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The TransWest Express Project was announced by the company in October 2005. The goal is to determine the viability of building a new transmission project from Wyoming to Arizona to provide Arizona and other southwestern states increased capability to access electricity generated from wind, coal, and other resources in the Wyoming area. In addition to providing access to energy resources for rapid growth areas in the Southwest, TransWest Express will benefit all western states by providing improved reliability of the western grid. The Phase 1 Feasibility Study is complete. Negotiations for a Participation Agreement to move forward with Phase 2 are under way with interested participants. Phase 2 would include determination of AC or DC technology, route selection, permitting, engineering, regulatory approvals, stakeholder relations and financing. Phase 2 is estimated to take up to five years to complete at a cost of $115 million which will include options for rights of way.
The parties negotiating in the Participation Agreement are APS, SRP, Southern California Edison, Tucson Electric Power, National Grid and Wyoming Infrastructure Authority. APS and the other groups involved with TransWest are also working with various exernal stakeholders to address their concerns regarding potential impacts of this transmission line. APS is hopeful the Participation Agreement will be executed in the near future.
New technologies will be a critical factor in meeting increasing electric demands. Examples of some of the new technologies we have incorporated into our Transmission/Distribution system include:
Aluminum Conductor Composite Reinforced Transmission Line
After extensive evaluation, APS recently used 3M’s aluminum conductor composite reinforced (ACCR) conductor to increase a transmission line's capacity without disrupting the surrounding community. The six-mile, 230-kV transmission line, originally built in the 1970s, was forecasted to be maxed out in capacity. This new technology allowed APS to reconductor this transmission line with conductor weighing the same as the previous conductor, but which is able to carry more than twice the electrical power of conventional conductors of the same size, with minimal conductor sag
Online Monitors
APS is expanding its online monitoring program to all transformers and shunt reactors 230kV and above. Instead of annual manual sampling, the monitors continuously sample the transformer oil for gas levels and issue a report every four hours, using an artificial neural network system called the Transformer Oil Analysis Notification program (TOAN).
This online monitoring program allows APS to detect a problem and repair or replace a transformer before it fails, improving the reliability of the system and significantly reducing costs. The system has been tested at a 92.9 percent accuracy rate for predicting related faults in power transformers, more than double the accuracy of our previous system.
Smart Meters
New “smart meters” have the ability to send an immediate notification to the utility when the meter experiences a power outage. This significantly decreases the time for the utility to determine the device on the network that is responsible for the outage. This technology allows the utility to dispatch crews sooner to make the needed repairs, ultimately reducing the length of outages.
These “smart meters” also notify the utility once the power at the meter has been restored. Validating that 100 percent of the meters in the affected area have power restored reduces the need to re-dispatch crews to the same area to address an outage on a downstream device such as a transformer that was masked by the larger outage. This metering technology known as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) also collects much more data about each metering end point on the system. This data helps to facilitate better efficiency in the design of the network. This will reduce outages by identifying areas that need attention and addressing the need prior to overloading the system.
Here are some of the benefits the smart meters offer:
- Customers will experience shorter outages
- No longer will APS have to rely on calls from customers to initiate repair work since outage notifications would be instant
- Smart metering technology also will help APS identify areas more susceptible to service interruptions
In January, APS passed the 20,000-unit mark in its deployment of “smart meter” technology. These intelligent meters will allow customers to dictate in real time when electricity is used, how much is used and how it is used. The initial 20,000-unit installation is part of an agreement with Tempe-based PowerOneData Inc. to provide APS with 160,000 residential meters. Through routine replacements and an existing conversion program, APS projects that its more than one million customers could be part of this smart network within five years.
“We are extremely excited to bring our level of service into the next century,” said APS Vice President of Customer Service Jan Bennett. “These smart meters will allow our customers to gain more control over their energy usage. They also offer APS a diagnostic tool that in turn makes our system more reliable.”
Distribution Operations Management System (DOMS)
APS prides itself on innovation and service, and the latest developments in smart meters and the company’s Distribution Operations Management System (DOMS) are two cutting edge technologies which will benefit customers and APS.
APS designed the DOMS software system to replace wall maps, track outages information in real time, and manage electrical loads, construction and repair crews. Like many utilities across the country, APS relies on paper wall maps with color-coded pins to understand the big picture of its distribution electrical grid.
When completed, DOMS will allow APS to manage and track information and make updates to this grid via computer. Currently 17 percent of the DOMS project is finished, with overall completion anticipated in 2010.
While APS’ traditional methods of managing electrical loads and its response to outages work well, there is a need for new technology to address the continued rapid growth of APS’ service territory. The company's goal is to not only address the growth, but to remain ahead of it. The objective of the DOMS project is to improve outage communications and reliability reporting, and further reduce customer power-outage durations. Improved customer satisfaction and enhanced safety practices are just a couple of benefits that would follow.
Before DOMS can be implemented, some preparation must take place. APS is going through a process of field-phasing verification to ensure the information in the DOMS correlates to what is out in the field. In a service territory that adds, on average, 10 new distribution substations each year and more than 125 new customers each day, that's quite an undertaking.
In the long run, the overall effect of DOMS will be a mass integration of APS services and systems. This will consolidate the systems at five distribution operating centers covering about 35,000-square miles in the Phoenixmetro area and four state regions into one as needed, such as after-hour operations. It also means a merging and addition of computer systems. From this, DOMS will have the potential for quickly providing planning analysis, power-flow analysis and suggested switching tools to maintain the electrical grid.
The implementation of DOMS will improve many of the ways APS does business in the future. The DOMS computer stations will be used to provide simulator training to new operators, enabling them to hit the ground running. It will affect the areas of construction, operations, maintenance, data quality and customer care. For APS crews in the field, DOMS will offer crew management and call-out tools to better monitor manpower requirements. The systems fault locater ability will also reduce the time necessary for troubleshooting to isolate faults.
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