PPL Electric Utilities Awarded Smart Grid Grant
October 27 2009 - 2:07PM
PR Newswire (US)
Project to strengthen reliability for customers, take automation to
new level HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A
federal grant for a PPL Electric Utilities project to deploy "smart
grid" technology to strengthen reliability, save energy and improve
electric service for 60,000 Harrisburg area customers was approved
Tuesday (10/27) by the U.S. Department of Energy. The company will
receive a $19 million piece of the more than $3.4 billion in
stimulus funding made available by the federal government to update
the nation's power grid. Only one in four companies competing for
grant applications was successful. "Competition for these grants
was very stiff," said David G. DeCampli, president of PPL Electric
Utilities. "We think the strength of our team and scope of our
project, which expands on our company's previously installed
advanced metering technology, stood out and were key factors in our
success, and we are honored to have been selected." While some
companies chose to focus on one piece of smart grid technology, PPL
Electric Utilities proposed a project that would make the system
smart from the substation to customers' doorsteps. The company
chose to partner with Drexel University and technology leaders GE
Energy, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Alcatel-Lucent. PPL Electric
Utilities' $38 million project, half of which will be funded by the
grant and half by the company, will focus primarily on the
Harrisburg area. It will enable the company to move power more
efficiently, react instantaneously to changes on the delivery
system and automatically reroute power around problems that occur.
It will deploy the latest in advanced grid devices, computer
systems, software and high-speed communications. Improvements
associated with this initial phase of work would be concentrated in
150 square miles of the company's delivery system. Hundreds of new
electrical devices would be installed. All PPL Electric Utilities
customers would benefit from a new centralized computer system,
which would link to these devices as well as track and respond to
changes on the delivery system as they happen. The new technology
would allow the company to operate its power lines at optimal
voltages, meaning customer appliances would use less electricity to
do their jobs. This could save Harrisburg area customers about $1.5
million a year on their electricity bills, DeCampli estimated. The
new system would also quickly detect and isolate problems that
cause outages. For example, if a tree were to damage a section of
line, the system would automatically route power around the problem
until repairs could be made. This would quickly limit the area
affected and get the lights back on for as many customers as
possible. The system would also help direct repair crews to the
source of trouble. In most cases today, the company has to send
someone to the scene to operate equipment and reroute power until a
fix is made. The new system would be smart enough to do this on its
own, saving valuable time and allowing crews to focus on repairs
sooner. PPL Electric Utilities will be working with the Department
of Energy to work out final details of the grant so that the
company can set a timetable for implementation. DeCampli said the
company has already seen what advanced technology can do in other
areas, such as metering. PPL Electric Utilities was an early
adopter of advanced metering. As a result, it is able to provide
all of its customers detailed usage information, something few
other utilities can do. The company is combining that information
with Web-based tools that help customers use energy wisely. In
addition, it is using advanced meters to keep costs down for
customers, respond more quickly to power outages, better plan
upgrades to the delivery system, enable new rate options, and
detect unsafe electricity theft. "Technology opens the door to new
possibilities," DeCampli said. "And just as technology has
transformed other areas of our lives, from the phones we use to the
movies we watch, it has the potential to reshape the way we think
about, use and deliver electricity." PPL Electric Utilities, a
subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL), provides electric
delivery service to 1.4 million customers in 29 counties of eastern
and central Pennsylvania and has consistently ranked among the best
companies for customer service in the United States. More
information is available at http://www.pplelectric.com/.
DATASOURCE: PPL Electric Utilities CONTACT: Paul Wirth, PPL
Electric Utilities, +1-610-774-5997 Web Site:
http://www.pplelectric.com/
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