Background
EPE’s Voltage Optimization (VO) services help utilities operate their distribution networks in a more efficient way leveraging existing systems and equipment whenever possible; the core deliverable is to identify high-potential, low-cost circuits for VO deployment. In previous deployments, EPE’s customers have achieved 2-5% energy savings per transformer, enabling a significant ROI for the utility end C&I or residential customer.
Challenge
Maintaining affordable electric service is becoming more and more challenging due to rising costs to serve energy customers. These rising costs affect C&I customers, retail customers, and economic development aspirations. Cost increases can be associated with higher equipment & labor costs, rising wholesale power costs, DER proliferation, and hard-to-serve load growth; little of which are under the electric utility’s control.
Utilities are being asked to reduce the cost to deliver power to their customers by their regulators, city counsels, their boards, and/or their member-owners.
Approach
At EPE, we tackle energy waste and grid efficiency through our Voltage Optimization (VO) services within our Grid Modernization solutions.
Our team is made up of energy industry experts who possess both technical and strategic knowledge. We partner with utilities—large and small—to assess and implement VO strategies that enhance substation transformers and critical assets. Using advanced analytics and system modeling, we ensure long-term savings by optimizing performance and reducing energy losses.
Solution
EPE overhauled this large, multi-state, investor-owned utility’s database structure and implemented optimized querying procedures to collect millions of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) observations. Using this meter information, EPE modeled load trends across the utility’s system and provided expert guidance on voltage optimization strategies. This utility system has ~60,000 miles of distribution and more than 1,000 substations. EPE provided advisory regarding LTC & regulator settings along with enabling a planned rollout of the project. Alongside the voltage optimization plan, several real-time analytics dashboards were stood-up for internal use. Upon completion of the project, EPE delivered training sessions for internal stakeholders as well as supplementary scripts to enable the IOU to continue their analysis post-contract. EPE also provides ongoing deployment and communications support, including device programming.
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