Photo: Michael Kappel
Smart Grid pilot tests have done a good job of teaching the industry how important it is to perform ongoing testing of new technologies before settling on those that will succeed in the long run.
What does this mean for Smart Grid equipment vendors as we head into 2014 and beyond? A lot.
In the recent article in Utilities Horizon magazine entitled Life Extensions for Grid Automation Products: What Utilities Want and How Equipment Vendors Can Deliver, utilities are entering the next major phase of Smart Grid change best characterized as “optimizing the grid and sweating the assets.” And that means utilities are closely examining automation technologies at the transmission and distribution levels.
Why? Because utilities, more than ever, are seeking opportunities to lower operating costs while satisfying customers and regulators by:
- Improving power quality and reliability
- Reducing/avoiding outages and shortening outage durations
- Increasing system capacity
- Achieving better integration with renewables – both centralized and distributed
- Improving asset monitoring
The big takeaway is that utilities are looking to implement transmission and distribution automation without major infrastructure additions and they need to do this at a lower operating cost. Consequently, substation and distribution automation vendors need to strike a balance between product innovation and extending the life of existing products that can continue to deliver value to both utilities and vendors.
Of course, this begs the question, “How?” The article explains how forward-thinking vendors have begun looking at options to extend the life of their existing products by utilizing re-designs and lowering manufacturing cost options. The role of third-party organizations that can deliver engineering resources, manufacturing and ancillary services on demand is explored in detail. We believe that these third-party organizations can provide economies of scale on a global basis to meet the application and usage requirements of specific geographies.
The wake up call for equipment vendors that work directly with utilities in this era of austerity is that they must start applying new criteria when working with third party developers and manufacturers when it comes to design, supply chain and manufacturing.
Read the December issue of Utility Horizons Quarterly to read the full article.
Authors:
Ramesh Saligame, Director Strategic Development, Industrial & Energy Division