Duquesne Light Deploys Underground Cable Monitoring System
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Duquesne Light Company (DLC) announced that it is implementing a new underground cable monitoring system to help fortify the power grid in and around the Pittsburgh, PA area. The “Smart Cable Guard” system, provided by a company called DNV, is designed to improve reliability by collecting and analyzing underground data to identify potential malfunctions.
Benefits of the DNV Underground Cable Monitoring System
DLC selected the Smart Cable Guard system via a 2-year due diligence process. The company cited ease and speed of installation, safety benefits, cost factors, and increased ability to detect potential infrastructure problems as the primary reasons for the selection.
The system is designed to be installed throughout the underground grid, collecting real-time data for analysis, and sending alerts to DLC if an anomaly is detected. The data will locate faults in the cable, monitor the condition of the cable, predict future malfunctions, and identify the equipment and PPE that crews should have when onsite. It should also help reduce outage durations and frequency.
For its part, DNV claims the system can reduce distribution cable failures by up to 70%. The company’s system has been installed by more than 50 grid operators across 20 countries. DLC is the third utility to deploy the technology in North America.
DLC plans to install the underground cable monitoring system on more than 500 miles of infrastructure during the 5-year period from 2025 to 2030. It will be interesting to see if the company publishes a “before and after” snapshot of reliability and performance at some point in the future.
In the final analysis, this seems like a win for all parties. Underground infrastructure is already more reliable than overhead infrastructure because it is shielded from the elements, and with this or a similar underground cable monitoring system in place, this reliability benefit will only grow – pleasing the utility, regulators and customers alike.
