Technical Papers
Articles and White Papers
A Reliability Improvement Roadmap Based on a Predictive Model and Extrapolation Technique
This paper presents a novel approach used by the authors for developing a reliability improvement roadmap for a major distribution utility of the USA. The goals of this roadmap were to (1) identify specific reliability objectives, (2) identify the most cost-effective way to achieve these reliability objectives, and (3) identify additional reliability opportunities to consider in the future. The timeframe of the roadmap is ten years, giving the utility the option of accelerating many aspects of the program so that reliability benefits are realized sooner.
Aging Infrastructure a Misunderstood Conundrum for the Power Industry
A utility might enter the New Year with 718,000 wooden distribution poles installed on its system that have been in service for, on average, 42.6 years.
Capacity Credit Value of Wind in a Balanced Portfolio
Capacity Credit value of wind in a balanced portfolio Wind electric conversion has become one of the most promising technologies to address the various energy issues facing the United States. National initiatives such as “20% electricity from wind by 2030” and grand plans to replace some of the gas-fired electric generation by wind so that the saved gas can be used in compressed form to power automobiles leading to a decrease in importation of petroleum are manifestation of the progress made just in the past decade.
Dawn of the Grid Synchronization
RECENT INCREASE IN WORLD-WIDE DISTURBANCES, CONGESTION management challenges, and increased complexity in operating the power grid have emphasized the need for grid revitalization. Advanced applications in wide area monitoring, protection, and control (WAMPAC) systems offer a cost-effective solution to improve system planning, operation, maintenance, and energy trading.
Distribution Wood Pole Management Practices in the Electric Utility
This report presents results taken from work done in 2006 through 2012, including a poll of 31 utilities during a meeting of the Electric Energy Delivery Planning Consortium on aging infrastructure management practices, polls carried out at workshops on aging infrastructure and distribution planning held by Quanta Technology, and follow-up discussions and projects Quanta Technology had with utilities during this period.
Energy Storage Overview: Applications, Technologies and Economical Evaluation
The electric system needs to balance supply and demand on a moment to moment basis. Energy commodities such as coal, oil and natural gas can be readily stored in massive quantities. However, the storage of electricity has been relatively complex and expensive.
Future Vision: the Challenge of Effective Transmission Planning
EXCEPTIONAL FORCES ARE CHANGING THE USE OF THE TRANSMISSION infrastructure in the United States. There are high expectations that the transmission system will support and enable national-level economic, renewable energy, and other emerging policy issues.
Geomagnetic Disturbance Hardening and Operation of Power Systems
Geomagnetic Disturbance Hardening of power systems involves a multi-faceted approach that includes modifying the equipment and design of the system, installing equipment and augmenting the procedures for system operation and contingency preparation in order to mitigate the negative effects on power system operation that can be caused by solar storms.
Getting Smart about Smart Grids Part I: Why This Is Such Hard Work
The need to secure and protect our nation’s critical infrastructure has been acknowledged for decades. Yet despite this high-level attention, the same new advances that increase the capabilities of the grid also make it more vulnerable. Quanta Technology's Smart Grid Cyber Security expert, Lynda McGhie, discusses how overlaying new technologies on legacy systems creates disruption of traditional grid operator models at a game-changing level.
Grid Impacts and Solutions of Renewables at High Penetration Levels
In 2002, California established its Renewable Portfolio Standard Program, with the goal of increasing the percentage of renewable energy in the state's electricity mix to 20% by 2017. On November 17, 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order S-14-08 requiring that California utilities reach the 33% renewables goal by 2020. If you would like the complete document, please contact Johan Enslin.
Hard to Find Information About Distribution Systems
The distribution system shown below illustrates many of the features of a distribution system making it unique. The voltage level of a distribution system can be anywhere from about 5 kV to as high as 35 kV with the most common voltages in the 15 kV class. Areas served by a given voltage are proportional to the voltage itself indicating that, for the same load density, a 35 kV system can serve considerably longer lines.
Hard to Find Information About Distribution Systems, Vol 2
For most of my career, spanning over 40 years, the term “stray voltage” has meant one thing, i.e. the voltage between the neutral conductor and the earth, resulting from unbalanced current. Since unbalanced current is an integral part of a 4 wire multi-grounded system, it was considered normal. The only issues that arose were from the dairy industry and occasionally from a pool owner.
