity travels at nearly the speed of light, grid conditions can change at a pace only a microprocessor can match. Edison is replacing manual systems, which are still commonplace, with computerized systems to ensure a more rapid, accurate, automated response to grid problems.
- Edison is replacing electro-mechanical devices, which are prone to mechanical failures, with digital systems that have no moving parts.
- As a result, Edison grid operators can obtain more information, faster, about the causes and impacts of power outages and dispatch repair crews more quickly and precisely to trouble spots.
- And grid operators are using advanced sensors and computing systems to monitor and respond to indications of stress created by fluctuating supply-and-demand conditions at any point on
the grid.
What a Smarter Grid Means for Customers
- Enhanced utility service reliability.
- More stable, higher-quality electricity supply.
- Shorter customer outages, faster service restoration.
- A "self-healing" grid.
- New customer program and service options.
- Increased customer control of energy costs.
- Customer connectivity to new "communicating" appliances.
