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Proactive Voltage Monitoring for the Smart Grid

Utilities around the world are working to improve the efficiency of grid operations and reduce energy waste. Part of the value of the smart grid – deploying real-time, two-way communications throughout the power infrastructure – is gaining a better understanding of the current state of the grid. Such detailed, immediate knowledge can dramatically improve the operation of critical grid efficiency applications such as Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) and Volt/VAR Optimization (VVO).

Utilities deploying CVR have been able to reduce energy waste by 2% to 3%, creating millions of dollars in savings for utilities and their customers

The Silver Spring UtilityIQ® Power Monitor application provides utilities with proactive alerting of areas where the voltage delivered falls outside the utility-set threshold for acceptable voltage levels. The software leverages the distributed intelligence in the Silver Spring Smart Energy Platform to localize polling for voltage within a meter and send back alerts only for those meter locations outside the bounds of acceptable levels.

The Silver Spring Communications Module embedded in smart meters directly polls the meter rather than having the poll initiate in the back office and utilities can configure the software to have the Communications Module poll the meter as frequently as every five seconds. Any voltage reading above (swell) or below (sag) the utility-set threshold is immediately reported, giving grid efficiency applications real-time information they can use to adjust voltage levels.

Silver Spring is partnering with a number of CVR and VVO software providers. Their applications are dramatically improved by the immediacy of this information, as well as by the breadth of locations a utility can track.

Requires no additional grid devices – it leverages the Silver Spring Communications Modules already deployed in the field
Focuses utility resources – it creates actionable, specific alarms where a problem exists
Delivers data much closer to real time – it immediately reports voltage alerts rather than sending them at the next scheduled meter read or when the meter is polled
Provides a comprehensive view of voltage levels throughout the entire service territory – it lets utilities include any set of meters to deliver voltage alerting