Replacing Aging Relays: Challenges and Keys to Success

Mike Bryan, PE; Hilton Mills; Dave Rewitzer, PE; Brandon Sedgwick, PE; and James Little, PE, Hood Patterson & DewarFeatures, Spring 2024 Features

As large commercial and industrial construction ramped up in the 1990s and the size of facilities grew, electrical distribution transitioned from low voltage (480 volts and below) to medium voltage (12–15 kV). These design changes brought about the need for more sophisticated electrical distribution protection, which coincided with the early generations of electronic protective relays, including the widely employed GE Multilin …

Function vs. Functional Testing

Jacob Loyd and Michael Wilson, MeggerFeatures, Spring 2024 Features

Testing plays a critical role in verifying that the protection scheme is designed to meet its intended purpose. It ensures that the wiring diagrams match the schematics, and everything works together seamlessly. WHY DO WE TEST? While engineers and electricians are highly skilled professionals, they are human and can make mistakes. That’s why, during the commissioning process, we meticulously search …

Maintaining NERC Compliance during Site Upgrades

Casey Whitt, Shermco IndustriesFeatures, Spring 2024 Features

When a generator owner plans site upgrades that result in protection setting or coordination changes, compliance with several North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Reliability Standards such as PRC-019, PRC-024, PRC-025, PRC-026, PRC-027, MOD-025, and MOD-026 will be impacted, depending on the scope of the upgrade. However, the effort to maintain compliance — and equally important, maintain compliance documentation — …

NFPA–2023 Chapter 4 General: What Is Required, and Are Your Current Customers in Compliance?

Scott Blizard, American Electrical Testing Company LLCFeatures, Winter 2023 Features

In January 2023, NFPA 70B transitioned from the Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance to the Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance. The change became effective on January 16, 2023, when it was approved as an American National Standard by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). As NFPA 70B moves from a recommended practice to an enforceable standard, now is the time …

NFPA 70B: Developing a Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance

Corey Hannahs, National Fire Protection AssociationFeatures, Winter 2023 Features

Transitioning from the year 2022 into 2023 not only turned the page on electrical equipment maintenance but also placed us into a whole new book altogether. Long-standing as a recommended practice, on January 16, 2023, NFPA 70B became the Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance.  What does it mean, then, to change from a recommended practice to a standard? The NFPA …

Functional Testing on Digital Substations with GOOSE and Sampled Values

Abel Gonzalez, Michael Wilson, and Dhanabal Mani, MeggerFeatures, Fall 2023 Features

This article presents a high-level overview of performing practical, functional checks and testing on digital substations using generic object-oriented system events (GOOSE) and sampled values (SV).  The integration of renewable energy resources into the power system has created a pressing need for advanced technologies that can effectively monitor, protect, and control these assets. Digital substations, along with their associated technologies, …

Mission-Critical Architecture: Enabling Reliable and Secure Operation on Modern Power Systems

Matthew Wallace, CBS Field ServicesFall 2023 Features, Features

Imagine attending a conference of the world’s leading scientists or engineers, all of them experts in their field, but communicating only in their native languages. While they may all be certified geniuses, their ability to work together to complete even simple tasks would be difficult, if not impossible. The power of each individual’s knowledge is vastly diminished due to the …

Digital Substation LAN Design and Testing

Steel McCreery, OMICRON electronics Canada CorpFeatures, Summer 2023 Features

Ethernet is considered a fast, reliable, and scalable local area network (LAN) technology that has become predominant within electrical utility substations. Unlike information technology (IT) LANs, which are used to move general non-critical information, operational technology (OT) LANs carry information that is used to directly perform critical control functions such as tripping, blocking, and interlocks.  To ensure that electrical utility …

A Tsunami of Funding Affecting Fiber Optic Projects

Jim Hayes, Fiber Optic AssociationFeatures, Summer 2023 Features

The tsunami of funding stemming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has the fiber optic industry in a frenzy, partially because sufficient workforce to build networks is lacking and supply chain problems are causing long delivery times for basic components like fiber optic cable. The need for broadband was brought to the forefront during the pandemic when work, …

Distribution Automation Networks — Application & Testing

Abel Gonzalez, MeggerFeatures, Summer 2023 Features

Reclosers play an important role in distribution networks, where their primary role is to automatically reclose following a trip operation due to a fault. This ensures that power restoration causes only a momentary disruption to customers, rather than an extended outage.  Over the years, distribution networks have been automated to enhance system performance. Network automation involves communication between the devices …