Utility Automation & Engineering T&D articles from December 2006

Utility Automation & Engineering T&D archives from December 2006

The year that was, and a look ahead.(North American Electric Reliability Council is approved as the Electric Reliability Organization)(American Wind Energy Association reports record wind energy capacity in 2006)(CenterPoint Energy Inc. and TXU Electric Delivery Corp. use new technology to upgrade grids)
December 1, 2006... 2006 was a big year for electric power industry news, as provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 began to take shape and the U.S. set records for power demand. Here's a look back at some of the biggest headlines of 2006 that will continue...

IEC 61850 goal to 'simplify, harmonize, lower costs'.(International Electrotechnical Commission)
December 1, 2006... In October, protection engineers gathered in Spokane, Wash., for the annual Western Protective Relay Conference where one of the hot topics was the standard protocol for substation communications, IEC 61850. Ten years in the making, IEC 61850...

IEEE discusses transmission at PSCE in Atlanta.(NEWS)(Power Systems Conference and Exposition)(Conference news)
December 1, 2006... IEEE's Power Engineering Society conducted its 2006 Power Systems Conference and Exposition (PSCE) from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 in Atlanta. Students, professors, engineers and vendors were in attendance for the show downtown in the city of Southern...

AMI/AMR take center stage at Autovation 2006.(NEWS)(Automatic Meter Reading Association, advanced metering infrastructure, automatic meter reading )
December 1, 2006... Nearly 1,500 were in attendance in Nashville, Tenn., as the Automatic Meter Reading Association conducted its annual conference and exhibition. Advanced metering infrastructure and meter data management were the buzz words in the conference...

EPRI prototype to increase reliability of existing lines.(NEWS)(Electric Power Research Institute )(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) recently completed and successfully tested a prototype design of a solid state current limiter (SSCL), a device that restricts fault current from new generation or transmission and reduces switching...

Reliability project to result in cost savings for Colorado utility.(NEWS)(Advanced Control Systems )(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Advanced Control Systems (ACS) has supplied the first two of 63 Connex 30 Substation Managers to Colorado Springs Utilities as part of an ongoing reliability improvement project. Although the utility will reap significant communication and...

Advanced metering, MDM making inroads at utilities.(NEWS)(meter data management )(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... As additional utilities turn to automated meter reading (AMR), more are settling on advanced metering systems capable of delivering frequent meter data and the supporting infrastructure necessary to meet future business goals, Chartwell...

Feds go to work on transmission congestion.
December 1, 2006... The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) tweaked the Federal Power Act just a tad: It sent the Secretary of Energy on a quest to study transmission lines coast to coast--except in ERCOT. In this case, Texas really is "like a whole other country."...

Location, location, location: the state of geospatial technology.
December 1, 2006... Geospatial technology has incorporated itself into almost every aspect of daily life. Whether one is looking for directions to the new pizza shop in town or planning a vast communications network, geospatial technology, in some form, is the...

NERC standards, Super Bowl to highlight DistribuTECH 2007.
December 1, 2006... After nearly a year of planning, DistribuTECH 2007 is almost here. The conference and exhibition takes place in San Diego, Calif, Feb. 4-6 and features 65 conference sessions in 14 different subject areas, a full-day of intensive pre-conference...

Optimizing reliability in utility networks.
December 1, 2006... While reliability is perhaps one of the most watched performance indicators in the utilities industry, improvement efforts are often based on best practices or trial and error. As a result, mountains of data are available to monitor utility...

Utility poles: the most shared infrastructure element.(GETTING EQUIPPED)
December 1, 2006... Utility (including telephone) poles are a ubiquitous component of our contemporary landscape. Perhaps as many as 200,000,000 of these underappreciated structures span the United States, supporting the spider web of power and communications...

Remote monitoring.(NEW PRODUCTS)
December 1, 2006... Eaton's new Cutler-Hammer branded NPView is a wireless web server that is placed inside an underground vault or above-grade control room that can wirelessly transmit data from multiple microprocessor communications variant (MPCV) relays...

UtiliNet[R] Series III radio from Cellnet.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... The Cellnet[R] UtiliNet[R] Series III mesh radio boasts an increased baud rate, to 9,600/19,200 bps, which, coupled with several firmware changes, has quadrupled the effective data throughput of the radio over the Series II. [ILLUSTRATION...

Modular substations.(NEW PRODUCTS)
December 1, 2006... Cooper Power Systems' new modular integrated transportable substations (MITS) are pre-packaged, customizable electrical power distribution units that can be installed with one crane lift. MITS are completely assembled, wired and tested at the...

NERC CIP solution.(NEW PRODUCTS)
December 1, 2006... Symantec Corp. announced a comprehensive IT compliance solution to help electric utility firms comply with the North American Electric Reliability Council's Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) standards. The NERC CIP solution combines...

Capacitor switch.(Mays)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... The UltraVac solid dielectric vacuum switch from Mays is now available w a choice of either low-current moto operator or a new positive-latching solenoid operator. The UltraVac single phase capac tor switch excels as a high-performance, drop-in...

Calendar.(Calendar)
December 1, 2006... DistribuTECH 2007: The utility industry's most comprehensive conference on automation, information technology and T & D engineering Feb. 4-6, 2007. San Diego, CA. // Phone 918.832.9265 // www.distributech.com JANUARY 3-5 9th...

Two must-read reports hint at the future of utility automation.(University of San Diego Energy Policy Initiatives Center)
December 1, 2006... If I had to pick the two things most important to the future of utility automation, I would say regulation and economics. Until recently, both areas often acted to slow progress. Regulators typically distrusted new technology and wouldn't allow...