Studying and implementing new technologies, including smart grid projects, as well as major transmission projects is the primary focus of William S. Gausman, senior vice president, Strategic Initiatives, Pepco Holdings (PHI).

“The changes occurring within electric utilities these days are unprecedented,” says Gausman. “Technology is changing the way we do everything.” Gausman will discuss how Pepco is adjusting to these rapid changes and applying new tactics and technologies during his remarks at the Autovation Opening General Session, Monday, September 26, 8:30 – 10 a.m. at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Washington, DC.

Distribution
One example of change relates to distribution automation (DA). “We are automating the electric system to detect faults and identify the locations of those faults, all automatically, without any human intervention,” he states. Traditionally, this kind of automation has been at the substation level. PHI, however, is building it out to the poles and wires outside the substation, so the entire distribution system can become smarter and perform functions automatically and much faster. “As a result, if an outage occurs, we can restore the majority of the customers very quickly,” he notes. 

While the technology continues to evolve, a particular interest of Gausman’s is the communication required to accompany the changes and ensure the success of the projects. Such communication not only needs to take place with customers, but also with regulatory bodies, such as NERC.

Customers. “We are changing how we communicate with our customers, and how we leverage that communication,” states Gausman. He notes that the electric system was originally designed to deliver electricity to customers. Now, it is part of a more complex system that, at certain points in time, is delivering electricity to customers. However, at other points in time, as is the case with residential renewables, it is delivering it from individual customers back into the grid. “As a result, we need to be able to continually coordinate all of this activity related to customer usage and how hours will be charged,” he explains.

The goal is to integrate all of these different technologies and be able to operate as a single, fully-integrated system. “If you have to go out and build new distribution facilities to manage all of this, you are really defeating the purpose of the technology,” he points out.

Gausman cites three examples of how technology advancements necessitate increased communication with customers:

1 – AMI is transforming the way PHI communicates with customers. “We are transitioning from meter-reading activity to acquiring data and, more importantly, being able to communicate that data in the form of information back to our customers so they can better understand their energy usage,” he states. “Then, they can use that information to drive down not only their peak usage, but their total energy usage.” PHI just completed its AMI implementation in Delaware, and is now implementing it in the District of Columbia and Maryland. To date, it has installed about 300,000 meters in Delaware and 100,000 in the District of Columbia. By the end of this year, PHI plans to have about 600,000 meters installed.

2 – PHI is also getting involved in electric vehicles. This provides another level of interaction with customers in terms of electricity management, such that the utility doesn’t burden the distribution system. It needs to be able to manage how customers charge the vehicles and also monitor the activity and help customers get control, so they don’t have to worry about when they can activate their charging systems.

3 – The third relates to the integration of renewables, primarily solar, at the residential level. “There has been an increase in the number of solar installations in our jurisdiction,” he reports. “In fact, New Jersey has one of the most aggressive deployments of solar across the nation. We have more solar on a per capita basis going in New Jersey than any other state.” This is distributed across the entire distribution system. As noted above, with electricity now traveling in two directions, communication with customers is critical.

NERC. Communication with NERC is also important, according to Gausman. “This area is changing a lot,” he states. “There are always new standards and regulations, including those related to security. Certainly, there is no one who would disagree that physical security and cyber-security are very important.” As PHI continues to look at and implement new technology, it keeps NERC in mind. “We study NERC standards and guidelines not only for the bulk electric system, but throughout the entire system, even down to the metering system,” he states.

Transmission
PHI is in installing the Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway (MAPP), a 500 kV transmission system, which also has a significant high-voltage DC component. “We are using this DC component to cross the Chesapeake Bay,” Gausman states. “It will be one of the highest-capacity DC systems anywhere in the world, and will be the first high-voltage DC system operated in the PJM grid.”

PHI considers this to be a very important project for a number of reasons. The first, of course, is improving reliability. However, there are currently some serious discussions about building large amounts of wind generation off the Atlantic coast. When the MAPP project is completed, it will terminate at a substation along the coast in Delaware. This also happens to be the place where an offshore wind project will be coming on-shore. “Every study I have seen suggests that DC lines are the best way to manage the delivery of that off-shore wind energy back into the grid,” states Gausman. “So, even though this was not the original purpose of our transmission project, it is clearly one of the benefits that will occur.”