Not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative Basin Electric Power Cooperative, which serves three million members across nine states, is using dynamic line rating technology to identify safe, unused capacity and enhance the efficiency and reliability of its transmission lines.
Basin Electric is owned by 140 member coop system with its headquarters in Bismarck, North Dakota, employing about 1800 people in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska and Wyoming.
To guarantee the tensile strength and clearance requirements of transmission lines are not violated, transmission lines are given line ratings that determine their maximum power-carrying capacities. Traditionally, many utilities and companies that support them determined line ratings using approaches such as seasonal or static ratings. However, DLRs are rising in popularity as an approach to evaluating the capacity of transmission lines by considering real-time weather conditions.
The DLR technology is provided by Ampacimon, a grid optimization solutions company with its headquarters in the U.S. and Belgium.
The devices and software provide valuable insights into line conditions by analyzing real-time wind and weather data, providing instantaneous calculations and line ratings so entities like Basin Electric can push more power through appropriate lines. Basin Electric is using Ampacimon’s DLR system to optimize the performance of its transmission lines, unlocking more capacity per line.
“When faced with loading constraints in a particular region, we turned to Ampacimon’s DLR technology as a solution,” said Jeremy Severson, Vice President of Transmission at Basin Electric Power Cooperative. “Ampacimon experts quickly and accurately determined the strategic placement of sensors, and the quantity needed for effective monitoring. Within days we saw significant capacity gains which equates to savings to our members.”
Basin Electric has already deployed DLR sensors across 75 miles of line, and will be expanding to implement Ampacimon on two additional line segments this quarter resulting in an additional 50 miles of line being monitored.
