Global Viewpoint
Solar Storage Anyone?
Spain Happens to have the Best Conditions in Europe for Solar Energy. With high insolent radiation and a dry climate, it is no surprise that this country...
Features
Megawatts of Solar
Southern California Edison is Leading California's Charge to meet the nation's most ambitious renewable portfolio standard (RPS) targets: 20% by 2010...
Land Stewardship
Having Abandoned the Use of Herbicides in the Early 1980s, Fingrid Oyj, Finland's transmission system operator, controls the growth of vegetation on its...
Automation Delivers Self-Healing Feeders
While the Seeds of Automation Innovations are being Sown Across the Country, some of the most intriguing projects are coming from independent municipal...
Ameren Fast Tracks 345-kV Repairs
Three Years After Inheriting a 30-Year-Old 345-KV SF6 Bus Duct installed on a critical transmission line, Ameren Corp. (St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.) engineers...
Gapless Arresters Improve Line Reliability
Malaysia has a Very High Isokeraunic Level of Up to Thunderstorm Days Per Year. This high incidence of lightning activity causes multiple line trippings...
Software Accelerates Transmission Line Design
To Construct or Retrofit Transmission Lines in a Reliable, Cost-effective Manner requires accurate, consistent and detailed engineering drawings. Due...
Business Developments
AREVA T&D Aligns with Microsoft for Smarter Grid Solutions
AREVA T&D (www.areva-td.com) announces the extension of its three-year-long collaboration with Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) to include the development...
Trilliant Supplies Smart Metering Solution to Electricity Supply Board Ireland
Trilliant Inc. (www.trilliantinc.com) will deliver a smart meter system to ESB Networks, the owner and operator of the electricity distribution network...
ABB Secures Contract for U.S. Solar Power Project
ABB has secured its first Solar Thermal Power Project in North America with eSolar (www.esolar.com), producer of scalable solar thermal power plants,...
Massachusetts Energy-Efficiency Providers Unveil Unprecedented $4 Billion Savings Plan
In an unparalleled move to dramatically reduce energy use in Massachusetts, a coalition of the Commonwealth's leading energy-efficiency providers is unveiling...
Technology Updates
IREQ Uses Simulation Software to Analyze Magnetic Flux Density Near Power Lines
Anywhere electric power is created, electric and magnetic fields are produced. At lower voltages and currents, the fields produced are normally of little...
AMSC to Provide ACCIONA Energy with New Wind Turbine Ride-Through Solution
American Superconductor Corp. (www.amsc.com) has received an order worth more than $10 million from ACCIONA Energy, a division of ACCIONA SA, for its...
Vattenfall Services to Construct HVDC Line in Finland
Fingrid and Svenska Kraftnt have chosen Vattenfall Services Nordic Ab (www.vattenfall.com) to construct the 500-kV HVDC line between the Dannebo and Finnble...
Powerco Commissions Automatic Backfeed Restoration Scheme
Powerco (New Plymouth, New Zealand) has commissioned its Pohangina Apiti automatic backfeed restoration scheme using the NOJA Power (Queensland, Australia)...
CAISO Market Redesign and Technology Upgrade Goes Live with Siemens Energy Market Management Solutions
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has gone into production with its Market Redesign and Technology Upgrade (MRTU). The new markets bring...
Caribbean Utility Deploys Full-Scale Smart Metering
St. Lucia Electricity Services (LUCELEC) will deploy the first full-scale EnergyAxis smart metering system in the Caribbean. LUCELEC selected the EnergyAxis...
Quarterly Report
Is Your Utility GIS Smart Grid Ready?
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Could Funnel Funding into the Smart Grid in the future. With that in mind, utilities need to make sure that...
Characters with Character
A Cross-Cultural Career
Although Gene Summerville is Environmentally Conscious Today, the project manager for Redwood City, California, U.S.-based Trilliant a provider of intelligent...
Products and Services
Products & Services
Modular Substation Control System Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc. (www.selinc.com) announces the availability of a new modular substation control...
Products & Services
Hybrid Underground Utility Vehicle DUECO Inc., in conjunction with Odyne and Vanair Manufacturing, introduces a plug-in hybrid underground utility vehicle...
Straight Talk
Smart Grid Standards
The Concept Behind the Smart Grid is to Optimize the Delivery of Electricity. Adding sensors, controls and intelligence allows us to pack as much energy...
Electric Utility Operations
A Lineman Shares His Words of Wisdom
After spending 37 years in the electric industry, I wanted to share my experiences with those linemen who are still working to keep the lights on. In...
A Day in the Life of an Underground Crew
Al Patterson and his Heavy Underground crew light up downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Unlike his AmerenUE linemen counterparts, who work overhead and cruise...
Line Crews Restore Power with Auto Transformers
Streamlining field crews and saving time and money are top of mind for utilities today, and Colorado Springs Utilities (Colorado Springs, Colorado) is...
A Glimpse into the Future of the Line Trade
With two little boys and a daughter on the way, I often think about what life will be like for them when they grow up. My two-year-old son, Paul, has...
Abe Aragon
Born in Pueblo, Colorado. He is the youngest of eight children. Married to Debra for 34 years; father of Jamin, Justin and Aubry. Their oldest son works...
Crews Use Cameras to Identify Faults
Linemen with Commonwealth Edison (ComEd; Chicago, Illinois) once relied solely on visual inspections to evaluate problems inside manholes. Now, if field...
