NYISO Unveils $74 Million Smart Grid Initiative, Breaks Ground on Control Center

Sep 1, 2011 12:00 PM

The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has unveiled details of a US$74 million smart grid initiative, which is being supported by a U.S. Department of Energy Smart Grid Investment Grant of more than $37 million. In addition, the NYISO has started construction of its new $35.5 million primary power control center, which is being built adjacent to the NYISO's headquarters building in the city of Rensselaer, near Albany, New York.

The 64,000-sq-ft (5,946-sq-m) control center at the NYISO's Krey Boulevard site will serve as the primary operational nerve center for the nonprofit NYISO, which oversees New York's bulk electricity grid and wholesale electricity markets. The new facility is being developed to replace the NYISO's existing 42-year-old control center in the town of Guilderland in western Albany County. That facility's systems will be upgraded, allowing the NYISO to meet the requirement of having a fully functional primary and backup control center.

The NYISO has begun working with individual utilities around the state to implement the new $74 million smart grid initiative, which involves the installation of capacitor banks and phasor measurement units (PMUs) on the bulk transmission system throughout the state.

The capacitor banks will improve the efficiency of the state's bulk transmission system by reducing the amount of electricity that is lost when carried over long distances on the bulk transmission system, thus saving the state approximately $9 million per year.

The installation of PMUs and integration of the data provided will improve grid operators' visualization capabilities and situational awareness. Eventually, the NYISO's PMU network will connect with PMU networks in New England, the mid-Atlantic, the Midwest and Ontario, Canada, to create a broader situational awareness throughout the Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative, a coalition of 24 transmission planning authorities in the Eastern United States and Canada. The PMU initiative may help prevent future disturbances like the 2003 Northeast regional blackout.

For more information, visit www.nyiso.com.

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