May 1, 2010
Global Viewpoint
One Lump or Two?
Some of the largest coal reserves in the world reside in the North Central region of the United States. And some of the strongest and most sustained winds...
Features
The Virtual Call Center
The Mutual Assistance Routing System (MARS) is a high-tech solution to provide customer care backup assistance to member utilities of the Southeastern...
Spain and Portugal Strengthen Ties
Spanish and Portuguese transmission system operators Red Elctrica de Espaa and Rede Elctrica Nacional, respectively, have been considering increasing...
Trimming Your Way to a More Reliable Future
Ten years ago, Nashville Electric Service, one of the 12 largest public electric utilities in the United States, had tree-related outages 10 times that...
Gunning for Hot Spots
Do you want an immediate, inexpensive, guaranteed way to enhance system reliability and eliminate some potential outages before they happen? Sure you...
A RAPID Approach to Relay Design
Over the last few decades, the Progress Energy Carolinas (PEC) service territory has been one of the fastest-growing areas in the United States. To meet...
Green Circuits Through Voltage Control
Energy-efficiency policy in the electric power sector has often focused on consumers through end-use energy-conservation programs and incentives. However,...
EPRI Green Circuits Project Launched
Green Circuits, a distribution-efficiency initiative led by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), focuses on T&D efficiency and opportunities...
Business Developments
Brazil to Launch a New National Energy-Efficiency Program
The Brazilian government (GOB) plans to release a National Plan for Energy Efficiency to gradually decrease energy consumption and save 106 TWh by 2030....
T&D World's Rick Bush Receives Award for Editorial Integrity
At the 56th Annual Jesse H. Neal Business Journalism Awards in March, Rick Bush, editorial director of Transmission & Distribution World, was awarded...
Regulators Approve First Offshore Wind Farm in U.S.
The U.S. Department of the Interior has approved a controversial wind generation project off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S. After nine years...
PG&E Embarks on Major Solar Initiative
The California Public Utilities Commission has approved plans for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) to begin implementing a major new solar photovoltaic...
Siemens to Expand Power Supply Network in the UAE
Siemens Energy has received an order worth approximately 30 million euros from Dubai-based Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) as part of power...
Siemens Acquires Elektrozavod's Stake in Russian Joint Venture
Siemens Energy has fully acquired Siemens High Voltage Products OOO from Elektrozavod. Until now, Siemens had held a 51% stake in the joint venture headquartered...
AREVA T&D Awarded GIS Order in Chennai
AREVA T&D India has been awarded a contract for a gas-insulated substation (GIS) package by Bharat Heavy Electricals, the largest engineering and manufacturing...
Austin to Receive $10 Million to Expand Efficiency Programs
The city of Austin, Texas, U.S., has been awarded $10 million in federal stimulus funding by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and implement...
Honeywell Uses Residential Programs to Drive Energy Efficiency in the Carolinas
Honeywell has announced two separate three-year contracts with Progress Energy to manage and deliver energy-efficiency programs for residential customers...
Avista Selects Tropos GridCom Network for Spokane Smart Grid Project
Avista's Spokane Smart Circuits Project was chosen by the DOE to receive the largest matching grant in the state of Washington, totaling $20 million....
EF Johnson Technologies Receives Orders to Support DoD's AMI Program
EF Johnson Technologies Inc.'s 3e Technologies International (3eTI) subsidiary has received orders valued at $4.5 million from U.S. Department of Defense...
Technology Updates
Smart Grid Demonstration Center Opens in Yangzhou, China
GE is working with the city of Yangzhou, China, to become a worldwide destination for energy efficiency, reliability and sustainability by supporting...
Panhandle Energy Honored for Innovation
The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) has named Panhandle Energy (Houston, Texas, U.S.) the recipient of the 2010 GITA Innovator...
Regulators Approve WMECo Upgrade
Western Massachusetts Electric Co. (WMECo) has received approval from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities for a transmission line project...
ABB Provides Rapid Delivery of Critical Transformer at ORNL
ABB provided a rapid-response, near-record-time build-out and delivery of a new power transformer for Eaton Corp. to install at the Oak Ridge National...
Parsons Brinckerhoff to Replace 400-kV Overhead Lines in Abu Dhabi with 400-kV Underground Cables
Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) has been awarded a contract by Abu Dhabi Transmission & Despatch Co., a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority,...
Ghodawat Initiates Production of 1.65 MW Wind Turbines
American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC) has received an initial order for full wind turbine electrical control systems worth more than US$20 million from...
Quarterly Report
Smart Meters Drive Utility Success
The transformation created by the deployment of smart meters is yet to be fully realized. Smart meters with two-way fixed communications (AMI) enable...
Characters with Character
Embracing Diversity
Dennis McDade is a man of many hats, both literally and figuratively. A lineman for Dominion Virginia Power (DVP; Richmond, Virginia, U.S.), McDade spends...
Products and Services
PRODUCTS & Services
Dielectric Response Analyzer DIRANA, the Dielectric Response ANAlyzer from OMICRON, determines the moisture content of liquid-filled transformers on the...
Straight Talk
The Speed of Smart Grid
I have been in the electric utility business for more than three decades, and I struggle to think of a single topic that has ignited more broad-based interest and discussion than smart grid...
Electric Utility Operations
Annual Supplement Puts Linemen in the Spotlight
Every year, Transmission & Distribution World creates a special supplemental insert just for linemen. This year is no exception, and we look forward to...
Dave Simpson
Born in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. Married for 30 years to Debbie and has three daughters Ashley, Jena and Beaujana and a four-year-old grandson....
Line Crews Repair Failing Splices with No Power Interruption
Corrosive salt water and high winds in Los Angeles' beach areas were wreaking havoc on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's automatic quick...
High Winds Topple Poles in New England
Ninety-mile-per-hour wind gusts slammed into New England like a freight train, felling trees and turning utility poles into kindling. Heavy rain on the...
Mobile Computing Boosts Line Crew Productivity
More than 5,200 miles of transmission lines cut through Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming. In these four states, more than 35,000 structures...
PRODUCTS & Services
Electrostatic Discharge Simulator Hipotronics Inc. and Haefely EMC, subsidiaries of the Hubbell Corp., have launched an electrostatic discharge simulator...
Parting SHOT
When Mother Nature pummeled New Jersey on Feb. 10, Public Service Electric and Gas was ready. The storm, which in some areas produced blizzard-like conditions,...
