It’s Not a Bad Thing When Your Power Blinks

Technology is helping Cullman Electric build a power grid that reduces the length and frequency of power outages

Cullman Electric Cooperative’s primary goal is to deliver the highest possible quality of electric service at the lowest possible price. Perhaps the key measure of quality in the eyes of members is the number of times their lights blink or go out. An outage can range from annoying to dangerous, depending upon its timing and length.

Let’s talk a bit about how the grid is designed as a backdrop to how technology is improving reliability by reducing blinks and outages. Along the power lines that bring electricity to your home, Cullman Electric installs protective devices in the form of fuses and reclosers (high-voltage circuit breakers). Fuses and reclosers serve the same purpose as the fuses and circuit breakers in your home.

Fuses vs Reclosers

A fuse is a one-shot device. When a fault occurs, the fuse blows and everyone downstream from it loses power. Reclosers are multi-shot devices, meaning they can operate a certain number of times before they stay open and an outage occurs. A common setting is what’s known as a triple-shot. Here’s how that works. A tree limb contacts the power lines and creates a fault. The recloser senses it and opens, creating the first blink.

Here’s where a recloser differs from your home circuit breaker. It waits a certain amount of a time (typically a few seconds), then recloses to try and complete the circuit. If the fault is still there, it opens again. This creates the second blink. Triple-shot settings allow the device to reclose a third time and if the fault is still there, it stays open and the members downstream experience a power outage.

Blinks are a nuisance, but they eliminate a lot of extended outages by protecting wires and equipment from serious damage.

More technology = Fewer & shorter power outages

Eventually, there will be a power outage despite the best efforts of Cullman Electric Cooperative team. That is where advanced metering systems (AMI) and outage management systems (OMS) earn their keep. The basic element of an AMI is a meter that can communicate with your electric co-op. The OMS maps system data and meter locations into a piece of software that models the electric grid. When a device on the grid reports loss of power, the OMS runs calculations to determine the exact location of the fault and the number of members impacted.

Now, the whole suite of systems your co-op uses comes into play. The co-op dispatcher can call out or redirect a crew to the exact location of the problem. A map of the outage and number of impacted members is generated and member service reps are notified that an outage is in progress. For members who have signed up for it, they might receive a text stating there’s an outage and another when power is restored.

The end result of all this technology is the minimization of outages and their length, plus more availability of up-to-date information for the consumer.

Mother Nature is a tough opponent, and it’s impossible to eliminate outages and blinks altogether. But with the way technology is advancing, we can expect to see some remarkable improvements.