NYSEG and RG&E Employ Diverse Technologies to Reduce Outages
Remote switching capability reduces outages and increases safety
Investment in automation means enhanced grid performance for customers
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — December 5, 2024 — New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) invest hundreds of thousands of dollars a year into remote switching capability and automated controls to increase reliability of their grid. The investment in technologies like reclosing schemes, trip savers, tie points, and supervisory control and data acquisition- or SCADA-controlled devices- means that when outages occur due to tree impacts, high winds, ice, or motor vehicle accidents the Companies can isolate the section of electrical line that’s down and quickly reduce the number of impacted customers and restore power to the rest of the customers on that circuit. NYSEG has installed 544 new devices in the last year to increase this automation, as well as 29 in RG&E territory.
“The investment plan for this technology is to create a kind of ‘self-healing’ grid,” said Mike Craven, vice president of Electric Operations for NYSEG and RG&E. “This approach especially helps in the vast rural areas served by NYSEG, because we can restore power to customers remotely, without sending a line crew. These sensors also help us track which circuits perform poorly over time, so we know where to invest in upgrades in the future.”
This investment in automation not only shortens the duration of outages, it can limit the number of customers affected by an outage, and increases safety for line workers. In areas where trip savers are installed, NYSEG and RG&E have each shown a more than 40 percent reduction in outages on blue sky days. These are the types of reliability improvements the Companies focus on when investing in their grid. The Companies reported their best reliability in five years in 2023.
Autonomous controls use data analytics, software, and sensors to rebalance the electrical system. The different technologies work together to make the overall system stronger. These advancements are the key to upgrading the grid and giving customers the more reliable, resilient electric service they want.
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Shelby Cohen
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