POWER-GRID.COM : DECEMBER 2014 THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF 20 How to Prevent Meter Fires 24 Plains & Eastern Clean Line Progress COMED Builds 29 Smart Buildings Neighborhood and Utility Impacts Microgrids YOUR POWER DELIVERY MEDIA SOURCE 1412pg_C1 1 12/8/14 11:36 AM G&W Electric and Survalent Technology Present... ® AUTOMATION The most versatile automation solution available today • Guaranteed Reliability and • Self-Healing Script and Model Based Performance Improvements Solutions • Increased System Resilience • Factory Acceptance Testing • Advanced Distribution Management • Customer Selectable Relays System • Custom Microgrid Solutions • Pre-Packaged or Customized • Premium Power - 24/7 uptime for Switchgear Solutions critical loads For more information visit gwelec.com/lazer Visit G&W and Survalent at DistribuTech 2015 Booth #3131 Booth #3338 Join us during DistribuTECH for our on-site webcast : “Avoiding the Pitfalls of Premium Power” Tuesday, February 3rd, 3PM room #23 Go to www.pgi.hotims.com for more information. 1412pg_C2 2 12/8/14 11:36 AM From traditional poles and wires services to assessing, designing and installing next generation technologies, Nathan Bingham and his team at POWER Engineers have the resources, experience and expertise you need to score all your distribution goals. RECRUIT POWER FOR ALL YOUR DISTRIBUTION NEEDS. CLICK: POWERENG.COM/DISTRIBUTION29 EMAIL: Nathan Bingham at [email protected] VISIT US: DistribuTECH, BOOTH #3823 Nathan Bingham Senior Project Manager POWER Engineers, Power Delivery Download our Distribution Services brochure at: POWERENG.COM/DISTRIBUTION29 Go to www.pgi.hotims.com for more information. 1412pg_1 1 12/8/14 11:34 AM FROM THE COMPANY THAT BROUGHT YOU SMART GRID AS A SERVICE POWER OF PURPLE 2.0 at DistribuTECH 2015 LEIDOS ENGINEERING PRESENTS AT A PENNWELL PRODUCTION FROM FEBRUARY 3-5 IN SAN DIEGO BOOTH DEMOS SMART GRID AS A SERVICE UTILITY BIG DATA UTILITY SECURITY AND MICROGRIDS TRACK SESSIONS CUSTOMER STRATEGIES AND OUTREACH GRID COMMUNICATIONS WATER UTILITY TECHNOLOGY CITRINE DEMO SPONSOR SPONSOR SINCE 2009 BONUS ATTEND A DEMO AND GET A HAPPY HOUR DRINK OFF THE GRID PG POWER GRID SUITABLE FOR ALL AUDIENCES COMING FEBRUARY 2015 PLAN YOUR VISIT TO LEIDOS BOOTH #1206 AT LEIDOS.COM/DISTRIBUTECH Go to www.pgi.hotims.com for more information. 1412pg_2 2 12/8/14 11:34 AM FROM THE EDITOR EDITOR IN CHIEF TERESA HANSEN Be Part of the Grid EDITOR IN CHIEF Teresa Hansen Evolution Discussion 918.831.9504 [email protected] “If Alexander Graham Bell were on earth today, he would not recognize SENIOR EDITOR the telephone; however, if Thomas Edison were here today, he would have Kristen Wright 918.831.9177 [email protected] no trouble recognizing the electricity grid.” How many times have you heard that or something similar? I’ve heard it many times, but I don’t think I’ll hear ONLINE/ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jeff Postelwait it much in the future. The grid is evolving and beginning to look less like the 918.831.9114 [email protected] grid that has been around for decades. This evolution creates challenges and GRAPHIC DESIGNER opportunities for utilities, as well as sleepless nights for utility executives. Deanna Taylor 918.832.9378 [email protected] The days when all electricity traveled from large central station power CONTRIBUTING EDITOR plants through the grid to captive customers are over. Large power plants and TransmissionHub Senior Analyst Corina Rivera-Linares long-distance, one-way transmission will be around for years, but that will BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR cease to be the only model for electricity generation and delivery. The amount Angie O’Dea 918.831.9431 [email protected] of small-scale distributed generation being added to the grid is increasing and will continue to do so. As distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar VICE PRESIDENT-AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING photovoltaic technology become cheaper and markets incentivize electricity June Griffin consumers to become electricity generators, the grid will evolve, along with AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER customers and the entities that serve them. Who knows? One day you Linda Thomas 918.832.9254 [email protected] might generate your own electricity or buy it from your neighbor or your homeowners association. SUBSCRIBER SERVICE P.O. Box 3264, Northbrook, IL 60065 If these possibilities intrigue you, or more important, affect you and phone 847.763.9540 [email protected] your company, you should attend the Electric Light & Power Executive SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, NORTH AMERICAN Conference, a DistribuTECH co-located event. Senior Editor Kristen Wright POWER GENERATION GROUP and I have