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A Smarter Grid in the Motor City

Two companies are aiming to demonstrate in Detroit how power outages can be prevented.

This story was originally published Data-Smart City Solutions.

The smart grid in Detroit is about to get smarter – and so are utility industry executives exploring options for real-time grid data and analytics.  Distribution grid sensor developer Tollgrade Communications announced last year a $300,000 project to deploy its LightHouse sensors and predictive grid analytics solution across DTE Energy’s Detroit network.  The companies aim to demonstrate how outages can be prevented.

The 3-year program was selected as a Commitment to Action project by the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) at a June 2014 CGI event in Denver, where Tollgrade CEO Ed Kennedy took to the stage with former president Bill Clinton to discuss the project.  Tollgrade, Kennedy said, will make public quarterly reports on the project, beginning in 2015, identifying best practices and sharing detailed performance statistics.

DTE Energy

DTE Energy, headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, is one of the nation’s largest diversified energy companies, delivering electricity to 2.1 million customers. The utility wanted to move away from traditional Fault Current Indicators (FCIs) and instead bring back real-time fault data with waveform capture that could be analyzed to predict grid outages, provide notifications of momentary outages and alert crews to line disturbances. Having the capability to monitor the distribution network was a desire the team held for some time.

“Up until now this type of solution was just too expensive. Now that the technology has caught up and is integrated at the right price point, getting data from the grid through sensors makes business sense. We are now of the mindset to monitor everything," Vince Dow, Vice President, Distribution Operations, DTE Energy.

Equally important was the impact of installation and maintenance requirements. DTE Energy needed to find a solution that was easy to install and would not require them to shut down circuits during installation. In addition, they wanted a battery-free and maintenance-free solution. With these factors in mind, the utility decided to deploy Tollgrade’s LightHouse MV Smart Grid Sensors and Predictive Grid Analytics platform at key substations and feeders within its extensive distribution network.

How It Works

With LightHouse Smart Grid Sensors, DTE Energy gets real-time data about the location of outages so crews can more quickly and accurately locate them. This saves crew time, reduces expensive truck rolls and allows DTE Energy to restore power faster. By using the Predictive Grid Analytics capabilities of the LightHouse solution, they can begin to avoid outages, saving an estimated $10,000 per event.

When a storm hits, information from smart grid sensors can be used to improve crew safety by showing the status of the load on the portion of the grid they are working on. By knowing what portions of the network are de-energized, crews can more safely work on the network. Once repairs are complete, crews get confirmation that power is successfully restored.

Before LightHouse, DTE Energy did not have a good way to monitor its legacy network in real- time to know what the assets uses were. The information from LightHouse Smart Grid Sensors is helping DTE Energy justify what equipment to fully replace and what is functioning properly. Having this visibility is a key advantage that has changed its asset management and operations strategy, helping DTE to make more strategic decisions about how to best allocate capital investment across their network.

Enhanced Efficiency

With 2.1 million customers and 2,600 feeder circuits, DTE Energy has already begun piloting the system around Detroit. Because of the heavy concentration of auto manufacturing in the Detroit area, those saved minutes should translate into substantial economic benefits.  The system will leverage several communications protocols, including DTE’s advanced metering infrastructure communications network, reducing the startup cost and improving the return on investment.

The sensors will be placed along troublesome feeders as well as outside substations where older infrastructure increases the likelihood of outages.  Combined with the predictive analytics solution, the sensors cost just a few thousand dollars per location and could help DTE Energy avoid or defer replacing a million-dollar substation.  Both investors and regulators are sure to like those stats.

Predicting Change

Predictive grid analytics has been a hot topic in the industry for the last few years, but only recently have the prices of solutions and sensors fallen to a level where utilities can justify the cost to deploy them widely throughout the distribution network.  Navigant Research expects the market for distribution grid sensor equipment to grow from less than $400 million worldwide today to 4 times that amount by 2023.

Since its first meeting in 2011, CGI America participants have made more than 400 commitments valued at nearly $16 billion when fully funded and implemented.  The Modern Grid was one of 10 working groups in 2014; others include efforts in Sustainable Buildings and Infrastructure for Cities and States.

DTE hopes to reduce nearly 500,000 customer outage minutes over the next three years in the service territory where Tollgrade’s system is installed. U.S. businesses lose up to $200 billion in business annually when their power goes out, said Ed Kennedy, Tollgrade’s CEO. The figure is based on estimates that an average business loses $15,709 every 30 minutes during a power outage.

“It allows us to pinpoint problems before they begin to occur,” said Kennedy, who said the 5-pound, bread loaf-sized sensors are clamped onto the line and individually communicate with utility information systems.

Haukur Asgeirsson, DTE’s manager of power systems technologies, said about 60 percent of DTE’s distribution system is modern, with a variety of sensors on the lines and in substations to detect potential outages. The Tollgrade sensors expand DTE’s smart grid and ability to predict power outages, Asgeirsson said. “This will cover our legacy infrastructure and help us restore service faster to customers,” he said.