The world is changing fast and the electric power grid is no exception.
For the longest time, power flowed just one way: from the power plants, across transmission lines, to substations and finally through distribution lines to homes and businesses.
Now, with more renewable energy like solar and wind, that power is starting to flow both ways, with renewable power coming onto the grid.
Renewable energy is right for our customers, community and world. That’s why we’ve invested in the future to make sure the power grid is ready.
Our network of transmission lines (#2 below) plays an important role in supporting renewables. Just like our highway system, transmission is responsible for moving electricity quickly and safely over long distances.
A cleaner energy future requires moving electricity to cities and other areas that need it. Transmission is critical in transporting renewable energy from where it is produced – often in remote, rural areas – to where it’s needed.
The sun doesn’t always shine, and wind doesn’t always blow. New technologies are needed on the transmission system to keep electricity flowing whenever power is needed.
We’ve taken steps to modernize and upgrade the transmission system to help prevent outages for customers, safeguard against cyber and physical attacks, and to support adding more renewables to the grid.
Sensors automatically identify problems on the grid, so power can be remotely rerouted to where it is needed, isolating the problem and quickly restoring power to customers.
We’re doing other things like using data analytics to signal when a piece of equipment needs to be replaced and identifying damaged or diseased trees– before they cause a power outage.
Preserving our transmission system is increasingly important to a safe and reliable power grid. With our innovation and advanced technology, we’ll be prepared.
We’ve never been afraid to experiment with new technology or implement innovative ideas if it means more reliable service for our customers.
So as soon as battery technology became more advanced, our engineers were excited to launch a program within the PPL territory, specifically along a line in the Harrisburg region that experienced outages in the past.
These batteries, connected to the grid, will instantly kick-in when customers are out of power and can keep the lights on for 6 hours or more!
The Harrisburg battery project is the first of its kind on the PPL grid and we’re already looking into other regions that would benefit from this technology.
This innovative solution is a huge plus for power quality and reliability for our customers. And batteries are just the start of ensuring a safer, more reliable and resilient grid.
Ever see a line of silver towers in a rural field? Or, maybe steel poles lining the road? Those are transmission lines, and you likely don’t give them much thought as you pass by in your car.
But those transmission lines are crucial to most everything you do at home and work. They’re the backbone of our electric grid.
In fact, the transmission system is becoming even more important with the increased use of renewable energy, like solar and wind. Transmission lines are needed to get the new cleaner power from where it’s generated to the population centers that will be using it. A strong transmission grid also helps keep electricity reliable.
At PPL Electric Utilities, we take reliability seriously. Beginning in 2013, we used data to make focused upgrades and get ahead of potential future problems. We started building new lines and substations, replacing aging equipment and changing out wooden poles with stronger steel poles. We’re also adding more lightning protection and using new technology to help shorten outages.
The results for our customers are big.
From 2013-2019, we’ve reduced transmission outages by 79 percent and we’ve cut outages caused from lightning by 77 percent. Our transmission system is more resistant to most severe storms and we’re better equipped to handle potential cyber or physical attacks against our grid.
So, the next time you drive by a transmission line, take comfort knowing that we’re always working to provide you with sustainable, affordable and reliable electricity, now and into the future.
At PPL Electric Utilities, we’ve been watching with great interest the debate surrounding the future of nuclear power.
Proposed legislation currently circulating within the Pennsylvania General Assembly would require electric utilities to purchase as much as 50 percent of customer demand from nuclear energy as part of a new mandate under Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act.
We’re asking the General Assembly to seriously consider the broad impact and the unintended ramifications this aggressive proposal would have on all of our 1.4 million customers.
The conversation surrounding how to achieve long-term market-based solutions to reducing carbon is essential to Pennsylvania’s energy future. Our parent company, Pennsylvania-based PPL Corporation, supports efforts to advance a cleaner energy future and has committed reducing its carbon emissions 70 percent from 2010 levels by 2050. Additionally, PPL Electric Utilities has begun to undertake several projects that promote greater incorporation and growth of carbon-free energy sources, such as solar, onto our grid.
No one disputes that nuclear energy is carbon-free, but don’t confuse narrow nuclear subsidy proposals with efficient and effective economy-wide, market-based efforts to move the state toward a low carbon future.
This proposal, if adopted, will make Pennsylvania less competitive, impacting every electric customer in Pennsylvania and raising the average price of electricity in the state for years to come. We have estimated that our customers, alone, will pay $140 million more each year to rescue a single energy source that already benefits from an existing robust market.
If electricity customers are asked to bear this burden, customers should expect, and legislators should require that regulators have oversight. As a regulated utility, PPL Electric Utilities is required to open its books to the state’s Public Utility Commission and demonstrate a financial need before we can adjust the rates we charge to customers. Nuclear plant owners who are asking our state government to give them customer-funded financial assistance should be required to do the same. Recent draft proposals do not include this much needed requirement and also provide a subsidy for plants that are profitable.
This issue has been the focus of limited discussions for well over two years. It is only recently that proponents have turned up the heat on the General Assembly to act swiftly. Lawmakers should not fall for the “crisis” label that has been intentionally created by the bill proponents.
We’re asking lawmakers to take their time and properly vet this issue through the process — hold hearings, call in all stakeholders and most importantly, demand numbers from those advocating for this measure. Consider seeking independent audits or financial verification from outside resources available to the General Assembly.
In the end, lawmakers need to strongly consider whether hiding a nuclear bailout in customers’ electricity bills is necessary and the best course to moving Pennsylvania forward.
Drones are more than just an innovative way to patrol and review electric delivery lines. They can be an innovative tool to help string them, too.
At least twice in recent weeks, our employees have turned to the unmanned aerial vehicles as a way to help with challenging line restoration work.
During recovery from the March 2 nor’easter, crews used a drone to help with a difficult job in the Shohola, Pike County, area. Crews had to get a line through a 1,200-foot section of ravine, with a downed tree blocking the right of way.
Regional Design Supervisor Bill Farber remembered hearing that Regional Design Supervisor Phil Brant had used a drone to help string lines during restoration work in Puerto Rico. A drone was used there on three separate occasions to fly a pulling string across inaccessible areas ranging from 150 to 500 feet across. Crews were then able to use the string flown in by the drone to pull line across the inaccessible areas.
Just as he did in Puerto Rico, Brant used a drone to fly a piece of line across the 1,200-foot ravine, proving PPL can achieve flights of greater length with continued success.
While other methods can be used to pull string through inaccessible areas, drones offer a more controlled, precise and safe way to do so.
“Using drones for this purpose can save the company money and help us get lines rebuilt more quickly,” Farber said.
A drone also proved to be the right solution to a different weather-related challenge in the Harrisburg region.
In the Newport area, a single-phase line crosses Sherman Creek, which has an island in the middle. During the week of March 12, a tree on the island fell and took down the line.
The creek was too swollen for crews to wade across. So Field Supervisor Andy Breault reached out to Senior Engineer Tom Grosz, asking whether the drone used at the Lancaster Service Center might be usable.
The method was the same: Support Engineer Eric Resch attached a rope to the drone and flew it across the creek. The crew then used the rope to pull a new line across the creek. The drone flight took just 10 minutes for setup and five minutes to fly, Resch said.
“I flew the drone past the crew, and the rope dropped off the drone and pretty well landed right in their hands,” he said.
Of course, power line inspections continue to be the primary use for drones. But the aerial vehicles also are proving their worth in other ways.
