Electrical Substations

Breakers & Relays

Reconditioned SF₆ Gas: An Environmentally Friendly Alternative

When it comes to medium and high voltage circuit breakers, there is no better electrical insulator than sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). The manufactured gas is most commonly used to fill circuit breakers within utility substations to prevent and quench arcing events. SF6's impeccable dielectric...

Physical Security & Monitoring

Deterrence Drives Next Gen Security

Theft, destruction, disablement, vandalism, and terrorism: any of the aforementioned words receive the attention of organizations with susceptible critical assets. Physical security and its costs, benefits, and risks are becoming more important as each day passes. Important, not only from a safety...

Substation Protection

Protective Relay Frustrations

Solving misoperation with line parameter measurements BY WILL KNAPEK, OMICRON USA Between 80 to 90 percent of all power system faults involve ground. Many protective relaying schemes depend on ground distance protection to accurately sense and locate ground faults on multi-terminal sub-transmission...

Substation Technologies

Grounding System Maintenance Guide

Grounding systems are a crucially important component of any power supply system, because they directly impact public and employee safety, supply system reliability, power quality and life expectancy of power equipment. In spite of their crucial role in safe, reliable, and economic operation of...

Substation Testing & Maintenance

Distribution Transformer DGA – The Future of Monitoring Distribution Systems

By Leon White and Traci Hopkins, H2scan Corporation As distributed generation, electric vehicle load, and requirements for increased electricity reliability provide real-world challenges for electric utilities, asset managers must innovate to ensure their infrastructure is in good condition to...

Lightning Protection

FirstEnergy Explores Alternatives to PJM Capacity Market

In a strategic move aimed at enhancing its power supply reliability, FirstEnergy is actively exploring alternatives to the PJM capacity market. This development reflects the company’s proactive approach to addressing challenges within the existing market structure and ensuring a more robust...

Home Transformation Electrical Substations

Substation Architecture Protection

Solving common mistakes in communications cabling for electrical utilities

BY FRANK KODITEK, Belden Inc.

In the energy industry, there are numerous types of cables in use for a wide variety of applications, from transporting high-voltage current for miles to providing power and data connectivity within and among substations and to and from control centers. For the purposes of this article, we will be looking at the communications cables that are the veins and arteries of...