Utility Automation & Engineering T&D articles from October 2006

Utility Automation & Engineering T&D archives from October 2006

The big power picture is international.(FROM THE EDITOR)
October 1, 2006... PennWell Corporation, the company that employs me, publishes this magazine and produces the DistribuTECH Conference and Exhibition, will take its T & D show on a long road in 2007 with the launch of a new venture called "PowerGrid Europe" (see...

Large-scale outages, loss of engineering expertise discussed in Paris.(NEWS)
October 1, 2006... In late August, more than 2,000 attendees gathered for the 2006 Cigre Session at the Palais des Congres in Paris to discuss the myriad challenges facing high-voltage transmission grids. Although Cigre is an international conference with most of...

AEP chooses GE Energy for Texas grid reliability project.(American Electric Power Company Inc.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... American Electric Power (AEP) has selected GE Energy's Variable Frequency Transformer (VFT) technology to maintain grid reliability in the Laredo, Texas, area along the U.S. border with Mexico. The VFT will establish an asynchronous...

Did demand response save the city?(NEWS)
October 1, 2006... On the heels of New York City's triple-digit heat emergency this summer, one company says that a Con Edison report to the mayor provides confirmation that emergency demand response programs helped save the city from an expansion of the blackout...

Piedmont selects Hunt.(Hunt Technologies will provide advanced metering infrastructure system for Piedmont Electric Membership Corp.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Piedmont EMC, an electric cooperative based in Hillsborough, N.C., has selected Hunt Technologies to provide a two-way advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system for its entire service territory. Piedmont plans to fully deploy Hunt's TS2...

BPL Global announces $25 million in funding.
October 1, 2006... BPL Global, an international leader in "smart grid" technologies and broad-band services over power lines (BPL), recently announced that it has received $25 million in equity investments. New investors in this round include Kuwaiti-based IFA...

Beyond the meter: MDM branches out.(meter data management)
October 1, 2006... Utilities that are exploring, or developing strategies for deploying, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems will likely find themselves evaluating the potential benefits of investing in a robust meter data management (MDM) system. To...

Why meter data management is the key to unlocking AMI usability.
October 1, 2006... Advanced metering initiatives--in addition to goals of gaining more functionality and cutting operating costs--are driving more utilities to implement automated metering infrastructure (AMI) systems. On the same path to achieving these...

Smart meters and power planning.
October 1, 2006... Smart, or advanced, meters have become all the rage, from New York to Texas to California. Given that smart meters provide hourly interval data for every electric customer, they have the potential to revolutionize power planning, from...

The EU talks power, politics.(Tanja Rudolf)(Interview)
October 1, 2006... Last month Utility Automation & Engineering T & D took a look at the basics of the Western European power market. This month we talk to Tanja Rudolf, the information & communication officer for the DG Energy & Transport section of the European...

What's ahead for BPL?(broadband over power line)
October 1, 2006... Broadband over power line (BPL) technology offers both challenge and transformation for electric utilities. The key is to focus on core utility needs. Electric distribution utilities have come under increasing pressure to find innovative...

Unique hybrid AMR system emerges in Wisconsin.(GETTING EQUIPPED)(automatic meter reading)
October 1, 2006... Vision. Invention. Determination. It's the stuff from which America was built. And, it's alive and well in the rolling hills of Wisconsin where Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) defied conventional wisdom seven years ago by installing two separate...

Compact switchgear.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2006... At Cigre in Paris this year, Siemens highlighted the 3AP1 DTC (dead tank compact) switchgear for a rated voltage of 145 kV. This high-voltage device provides all the functions of an outdoor switchgear, consisting of circuit-breaker,...

Arrester Selector.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2006... The new Ohio Brass (Hubbell Power Systems) Arrester Selector let's you quickly determine the many Ohio Brass arrester and hardware combinations that are available to you at Ohio Brass. Ohio Brass is a leading supplier of station class,...

AMI network.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2006... muNet introduces the WebGate TotalPoint System. The TotalPoint System utilizes IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee networking standards to create the WebGate IP Extension Mesh, an always-on, two-way, wireless mesh network for meter data collection that...

Meter data management.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2006... LODESTAR Corp. announces that LODESTAR Meter Data Management (MDM) includes integrated revenue protection functionality. This functionality enables energy providers to rapidly identify potential revenue losses to maximize revenue through...

Transformer support and insulation.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2006... Norplex-Micarta announces NP613 high performance thermoset composite material for superior structural strength and electrical insulation in transformer applications. NP613 is also oil-resistant, maintaining its mechanical strength when used in...

Remote disconnect/reconnect.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2006... Cellnet Technology Inc. announced a new remote electric meter disconnect/reconnect solution that incorporates Cellnet's UtiliNet network radios for communication. Developed with Cellnet partner Carina Technology, the solution will be available...

Harmonic filter banks.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2006... Maysteel now offers custom-engineered medium-voltage harmonic filter banks for power factor improvement and harmonic mitigation. Maysteel SmartBank units provide capacitive reactive power ratings up to 30 MVAR in a single enclosure, making them...

Revenue protection.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2006... Itron Inc.'s new Revenue Protection Suite (RPS) software application provides electric and gas utilities with a powerful revenue investigation tool that identifies potential theft and tamper at the meter. Using monthly consumption data from the...

Flexible optic sensor, fault Recorder.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2006... NxtPhase T & D Corp. has released the NXCT-F3 flexible optical current sensor. The latest addition to the NxtPhase range of optical CTs, the NXCT-F3's flexible, fiber optic head wraps around high-voltage bushings, generator bus or other...

Docking station upgrades.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Gamber-Johnson, manufacturer of mobile docking stations, has added an automatic key lock feature to its existing universal docking station compatible with the Panasonic Toughbook 27, 28 and 29 computers. By adding the automatic lock, customers...

Calendar.(Calendar)
October 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 OCTOBER 15-19 2006...

Advanced metering: what you don't know can hurt you.(SMART GRID PERSPECTIVES)
October 1, 2006... The advanced metering sector is in turmoil and transition. Everything is changing: regulations, pricing, business models and, of course, technology. It's exciting, but it's confusing and risky as well. In times like these, what you don't...