Highlights from the World of Linemen News
Here are some industry news and information articles from around the web, just for you.
LADWP Restores Power after Fire at Receiving Station
Los Angeles Department of Water & Power crews fully restored power to widespread area of the San Fernando Valley this past weekend, after an explosion and fire at a receiving station left at least 140,000 customers without electricity.
LADWP crews worked through the night to clear multiple damaged conductors, circuit breakers and transformers and had successfully restored power by Sunday morning to all customers affected by the power outage. Read More
Non-Wires Alternatives: What’s up next in utility business model evolution
On May 17, 2017, Bonneville Power Authority (BPA) made an announcement that flew under the radar of most of the energy industry.
The latest trend among utilities and grid operators appears to be forgoing traditional transmission and distribution (T&D) upgrades for alternative methods to meet system needs, and BPA chose to take “a new approach to managing congestion on our transmission grid,” according to CEO Elliot Mainzer, rather than build a new $1 billion, 80-mile transmission line along highway I-5 in Oregon. Read More
Fully Using Commercial Building Controls Cuts Energy Use 29 Percent
Expensive startup costs are often cited as a reason building owners and operators don’t install energy saving technology, like building controls and automation, although in general they eventually pay for themselves. As such, lowering initial costs and increasing savings to shrink this payback time is often the focus of reducing energy use.
“Most large commercial buildings are already equipped with building automation systems that deploy controls to manage building energy use,” said report co-author and PNNL engineer Srinivas Katipamula. “But those controls often aren’t properly programmed and are allowed to deteriorate over time, creating unnecessarily large power bills. Our research found significant nationwide energy savings are possible if all U.S. commercial building owners periodically looked for and corrected operational problems such as air-conditioning systems running too long.”
Using building models of prototypical commercial buildings, the researchers estimated… Read More
Flight of the Linemen: Helicopter Bare-Hand Insulator Replacement
What would you do when you have to replace insulators and spacer dampers on a line that crosses steep mountains and extends down into orchard-filled valleys? What if there is only limited time to take lines out of service for repair, as the continuous flow of power is expected to remain uninterrupted?
During the past four years, Sierra Nevada’s line crews have been perfecting the solution to these complex questions: performing live-line and de-energized maintenance techniques with a helicopter. WAPA’s use of helicopters to replace dead-end insulators makes it innovative… Read More
Bipartisan Energy Bill Introduced in U.S. Senate
Most of the national headlines these days revolve around controversial, polarizing pieces of legislation. However, in the world of energy, a significant, bipartisan bill has just been introduced in the U.S. Senate that aims to bolster the country’s energy infrastructure.
On June 29, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Charmain of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the committee, introduced the Energy and Natural Resources Act (ENRA) of 2017. According to a committee statement, the ENRA’s main focuses are energy efficiency, infrastructure, supply, accountability, conservation, federal land management, National Park system management, sportsmen’s issues, water infrastructure, natural hazards and Indian energy… Read More
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