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Designing Energy Services for Commercial and Industrial Customers

Over the past year, technology advances and high energy prices have stimulated interest in Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Discussions are wide-ranging. Some focus globally: Australian and Canadian “smart metering”, new European Union requirements, the results of time-of-use pilots that arose in the wake of California’s deregulation debacle.

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York Region Finishes Tasks Faster

We all know that data integration improves productivity and York Region is living proof. Using AutoCAD® Map 3D, York saved time and money by relying on its AutoCAD-trained staff to quickly implement a new system that incorporates both CAD and GIS.

Save Time with CAD and GIS Integration

Read how the Public Works Department of the City of Tacoma (Tacoma), Washington, uses its geospatial data to do everything from issuing building permits and managing waste water to maintaining streetlights


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Risk Analysis Studies Terrorist Attack Against Power System

If terrorists caused a blackout in Los Angeles County, various forms of resilience would give electricity customers the ability to mute the potential shock to their businesses by as much as 86 percent.

These are the findings of a new study by scientists affiliated with the University of Southern California's (USC's) Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE). As the sixth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, approaches, the conclusions from this study should help utility authorities with their emergency planning.

The study --"Business Interruption Impacts of a Terrorist Attack on the Electric Power System of Los Angeles: Customer Resilience to a Total Blackout" -- appears in a special homeland security issue of the peer-reviewed journal Risk Analysis (Vol. 27, No. 3, 2007), which is published by the McLean, Virginia-based Society for Risk Analysis.

The study on the direct and indirect economic impacts of an extended power outage caused by a terrorist attack in Los Angeles was conducted by Adam Rose of USC-CREATE; Gbadebo Oladosu of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Shu-Yi Liao of National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan. Given the ability of terrorists to target maximum damage, they simulated a total power blackout lasting two weeks. Here is what their research concluded:

-- A two-week total electricity blackout would amount to a business interruption loss of $20.5 billion without any customer resilience, but only $2.8 billion with the inclusion of several types of resilience, most prominently the rescheduling of production after electric service is restored.

-- Inherent aspects of the electricity-economy relationship (e.g., inter-fuel substitution) and adaptive behavioral responses (e.g., conservation, on-site electricity generation) also can help deliver this 86-percent reduction in potential disruption impacts.

-- Electric power systems are relatively difficult to safeguard. With the exception of nuclear power plants, until recently, no generating station, sub-station, transmission or distribution lines have been constructed in the U.S. with a major emphasis on protection from terrorism.

The authors did not consider the value of lives lost, increased crime, psychological trauma, some infrastructure costs, and property damage.

"There is strong indication that people learn from disaster experiences and that options implemented for one type of disaster apply to others (e.g., purchase of backup electric generators in the aftermath of the Northridge Earthquake)," the authors said. "Thus, there is some cause for optimism that resilience to disasters will increase over time."

This research was supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and, in the case of the research on a possible blackout, by a grant from the National Science Foundation-sponsored Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research.

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At the Briefing Room you will be able to stay up-to-date on the latest technology announcements where we will provide daily postings from our industry sources.

Webcasts

ACSS and HS285 Extend Grid Capacity

Sponsored by Southwire

There are capacity bottleneck situations, where new overhead transmission line construction is not a practical reality. In some of these situations overhead lines are in place and they are not able to provide the transfer capacity needed.

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Supercondutor Cable Systems

Sponsored by American Superconductor

Transmission & Distribution World presents Superconductor Cable Systems, A Part of the Increasing Bulk Power Transfer Series.

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Evolution of Next Generation Wireless Communications in Power Delivery

Sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent

Evolution of Next Generation Wireless Communications in Power Delivery - seeing wireless communications solutions emerge to enable more efficient operations.

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Gain insight into Oracle's entry into the Utility Applications market place

Sponsored by Oracle

This session is a peak into how Oracle is executing the strategy one year later. A key aspect of this transition is how a customer project, like Hawaiian Electric made it through the transition.

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Featured Activity

Autovation 2008

Utilimetrics: Alliance for Advanced Metering & Data Management Solutions (formerly AMRA) is planning a dynamic AMR/AMI conference. Autovation 2008: The Utilimetrics International Symposium, Sept. 7–10 in Atlanta, GA, will bring together AMR/AMI experts and key personnel for four days of the latest and most innovative utility automation strategies and technologies.

T&D World University 2008

Get expanded education, practical experience and unprecedented networking in 3 days at T&D World University, the Continuing Education Program for Utility Management, Engineers and Technical Professionals. October 27-29, 2008, Dallas, TX. With CEU-Earning Seminars, Specialized Tracks, 59+ Courses, T&D allows you to maximize your time, with minimal work interruptions. Bring your team to this productive learning environment.

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