Page 41 - CARILEC CE Journal CEMAY2021

KEY TAKEAWAYS
▶ A rapid solution to meet rising expectations for power quality
▶ A prioritized approach to preparing the grid for future extreme weather events
▶ An intelligent system for optimizing the work of limited staff and field crews
▶ A simple way to present compelling data for infrastructure

UTILITIES DESERVE THIS HELP to get ahead of never-ending maintenance cycles. It
The work of the Caribbean electric utility is more does not help that staff numbers are constrained,
challenging than ever as budgets and staff are and baby boomers are retiring, taking their skills and
squeezed, the distribution grid becomes more network knowledge with them.
complex, and service expectations continue to rise. Distributed generation promises to complicate the
Sustained outages receive the most urgent attention, distribution network further, while also cutting into
but the cumulative impact of momentary outages is revenues, and a string of equipment failures, storms
arguably more problematic. In 2005, researchers at or other problems can cause overtime costs to get
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated out of hand quickly. As if these problems were not
2
momentary outages of less than five minutes cost enough, increasing wildfires and extreme weather
the U.S economy $52 billion—twice the impact of events have caused an intense new set of worries for
sustained outages. distribution utilities who desperately need solutions
Since 2005, the number of outages and the for mitigating legal and catastrophic risks.
economic costs have only increased. For instance,
a Ponemon Institute study estimated the per- FORTUNATELY, WE CAN WORK SMARTER
3 4
minute cost of a power outage at a U.S. data center Data analytics is the key to addressing the array of
increased from $5,617 in 2010 to $8,851 in 2016. challenges utilities currently face. Tantalus developed a
Traditional manufacturing industries like plastics, simple analytics solution for smaller Caribbean electric
semiconductors and perishable foods also stand to utilities that do not have the same financial and human
lose thousands of dollars in product as the result resources of large corporate utilities. It can be used to
of momentary outages. As a result, economic quickly investigate one-off distribution problems, or
development in a community is linked to the utility’s employed comprehensively to optimize the work of
ability to provide uninterrupted service. every field crew and justify every strategic investment.
Advanced home electronics mean a community’s “We designed TUNet Grid Reliability Analytics to
residential customers are also more sensitive give the benefits of advanced smart grid operations
than ever to minor power blinks. With millions to utilities that don’t have a dedicated team of data
of customers working and schooling from home scientists and engineers to perform analytics,”
because of the COVID-19 pandemic, disrupted said Frank Geiger, the Tantalus engineer who led
internet connections have become more than the development of the tool. “Backoffice staff and
just a minor inconvenience. The power needs of field crews can use the tool to make day-to-day
community hospitals are even more critical. Back- investigative and maintenance tasks simpler. Or they
up generators kick in to power medical equipment can just set it and forget it.”
during sustained outages, but just a 30-second The TUNet analytics tool continually monitors
outage can be dangerous to a patient on a ventilator. power-quality in concert with all meters and
Utilities propose capital investments to upgrade devices on the Tantalus TUNet AMI network with
equipment, but they often lack the data necessary TRUEdge technology. When a branch touches a line,
to convince budget-minded city managers and coop or equipment begins to malfunction, the system
boards. Then there is the challenge of fixing aging registers even small anomalies in the waveform
infrastructure. Utilities often find themselves stuck data. When a pattern is detected, the system sends
in a reactive cycle—patching up one problem before an email notification with a link to all the information
scrambling to cover the next—while doing their best necessary for quick investigation. This means the tool

2 LaCommare, Kristina Hamachi, and Joseph H. Eto. “Cost of Power Interruptions to Electricity Consumers in the United States.”
Energy, Vol. 31. Elsevier: April 7, 2005.
3 Ponemon Institute, 2016 Cost of Data Center Outages https://www.ponemon.org/research/ponemon-library/security/2016-cost-of-data-center-outages.html
4 Ponemon Institute, Cost of Data Center Outages https://www.ponemon.org/local/upload/file/2011%20Cost_of_Data_Center_Outages.pdf

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