It’s no secret that power grids around the world need to expand to accommodate more renewable energy and the so-called “electrification of everything.” The latter, of course, refers to the growing trend of using electricity to power various sectors and applications that have traditionally relied on fossil fuels, such as natural gas or petroleum-based products. The electrification of everything includes the push toward electric vehicles; the transition from fossil fuel–based heating and cooling systems to electric alternatives, as well as the adoption of electric appliances; and the shift to more electric motors, furnaces, and other electric-powered equipment in manufacturing processes. Add to that the expected power needed to supply data centers and the growth of artificial intelligence-related computing, and current estimates of 50% load growth by 2050 could be vastly understated.
Yet, getting new transmission lines planned, approved, and constructed is a daunting task, often taking a decade or longer to complete. So, how can the world more quickly add transmission capacity to the system without investing enormous time and money in the process? The answer: grid enhancing technologies, or GETs.
“GETs are exciting to us because they are technologies that help us unlock quickly the additional headroom or additional capability of the grid to carry energy across the system,” Alexina Jackson, vice president of Strategic Development with AES Corp., said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “This is something that is very important, because today, we are not making the fullest use of the electricity system as it’s built.”
The system is operated below its maximum capacity for very good reasons, specifically, to maintain reliability, but by implementing GETs, it can be operated closer to its true limits without risk of failure. “Once we have these technologies, such as dynamic line rating, which helps us visualize the dynamic and full headroom of the electrical grid, and then technologies like storage as transmission, advanced power flow control, topology optimization—they all allow us to operate the grid in its dynamic capability. By doing both these things—visualization and operation dynamically—we’re able to start making fuller use of that carrying capacity for energy, which will allow us to add additional energy more quickly, serve our customer needs more efficiently, and ultimately decarbonize faster,” Jackson said.
To read AES's white paper, visit: https://www.aes.com/sites/aes.com/files/2024-04/Smarter-Use-of-the-Dynamic-Grid-Whitepaper.pdf

160. How Grid Enhancing Technologies Are Expanding Electric Power Transmission System Capabilities

Improving Asset Inspections with Drones and AI
The U.S. bulk electric system consists of more than 360,000 miles of transmission lines, including approximately 180,000 miles of high-voltage lines, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. That means power companies have a lot on their plates when it comes to inspecting and maintaining those assets.
Furthermore, the stakes are high. As wildfires in California and elsewhere have shown, billions of dollars can quickly go up in smoke when equipment fails. San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), for example, faced as much as $30 billion in potential liabilities for the role its equipment played in causing wildfires in 2017 and 2018. PG&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2019, at least partly as a result. Therefore, finding and fixing problems before components fail is worth the effort.
“For the most part, utilities are inspecting somewhere between 10% and 12% of their assets each year,” Chris Beaufait, CEO of Sharper Shape, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “They’re always trying to figure out how to prioritize in the best way, but then they also run into human resource issues, and just how much they can accomplish in a single year.”
That’s where automated drone technology and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can help. “We can do detailed inspection of various assets using drones, and we actually have specific software packages that allow parts of that to be automated so the utility can get a repeatable process on their inspection,” Beaufait said. “Then, we basically process all that data. If we do a LIDAR [light detection and ranging] data collection, as an example, we can create data assets of everything that they have in the physical world, and then we can use AI algorithms and human intelligence to really come up with actions that they can do around that so they prioritize what they're going to do in the field, around maintenance, around vegetation management, around asset replacement, or asset improvements,” he explained.
Utilizing drones and AI technology allows a much larger area to be covered in a shorter amount of time. “We're talking tens of thousands of miles, and using this combination of artificial intelligence, we can tell them where they may have risks,” said Beaufait.
The inspections generate an enormous amount of data. According to Beaufait, Sharper Shape has completed more than 35,000 miles of collection, which includes more than 800,000 different structures and assets, equating to about 5 petabytes of data (5,000,000 GB). It would be impossible for a human to thoroughly process all the information in that amount of data, but computers with AI algorithms can look for anomalies and prioritize the problems identified. 
And while the inspection capabilities available today are remarkable, the technology is constantly improving, which means future asset assessments could be even more advanced.

73. Improving Asset Inspections with Drones and AI

The POWER Podcast provides listeners with insight into the latest news and technology that is poised to affect the power industry. POWER’s Executive Editor Aaron Larson conducts interviews with leading industry experts and gets updates from insiders at power-related conferences and events held around the world.

Popular tracks tagged #transmission &amp; distribution

Popular tracks tagged #transmission & distribution