Integrated System Architecture and Technology Roadmap Toward WAMPAC
Integrated System Architecture and Technology Roadmap toward WAMPAC Anthony Johnson, Member, IEEE, Jun Wen, Member, IEEE, Jia Wang, Member, IEEE, Edwin Liu, Fellow, IEEE, Yi Hu, Senior Member, IEEE, Abstract--With the advancement of sensor, communication and information technologies, Wide Area Monitoring, Protection and Control (WAMPAC) systems have been identified as the new generation of solutions to improve power system planning, operation and protection.
Investigation of Solar PV Inverters Current Contributions during Faults on Distribution and Transmission Systems Interruption Capacity
Proliferation of power electronic-based distributed generation units at transmission and distribution systems has introduced new challenges for utility engineers to determine changes in the short-circuit capacity of a system and potential impact on interruption rating of switching devices. As part of an interconnection study for a new generation facility, utilities require detailed information on fault characteristics of the generation sources. This paper reports on the study approach and major findings from a series of extensive impact studies and sensitivity analyses that were performed to determine the level of contribution of PV inverters to system fault.
Justifying the Proactive Replacement of Cable
Many utilities face the aging infrastructure issue. A large amount of equipment is approaching the end of its useful life; in addition, the amount of old equipment is increasing every year. This will result in increased equipment failures, more customer interruptions, and higher restoration costs. If nothing is done, age-related failures will continue to increase and eventually cause customer reliability to dramatically worsen. Much of the issue is related to underground distribution cable, much of which has approached or exceeded its expected lifetime.
Managing Enterprise Information for Smart Meters and Smart Grid
Driven to further increase energy and operational efficiencies and encouraged by government policies and incentives, many utilities are exploring, planning, or already beginning to implement “Smart Grid”. Smart Grid implementations can potentially add hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of new equipment and devices to the energy delivery system and infrastructure of the utility.
Real-Time Voltage Control Under Stressed Conditions
AS THE ELECTRICAL UTILITY INDUSTRY ADDRESSES ENERGY AND environmental needs through greater use of renewable energy, storage, and other technologies, power systems are becoming more complex and stressed. Increased dynamic changes that require improvements in real-time monitoring, protection, and control increase the complexity of managing modern grids. In an effort to ensure the secure operation of power systems, more attention is being given to voltage management. Voltage management includes addressing voltage stability and fault-induced delayed voltage recovery (FIDVR) phenomena. Deployment of phasor measurement unit (PMU) technology, in combination with recently developed methodologies for tracking voltage behavior, has resulted in improved real-time voltage monitoring, protection, and control.
Solar PV Integration Challenges
Southwest Power Pool EHV Overlay Study
This EHV Restudy was performed to evaluate the affect of intensifying wind development activity in portions of the SPP system on the EHV recommendation that Quanta Technology1and PowerWorld developed in the previous EHV Overlay Study conducted in the spring of 2007. This EHV Restudy also incorporated recent decisions regarding the development of certain lines in the western portion of the SPP X-plan.
Storm Hardening the Distribution System
When Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston, Texas, U.S., on Sept. 13, 2008, its Category 2 winds extended 275 miles (443 km) from the center. Behind Andrew in 1992 and Katrina in 2005, Ike was the third-costliest U.S. hurricane of all time, causing more than 13 million businesses and homes to lose power.
Survey of PEV Impacts on Electric Utilities
A Survey of PEV Impacts on Electric Utilities Ryan Liu, Student1; Luther Dow, Life Member IEEE2; Edwin Liu, Fellow IEEE2 Abstract: For the past few years, plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) technology development has gained immense popularity. Recent studies show that if PEVs displaced half of all vehicles on the road, they would require only an 8% increase in electricity generation.
Synchrophasor Technology: The Boom of Investments and Information Flow from North America to Latin America
The Smart Grid Investment Grants (SGIG) by the USA federal government at the transmission level are focused primarily on synchrophasor technology [1]. These big monetary investments, in the order of several hundreds of dollars, bring an adequate platform to initiate the paradigm shift from SCADA-based real time monitoring at the 5 to 10 seconds updating rate to synchrophasor-based, real time monitoring, at the 30-60 samples per second updating rate.
The Impact of Plug-In Electric Hybrid Vehicles (PHEV) on Electric Utilities
In mid 2008 the cost of a barrel of crude oil reached nearly $150, and gasoline prices spiked at $4.00/gallon. Petroleum prices have dropped recently, but most oil-industry experts expect that while the price of gasoline will fluctuate up and down on a seasonal basis, in the long run it will steadily rise. Growing global demand and a supply that will be, at best, static, mean prices will inevitably rise.
What Happens with a Lack of Long-Range T&D Infrastructure Planning?
