SOLUTIONS > LOAD MANAGEMENT
 

CMS Electric Cooperative Load Shedding Program

 

ElectriCities Load Management Program

 

Cisco Load Management Project Saves $32,000 Annually

 

Overview

 

Reclosers

 

Capacitor Banks

 

Voltage Regulators

 

Line Switches

 

Load Management

 

Line Voltage

 

Remote Substations

 

FCIs and Current Sensors

Automate Load Management

Critical to any load management system is the ability to track consumption and quickly respond to peak loads, eliminating the need to purchase power on the open market.

Telemetric devices can assist with:

  • Load Shedding
  • Back-up Generation

Load Shedding:
The ability to shed and restore loads provides an essential part of the Demand Side Management process. Discretionary load switching, or customer load management, involves the direct control of loads at individual customer sites from a remote location. Control may be exercised for the purpose of overall system peak load reduction or to reduce the load on a particular substation or feeder. The Telemetric solution has been used to shed non-essential industrial and agricultural loads.

To shed load effectively, system operators must know when to interrupt, and when not to. Unnecessarily interrupting can cost money and customer goodwill, and not shedding during a peak load can cost thousands of dollars per minute when power must be purchased on the open market. Telemetric devices can read energy usage from the utility and large customers. As a peak approaches, the Telemetric system automatically sheds non-essential loads.

The digital inputs and outputs of the Telemetric unit can be used both for monitoring and control of the load management process, including peak-load shedding, cold load pickup and load reconfiguration.

Back-up Generation:
The Telemetric MicroRTU can be used to remotely monitor and control a standby generator. Up to six digital inputs are available to monitor the status of the generator and other contact closure inputs. The built-in Single Phase Voltage Monitor provides real time feedback of actual voltages.

Telemetric devices can remotely operate small to medium sized generators to counteract consumption during heavy power usage. When the peak shaving generators have successfully been turned on, the device sends an acknowledgement to system operators. Multiple generators can be grouped together so one single command turns on all generators, rather than relying on cumbersome and time consuming dial up connections where each generator must be turned on individually. When operating at peak capacity, each extra minute that the generators are on can save a substantial amount of money by decreasing the amount of power that must be purchased.

Telemetric Solution Benefits:
Telemetric MicroRTUs offer several functional advantages over other products:

  • In many cases, a Telemetric load management solution pays for itself within a year.
  • System reliability is improved by a direct, positive confirmation that a command was carried out
  • The cellular data network coverage exceeds that of any other wireless communication option in North America.
  • The internal cellular radio module is mobile and can "roam" anywhere in the North American cellular area with no need to purchase local cellular accounts.

Six digital outputs can be used for directly controlling a wide range of customer equipment. The MicroRTU's two 120VAC (or 240) VAC outputs can be individually configured as:

  • momentary control signals with programmable durations to match the startup time requirements of controlled equipment, or
  • as continuous ON/OFF control signals.

The momentary output signals can be user configured in 0.1 second increments from 0.1 second to 241 hours. The solid state 10 Amp output relays (a recommended option) feature zero voltage switching and are rated from 24 - 280 VAC, with load current of 0.04 - 10 Amps RMS and a 1 cycle surge current of 120 Amps peak.

Four analog inputs can also be configured to monitor a variety of conditions including voltage, current, temperature, pressure, levels, flow or humidity, using 0-5 VDC, 0-1 mA, or 4-20 mA sensors