Earlier this year our WIRES members heard about Ampjack’s Energized Tower Raising system that can be utilized to rerate transmission lines to help deal with the ever-growing load requirements on the transmission grid. Now Ampjack has introduced another innovative product: ExoGrid™– a revolutionary technology that transforms current infrastructure by utilizing existing tower locations and Right-of-Ways (ROWs) to exponentially increase grid capacity.

ExoGrid™ brings a new versatility to the transmission marketplace that allows for existing transmission tower locations to be utilized to create new, and unique structural improvements to bring additional circuits, harden existing infrastructure, or convert existing towers for new uses, all while staying within the existing ROW. The sky is no longer the limit when it comes to expanding transmission capacity using ExGrid™.

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Join WIRES for another tech talk, featuring Alex Lichman of Bureau Veritas. Alex will talk about navigating the complexities of transmission construction management, providing valuable insights for industry stakeholders to effectively navigate the evolving landscape, ensuring the successful delivery of projects that meet both economic and environmental goals. From project management and regulations to safety standards and sustainability practices and agency communication, Alex will share lessons learned from BV’s extensive renewable power generation and transmission experience.

The post WIRES Tech Talk – Navigating the Transmission and Grid Construction Landscape appeared first on Wires Group.

Grid Assurance CEO David Rupert discusses the ever-increasing threats to the United States grid and key aspects to promoting stronger grid resiliency and restoration. The presentation focuses on the importance of restoration and the necessary processes and systems to consider when developing restoration strategies. In addition, it will offer insight into current restoration options available and how each integrate to provide a holistic strategy, while detailing industry best practices. The discussion will also include an overview of Grid Assurance’s unique solution for the industry: robust, reliable, and readily available inventory of critical, long lead-time equipment in a cost-effective and scalable model.

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Great River Energy’s Marty Koepke, Supervising Manager of Substation Apparatus and Mike Saer, Manager of Transmission Policy, explain Great River Energy’s use of mobile substations to enhance the resilience of distribution networks. After an introduction to Great River Energy by Mike Saer, Marty Koepke will describe the history of mobile substation use by Great River Energy and how mobile substations can be used as a temporary resource to avoid outages due to maintenance. The use of mobile substations will also be compared against other technologies that fulfill a similar need.

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How can new technologies help overcome the challenges of transmission infrastructure permitting?

Industry expert Grzegorz Marecki, CEO of Continuum Industries, with special guest Sharon Darcy, sustainability expert and chair of the Linear Infrastructure Planning Panel (LIPP), explain how advancements in technology can be harnessed to expedite the approval process for clean energy projects, offering critical insights as the United States progresses towards its goal of a 100% clean power grid by 2035. Sharon Darcy pinpoints community engagement as a major hurdle in the infrastructure permitting process and shares her findings from the UK on overcoming this key challenge. Grzegorz Marecki discusses how AI-powered technology platforms can speed up and streamline the permitting process, allowing the community to contribute feedback and facilitate project outcomes.

The post WIRES Tech Talk – AI Innovation for the Permitting Process appeared first on Wires Group.

Join WIRES for another Tech Talk featuring POWER Engineers, discussing Ballistics Line of Sight analysis for substation security enhancement efforts. POWER has created an innovative process for performing Ballistics Line of Sight research and analysis. Using a digital twin replica of an existing or proposed substation, POWER’s process highlights any and all critical assets on the property and shows various mitigation strategies to prevent bad actors from damaging equipment. This analysis technique uses a combined data gathering process that includes lidar, overhead photo and video gathering, as well as ground-based photo and video sourcing. This information is then inserted into a graphics engine to create or replicate a substation.

These survey studies, in combination with POWER Engineers software tool, can provide significant cost savings by helping asset owners prioritize construction to mitigate specific security threats. One such study for a POWER client led to a savings of roughly 10 million dollars in construction costs. With grid reliability as “job number one”, the need to harden power infrastructure against security threats will only grow in future.

