Electric Distribution Feeder Automation

Natis has established a leading position with state of the art products in this emerging market for the automation of electric distribution feeders.

While electric utility transmission grids are usually highly automated, automation has only recently begun to be deployed on distribution feeders. Even then, on the distribution side, it is primarily the sub-stations and the meters that have been addressed. The net result is that the distribution feeders from the sub-stations to the meters in homes, offices and factories have been neglected and most have little, if any, automation in place. There are tens of thousands of these distribution feeders in the US and this situation is a cause of concern among both Federal and State regulators. This is clearly demonstrated by the many recent industry initiatives regarding Energy Efficiency and the Smart Grid/Intelligent Grid/Utility of the Future.

Natis has designed highly cost effective products for this market. A solid financial case can now be made for the automation of distribution feeders, strongly reinforced by the broad general concerns about electrical energy supply. These include its rising cost, utility operational efficiency, network reliability and environmental issues as well as the more specific SADIES, SAFIES, load management, planning, restoration and power quality issues.

In many cases, much of the feeder equipment in the field is old and its maintenance is a cause for considerable concern. Today, such maintenance is performed primarily by manual methods, and the situation is being made worse by a decline in the availability of the necessary skills - many skilled and experienced members of the utility workforce are now reaching retirement age. In addition, the legacy feeder equipment is often end-of-life and is no longer supported by its original manufacturer. However, Natis products include retrofit kits that can enable the full automation of such equipment.

Our products enable utilities to improve their operational efficiency and reliability by automating either all of the equipment along a distribution feeder, or by automating key individual items of equipment such as switches and reclosers now, and other devices later. With Natis automation in place, a utility can see the operational status of each of the automated devices on the feeders and the complete details of the power quality as the electric current flows through them. These devices can be operated remotely, their settings can be changed remotely, all events are data logged and the devices can thus be maintained on an optimal cost, condition-based maintenance program.

The Natis products can further be used to automate groups of devices through the use of autonomous software agents. This process, known as sectionalizing (or when fully automated, auto-sectionalizing) enables different devices such as switches or reclosers on different feeders, to act in concert with each other, taking the most appropriate corrective action when faults occur. These actions reduce the numbers of customers that are impacted by an outage and they make a major contribution towards reduced outage durations.

In summary, with Natis products installed, utilities can spot many problems before they arise and deal with them more quickly when they do; they can provide higher overall levels of reliability and service to their customers while minimizing their operating expenses.