New technology limits blackouts
ERIC MCGUINNESS
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
BURLINGTON (Apr 2, 2009)
Downtown Burlington is the first place in Ontario with a smart power-distribution grid that can fix itself, limiting blackouts to a matter of seconds.
"We currently have the first fully functioning, intelligent, self-healing network in our core," said Gerry Smallegange, Burlington Hydro's chief operating officer. "The only other one in Canada is in Calgary."
As long as Hydro One supplies power to Burlington, the technology will virtually eliminate outages in the "critical load zone" that includes City Hall, Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, the Skyway sewage treatment plant and the Canadian Coast Guard base at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters, he said.
As Smallegange explains it, nine automated switches in the core talk to each other, so "if a pole is hit by a dump truck, the switches instantly see the fault and reroute the power, keeping the majority of our customers supplied."
Another 46 switches are installed across Burlington, but not yet linked to one another. Even so, outages citywide have been cut by 40 per cent and their duration shortened by 20 per cent. The average customer outage is now down to one minute a year.
The automated switching project is the start of what Burlington Hydro calls its GridSmartCity initiative, aimed at creating, in Smallegange's words, "the utility of the future with windmills all over, solarvoltaic panels on roofs, ground-source heat pumps and electric vehicles both drawing and pushing power. It's not just about hydro; it's about energy and managing your home."
With smart hydro meters (due to be installed throughout Burlington next year) and an intelligent grid, operators will know who is out, down to the household; will be able to detect a transformer needing repair; and will know when someone is stealing power for a grow op.
Under the GridSmartCity plan, homeowners will rely on display panels showing current hydro consumption and price so they can time their appliance use to save money. They will also have smart water meters that detect leaks and warn of pipe breaks. Both water and hydro meters will be read remotely.
