Matt Smith, Itron
The next major weather event is not an if, but rather when and where. Devastating weather and climate disasters are increasing in frequency and severity, as well as becoming more unpredictable and diverse.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States experienced 20 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2021 and incurred a total of approximately $145 billion in damages. Texas had to contend with a deep freeze and hailstorms, while the West once again battled heatwaves and roaring wildfires. Unfortunately, 2022 isn’t shaping up to be much better. New Mexico had over 20 active wildfires raging in April when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham warned “our risk season is incredibly and dangerously early” this year. And we’ve experienced several damaging tornados across the middle and southern U.S.
As with any disaster, preparation is key. The same is true for major weather events. The stakes are simply too high for utilities to not utilize every tool at their disposal, including creating a more resilient and reliable grid.
An extreme weather checklist
Utility executives understand what is at stake. According to the 2021 Itron Resourcefulness Insight Report, 88% of utility executives express high levels of concern over the prospective impact that disasters will have on the grid. And of the U.S. utility industry respondents, 78% say they are prepared to manage emerging challenges, which include disasters. However, events like the 2021 Texas winter storm – which caused heartbreaking loss of life after a large portion of the state lost power – are a stark reminder of what can go wrong and the need for continuous improvement.
The good news is that we are seeing utilities putting the necessary resources towards creating a more resilient and reliable grid. Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is one example. AMI provides edge analytics and peer-to-peer device communication, enabling access to granular smart metering system data to drive better-informed decisions, quicker response and more efficient operations.
With so much at stake, you may be wondering – are we doing enough? As a utility company responsible for keeping the lights on, here are 5 questions to ask yourself:
1. Do you have the ability to communicate with customers before, during and after an event?
Communication is key in a crisis. Having a plan (and the technology) to support two-way communication between the utility company and its customers is critical. Customers need to be informed of when they can expect service to be restored, and utility companies need a way to collect customer insights into outages, downed power lines and other hazardous conditions. Having an off-site support and communications team should also be part of the contingency plan in case local employees lose power or the ability to get to the office.
2. Are you able to access real-time data?
Better decisions are made when you have real-time, accurate and complete data at your disposal. Take CenterPoint Energy (CNP) as an example. CNP serves approximately 2.4 million metered electricity and 3.3 million gas customers. In 2017, many of their customers were in the path of Hurricane Harvey – a massive, Category 4 storm.
The use of real-time AMI data to assess, monitor and resolve cases aided CNP in developing better situational awareness. They were able to correlate weather and flooding information with outages, providing operations with critical decision-making tools. At the end, CNP restored 1.3 million customers and delivered 352,000 outage notifications.
3. Can you take action remotely?
Having an AMI system in place also allows for the addition of applications that can fix problems remotely. This can be done in the case of an emergency – like a fire, or proactively when danger is looming. CNP, for example, was able to comply with a Mayoral order to disconnect all customers in a mandatory evacuation zone that was impacted by flooding.
4. Can you preemptively take action?
Beyond helping customers when something does happen, what if you could prevent outages from ever happening in the first place?
Hurricane Irma caused destruction and power outages across Florida in 2017. The natural disaster hit Florida Power & Light (FPL) territories particularly hard, causing 4.4 million outages. However, Automated Feeder Switches rerouted electricity around faults – preventing even more customer outages, and AMI meters and Fault Indicators quickly identified where faults occurred, expediting power restoration. As a result, 546,000 customers outages were avoided by smart switches, and 112 million customer interruption hours were avoided in total.
5. Do you have a battery backup for your network?
Even if you have an AMI foundation in place, it is critical to make sure you have a battery backup. If you don’t, you run the risk of not having access to the insights smart meters provide when you need them the most.
For instance, in August 2020, Tropical Storm Isaias strengthened well beyond forecasted levels hours before landfall. Orange & Rockland (O&R) serves 300,000 customers in NY and NJ, and thankfully, had a battery backup of the network. When Isaias did arrive, their smart meters were able to communicate power on/off status with the O&R control center. Access to real-time information helped O&R’s restoration strategy and meant 3,000 truck rolls were avoided and 97% restoration was achieved within 100 hours. That equals an impressive 2,000 customers (approximately) an hour.
Prepare for the worst and hope for the best
Preparation is always key, especially with something as unpredictable as the weather. While we must all do our part to protect our environment, which in turn may limit the number of extreme weather events that happen in the first place, utilities must also do what they can to keep basic services running when disaster strikes.
While it might seem impossible, utilities can be prepared for the unexpected. It takes the right combination of grid edge intelligence, a well-thought-out plan and clear communications guidelines to get the job done.
About the Author
Matthew Smith is a senior director of Grid Management at Itron, Inc. Matthew has over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience in the energy, home computer, and consumer electronics industries. At Itron, Matthew sets the global business and product strategy for the grid management line-of-business.
