Smart Grids: An Effort to Deliver Reliable Power

The smart grid is the future hope of delivering energy to consumers. It holds the potential for two-way communication, monitoring and analysis with features that include automatic adjustments, and the optimization of power delivery with minimal outages, shorter recovery times and the ability to reroute power to where it is needed most. With the help of Critter Guard’s Line Guard and Pole Guard, outages would be few and far between.

Replacing the Current Grid

The current electric grid has been in existence since the 1890s. It includes all the parts that deliver power from power plants to both home and business customers. As the current technology becomes more fragile and less able to handle current needs, smarter technology and components become a part of the current grid. The hope is to reconstruct and replace the whole infrastructure for a more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective smarter grid.

The smart grid will have the ability to communicate both ways to monitor, control, and analyze processes, receive feedback to adjust and deliver more efficient operations, as well adjust the delivery system. The smart grid will also have the capacity to include alternative power sources, such as wind and solar, lessening the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and making it a more environmentally friendly option.

Protecting the Grid from Wildlife

There are over 600,000 miles of transmission lines in the US and new transmission lines are needed in the smart grid to help power more homes and businesses. Unfortunately, more lines mean more opportunity for damage. Animals all over the world cause damage to electrical systems and the damage can be dangerous and costly. The outages that result vary from affecting a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of homes, companies, and critical services and can last for minutes, hours, days, weeks and even months.

One suggested way to address animal-caused outages is by looking at data to assess risk and better protect assets, including power lines, substations, transformers, and other electrical equipment. The outcome of the data provided by a case study that lasted for 10 years, showed that protecting assets from wildlife reduced power interruptions from one a year to one every 19 years and that outage duration was reduced from more than six hours to only 12 minutes, resulting in almost a 94% reduction.

Critter Guard’s Line Guard and Pole Guard help protect power systems from damage caused by squirrels and other wildlife in a safe and humane way. Contact Critter Guard today to prevent outages in your area.