Why Are Reclosers So Important for Reliability?

A first-of-its-kind workshop, Omicron Energy’s New Trends in Reclosers and Testing— Enhancing the Reliability of the Grid event will bring together the “who’s who” in reclosers, testing, and reliability. The workshop will be held in Houston on April 27-28, 2016.

Wayne Bishop, marketing manager at Omicron, has led the effort to get the players in the recloser sector together to address and collaborate on the trends and technology coming about with the transformation of energy.

All of the major manufacturers including ABB, G&W, SEL, S&C Electric, Siemens etc. will make presentations and also be part of a panel discussion where attendees will be able to “ask the experts” questions and learn not only about the present technology but also what is trending and how our industry will be shaped in terms of reclosers, system reliability, and distribution automation.

Along with the manufacturers, Omicron has assembled electric utilities to share their best practices in recloser testing, commissioning, and lessons learned with reliability and outage management. Utilities that will make presentations include ComEd, Westar, Wake Electric, and Reading Municipal.

“I wanted to make sure we had all of the various size utilities make presentations and so we have two large IOUs, an electric cooperative, and a municipal utility,” Bishop said. “Each of these utilities are sending their subject matter experts with different perspectives and case studies to share. There is a diverse group of presenters with all of the utilities coming from different parts of the United States.”

ComEd, a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation and the electric utility company serving Chicago and Northern Illinois, began automating its 34 kV sub-transmission system via automated sectionalizers in 1994. In 2001, ComEd installed its first microprocessor-based recloser on its 12 kV distribution system. Over the past 15 years, the demand for a modernized grid that can increase reliability and quality of power delivery, has necessitated a change in the standard recloser scheme. The standard scheme has changed from standalone reclosers to simple loop schemes (half loop and full loop) to complex loop schemes with multiple automated ties to several feeders, as well as schemes with special settings.

Marina Mondello, a senior engineer in Reliability Programs at Commonwealth Edison will make a presentation at the workshop on how the standard Distribution Automation Recloser Schemes have evolved over time as the technology and the equipment have improved and the customer requirements have changed.

Dr. Julio Romero Agüero, Vice President, Strategy and Business Innovation at Quanta Technology will make a presentation on using reclosers and DA schemes for reliability improvement, and conducting cost-benefit and prioritization analyses using software tools.

Technical Highlights:

The Future of Distribution Automation and Recloser Testing, Dr. Alex Apostolov, PAC World
An Evolving Distribution Automation System, Marina Mondello, Commonwealth Edison
Technologies of the Self Healing Grid – Automated Ways of Removing Temporary Faults from the Distribution Power Network, Peter Selejan, ABB
Case Study – Improving System Performance Using Distribution Network Automation, Westar Energy and Craig Thompson, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc (SEL)
Recloser Control Testing: Past, Present, and Future, Stephan Geiger, OMICRON
Using Reclosers and Distribution Automation Schemes for Reliability Improvement, and Conducting Cost- benefit and Prioritization Analyses, Julio Romero Agüero, Ph.D., Quanta Technology
Testing Automated Systems, Marina Mondello, Commonwealth Edison; Katherine Cummings, G&W Electric
Distribution Single Phase Tripping and Reclosing: Overcoming Obstacles with Programmable Recloser Controls, Greg Hataway, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc
Distributed Synchronous Coordination Field Testing of an Actual Automated Distribution Feeder System, Andre Smit, Siemens; Billy Walker, Don Bowman, Chris Wright, Wake Electric
Grid Modernization Technological Updates, Hamid Jaffari, Ph.D., Reading Municipal Light Department