Electrical Substations

Breakers & Relays

Circuit Breaker Lubrication

Developing circuit breaker lubrication procedures BY RICK YOUNGBLOOD, Doble Engineering Company Circuit breaker analyzers are used to determine operating speeds and velocity. This information enables the tester to determine if a breaker is safe to place back into service. The data recorded by a...

Substation Technologies

Grid Communications Infrastructure: Fiber, Wireless, and Networking Technologies

Reliable and secure communication infrastructure is essential to the safe and efficient operation of the modern power grid. As utilities transition to digital substations, integrate distributed energy resources (DERs), and deploy real-time monitoring systems, the need for robust, scalable grid...

Physical Security & Monitoring

Geomagnetic Disturbances: A Danger to the Power Grid

In 1989, the Québec grid collapsed as equipment protection relays tripped in a cascading sequence of events. Six million consumers were left without power for up to nine hours. The cause of this major outage was a geomagnetic disturbance (GMD). Geomagnetic disturbances occur during solar...

Substation Automation

Advanced Automation in Substations: Enhancing Grid Reliability and Efficiency

The rapid evolution of technology has brought significant advancements in the field of electrical substations, transforming them into highly automated, efficient, and reliable components of the power grid. These advancements are crucial in managing the increasing complexities of modern power...

Substation Protection

Transmission Planning for Grid Security

Recent physical attacks on substations have heightened the industry’s awareness of the necessity for physical security of critical facilities on the bulk power system. The goal of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) reliability...

Substation Testing & Maintenance

New FLIR T860 High-Performance Thermal Camera Streamlines Industrial Inspections

FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR) on September 3, 2019 in Arlingon, Va. announced the FLIR T860, the latest addition to the high-performance T-Series family. This new thermal camera is the first to feature onboard Inspection Route software, ideal for streamlining inspections of critical assets,...

Home Transformation Electrical Substations

SAME DAY SWITCHING

Same day switching avoids the extended outages and human and equipment costs associated with inoperable and broken switches.
The vast majority of air break disconnect and ground switches in electric power networks typically receive no appreciable maintenance. This invariably results in the inability to operate switches when needed. A pretreatment method is now available that is safe to use on energized switches. It consists of a remote radio-controlled hot stick tool and a non-flammable aerosol...