Emerging Utility Grid Hardening Techniques
Utility grid hardening has been a hot topic since Superstorm Sandy. It has always been important, but it is now nearing the top of the priority list due to the fact that storms are becoming increasingly frequent and severe.
Bottom line: restoring the grid after a major event is no longer good enough – the goal should be grid enhancement, not just restoration.
Examples of Utility Grid Hardening
- New Jersey approved over 100 techniques for the state’s electric utilities to reduce storm vulnerability, including many tactics to harden the grid, on the heels of Sandy. The hardening tactics include substation flood prevention, improved vegetation management, protective relaying, and automated circuit switching, to name just a few.
- PSE&G optimized its recloser operations to accelerate outage restoration. In one example of how this is beneficial, the improved recloser operations allowed a hospital to return to service in under 30 minutes, when in the past it might have taken over 22 hours!
- FP&L is installing smart meters, undergrounding wires in especially vulnerable areas, and replacing wooden poles with concrete poles.
There are many other examples as well, but you get the point. In this day and age of warming global temperatures, utility grid hardening is more important now than ever before. Regulators in particular are forcing the issue, which is necessary for substantive change, so the proverbial train has left the station. But it certainly will not happen overnight.
Widespread, best-in-class utility grid hardening will take decades to accomplish, as the industry is only at the very early stages of these efforts. In the meantime, it is critical to continue to prepare for the worst as if no hardening were done at all. And in my opinion, exercises and drills are the best way to ensure maximum preparedness.