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Join us for our next WIRES Tech Talk featuring Ampacimon discussing the transformative realm of Dynamic Line Ratings (DLR) and its profound impact on enhancing grid capacity in the United States. As energy demands surge and the need for sustainable power intensifies, DLR is emerging as a key catalyst in reshaping the landscape of electricity transmission. The webinar will cover the fundamentals of DLR and its role as a pivotal tool for utilities to meet rising energy demands. The presentation will also review the potential societal impact of DLR, which can increase electricity pricing efficiency. The discussion also will feature real world cases studies, offer insight into the regulatory landscape with FERC Order 881 and potential future mandates, and provide a look ahead to anticipated innovations that will further revolutionize the transmission sector. Join us for this enlightening webinar to stay at the forefront of advancements in dynamic line ratings shaping the future of power transmission in the US.

Speakers

Brian Berry, Chief of Product, Ampacimon

Larry Gasteiger, Executive Director, WIRES (Moderator)

This event is free of charge and open to the public.

The post WIRES Tech Talk – Unlocking Grid Potential with Dynamic Line Ratings (DLR) in the US appeared first on Wires Group.

In the next episode of WIRES Tech Talks executives from Ampjack will discuss how high voltage tower raising can expand transmission grid capacity. The session will provide an overview of the Ampjack system that allows towers to be quickly and safely lifted to create more ground clearance while maintaining energization of the power lines.

In addition to increasing capacity in the existing transmission network, the discussion will highlight significant financial and operational benefits that energized tower raising offers to transmission owners, illustrating how this approach can contribute to utilities’ long-term planning strategies.

Speakers

Luke Chaput, President/CEO

Nathan Stahl, VP of Engineering

Mike Haight, Director of Business Development

Larry Gasteiger, Executive Director, WIRES (Moderator)

This event is free of charge and open to the public.

The post WIRES Tech Talk – Energized Tower Raising for Upgrading System Capacity appeared first on Wires Group.

The WIRES Tech Talks webinar series continues with a focus on how superconductors can be utilized to address today’s grid challenges. Executives from MetOx will share an overview of High Temperature Superconducting wire (HTS), offer insights on how superconducting solutions can expand grid capacity and maximize rights-of-way, and provide an introduction to XEUS wire.

An alternative conductor technology to copper wire, XEUS is an advanced power delivery technology designed specifically to transmit very high power at low to medium voltage, and with near-zero ohmic loss. XEUS allows approximately 250x the current-carrying capacity of traditional copper wire, and when used in cables, can increase capacity by 5-10x, with essentially no line loss. Using this new wire in the grid would significantly increase the capacity of transmission lines, improve stability and reliability, and reduce the risk of blackouts and other service disruptions.

With predictions that the power grid must at least triple in capacity by 2050 to meet net zero goals, superconducting cables and transformers offer a compelling solution to expand the grid without tripling the number of power lines, poles, substations, and rights of way.

Speakers

Bud Vos, CEO

Jay Vitha, VP Strategy

Marie Hayden, Business Development Advisor

Larry Gasteiger, Executive Director, WIRES (Moderator)

This event is free of charge and open to the public.

The post WIRES Tech Talk – Solving Grid Challenges with Superconductors appeared first on Wires Group.

There is a great deal of interest and activity currently with Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs), and specifically, Dynamic Line Ratings (DLR).  While the economic benefits of DLR’s to ratepayers may be the key driver, an expanded vision for DLR should also be viewed through the lenses of clean energy integration, electrification, and grid resilience and reliability. We will struggle to fully realize all of those important goals without utilizing the existing grid more effectively. DLR holds great promise to address the challenges of the grid, but the details are critical. Where, why, and how DLR is deployed are questions utilities must understand. In this webinar, speakers from LineVision and AES will give first hand evidence of the benefits of DLR, discuss considerations for implementations, and outline the current regulatory landscape bolstering the scaling of DLR.

Speakers

Alex Houghtaling, VP of Sales, LineVision

AJ Hall, Portfolio Management Director, AES

Larry Gasteiger, Executive Director, WIRES (Moderator)

This event is free of charge and open to the public.

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