worked with a small group of industry experts to create this event Richard Baker 918.831.9187 [email protected] that is now in its sixth year. It is designed to cover a few select topics that are PENNWELL CORP. IN EUROPE covered at DistribuTECH, but in a less technical and more business-centric PennWell International Limited way. The upcoming conference will occur Monday, Feb. 2—the day before The Water Tower, Gunpowder Mill Waltham Abbey, Essex EN9 1BN, United Kingdom DistribuTECH begins. Its focus will be the electricity industry’s changing phone +44.1992.656600 fax +44.1992.656700 business models and technologies and how they are affecting the grid. [email protected] Industry executives will participate in a full day of panel discussions that CHAIRMAN will include audience participation. They are: Policy and Strategy Evolution; Frank Lauinger Whose Customer is it Anyway?; (Distributed Energy Resources) Impact on PRESIDENT/CEO Utility Planning and Operations; and The View From the Top. The entire Robert F. Biolchini program should be great, but I’m especially excited about The View From the SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION (CFO) Top, which will be led by five investor-owned utility CEOs. Mark C. Wilmoth If you’re a utility manager or executive, please join us Feb. 2 at the Omni 1421 S. Sheridan Road, Tulsa, OK 74112 San Diego Hotel. If you already plan to attend DistribuTECH, it’s simple to PO Box 1260, Tulsa OK 74101 Phone 918.835.3161 Fax 918.831.9834 upgrade your registration to include the EL&P Executive Conference. You can [email protected] www.pennwell.com find details about the event, including how to register, at www.elpconference. com. I think you’ll be impressed with the experts we’ve recruited to discuss POWERGRID International is the these important topics. I hope to see you soon in sunny San Diego at the offcial publication of Electric Light & Power Executive Conference, DistribuTECH or both. December 2014 | 3 www.power-grid.com 1412pg_3 3 12/8/14 11:34 AM DECEMBER 2014 VOLUME 19.12 16 Advanced Meters Give Oncor Customers More Control Over Energy Costs, Management Oncor’s Anna Kurian explains how advanced metering is improving how the company does business one year after the installation. 20 Preventing Electric Meter Fires: Two Perspectives Sangeet Dutta of Apex CoVantage and Scott Mann of Brooks Utility Products answer the most common meter installation safety questions. 24 Plains & Eastern Clean Line Keeps Transmission Construction Local Wayne Galli of Clean Line Energy Partners and Phil Albert of Pelco Structural LLC write about Clean Line’s construction deals with businesses in states through which the Plains & Eastern Clean Line will be built. 12 29 Converging Building Efficiency COMED Builds Trends and the Potential Impact on Traditional Electric Utilities Community Microgrids Robert Wilkins of Danfoss lists five trends that are posed One Neighborhood to converge. Are electric utilities ready for a big change? at a Time Shay Bahramirad and Joseph Svachula of 31 Nebraska Utility ComEd, Amin Khodaei of University of Manages Seasonal Loads Denver and Julio Romero Aguero of Quanta With Communication System Scott Wilke of Siemens RuggedCom tells tales of rural Technology share how ComEd is developing irrigation on the Great Plains and a new communication microgrids that are much more than system at Cuming County Public Power District. Customer engagement solutions allow homeowners to residential backup generation. take energy use into their own hands. From the Editor 3 35 Products Notes 6 36 Calendar/Ad Index PowerGrid International™: ISSN 1547-6723, the appropriate fee is paid directly to Copyright (international air mail). Back issues of PowerGrid addresses to P.O. Box 122, Niagara Falls, ON L2E BPA International. is published 12 times per year (January, Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Dr., Danvers, International™ may be purchased at a cost of 6S4 “PowerGrid International™” is a registered Printed in the February, March, April, May, June, July, August, MA 01923 USA, 978.750.8400. Prior to pho- $13 each in the U.S. and $21 elsewhere. Copies trademark of PennWell Corp. We make portions of U.S.A. GST No. September, October, November and December) tocopying items for educational classroom use, of back issues are also available on microfilm our subscriber list available to carefully screened 126813153 by PennWell Corp., 1421 S. Sheridan Rd., Tulsa please contact Copyright Clearance Center, and microfiche from University Microfilm, a Xerox companies that offer products and services that OK 74112; phone 918.835.3161. ©Copyright 222 Rosewood Dr., Danvers, MA 01923 USA, Co., 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48103. may be important for your work. 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