While that cynical humor is untrue, at least in the opinion of most utility executive management, there is one element of the comparison that many would admit is valid: the Boy Scouts have a map and a compass.
Wide-Area Ethernet Network Configuration for System Protection Messaging
Southern California Edison Company (SCE) is now designing and installing one of the world's most extensive high-speed wide area protection systems - the Centralized Remedial Action Scheme (CRAS) [1]. C-RAS uses protective relays installed in transmission substations across the SCE service territory to monitor critical transmission line flows and other electrical measurements, as well as relay or breaker operations that remove lines from service and might trigger rapid transmission system collapse. These monitoring relays transmit high speed data to a pair of redundant central controller arrays using IEC 61850 GOOSE messages over a wide area Ethernet network (WAN) comprised of dual-redundant T1 and Ethernet data links. The central controller arrays decide how to remediate a line loss within milliseconds of receiving the line trip message, and trip loads or generation to maintain system stability using WAN links, GOOSE messaging, and mitigation relays at shedding substation sites.
Books
Aging Power Delivery Infrastructures
Distributed Power Generation: Planning and Evaluation
Optimization Principles: Practical Applications to the Operation and Markets of the Electric Power Industry
Power Distribution Engineering: Fundamentals and Applications
Power Distribution Planning Reference Book, Second Edition
Spatial Electric Load Forecasting, Second Edition
Understanding Electric Utilities and De-Regulation, Second Edition
Home Page Expertise Document
Geomagnetic Disturbance Hardening and Operation of Power Systems
Geomagnetic Disturbance Hardening of power systems involves a multi-faceted approach that includes modifying the equipment and design of the system, installing equipment and augmenting the procedures for system operation and contingency preparation in order to mitigate the negative effects on power system operation that can be caused by solar storms.
Project Reports
Asset Management and System Reliability Group Review
The Asset Management and System Reliability Group (AMSR) of Southern California Edison (SCE) has requested an independent review of its objectives, methodologies, and resources. InfraSource has accomplished this through a review of data provided by SCE and a series of on-site interviews.
Asset Management and System Reliability Group Review
The Asset Management and System Reliability Group (AMSR) of Southern California Edison (SCE) has requested an independent review of its objectives, methodologies, and resources. InfraSource has accomplished this through a review of data provided by SCE and a series of on-site interviews.
Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Deployment of Utility Infrastructure Upgrades and Storm Hardening Programs
The following storm hardening projects have been performed by Quanta Technology: Florida Undergrounding Study, Florida Electric Utilities This project performed a three-phase project for a consortium representing all electric utilities in Florida (managed through the Public Utility Research Consortium of the University of Florida).
Department of Energy: NASPInet Design and Specification Development, 2008-2009
Spatial Electric Load Forecasting Methods for Electric Utitlities
This report was done for and with participation of the Electric Energy Delivery Planning Consortium covering an investigation of spatial electric load forecasting (T&D load forecasting)methods carried out by Quanta Technology on behalf of the Electric Energy Delivery Planning Consortium (EDPC).
Undergrounding Assessment Phase 1 Final Report: Literature Review and Analysis of Electric Distribution Overhead to Underground Conversion
The conversion of overhead electric power distribution facilities to underground has been a topic of discussion in Florida for more than twenty years. The topic has been studied, discussed, and debated many times at the state, municipal, and local levels.
Undergrounding Assessment Phase 2 Final Report: Undergrounding Case Studies
This report presents the results of Phase 2 of a three phase project to investigate the implications of converting overhead electric distribution systems in Florida to underground (referred to as undergrounding). The purpose of Phase 2 is to examine the costs and benefits of actual undergrounding projects that have been completed.
Undergrounding Assessment Phase 3 Final Report: Ex Ante Cost and Benefit Modeling
This report is the Phase 3 deliverable of a project awarded in response to RFP #U-1 issued by the Florida Electric Utilities. RFP #U-1 was a result of Florida Public Service Commission Order No. PSC-06-0351PAA-EI, which directs each investor-owned electric utility in Florida to establish a plan that increases collaborative research to further the development of storm-resilient electric utility infrastructure and technologies that reduce storm restoration costs and interruptions to customers.
White Paper on Net Metering and Reliability
The North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association (“NCSEA”) has engaged Quanta Technology, LLC (“QT”) to assist them with technical issues related to Net-metering Docket E-100, Sub 83 open before the North Carolina Utilities Commission (“NCUC”). This project draws upon the collective knowledge, experience and expertise of several QT advisors in the areas of distributed generation, T&D engineering, T&D standards, electric system maintenance, electric system operation, and resource planning.