NSTAR Electric and Gas Corporation
Urban Grid Monitoring and Renewables Integration
Abstract
NSTAR will enhance grid monitoring instrumentation on one of its secondary area network grids in downtown Boston, MA using state-of-the-art sensor equipment to monitor current and conductor temperature. This project will monitor grid-points in about 445 manholes with a layered instrumentation approach. The manholes designated “minor nodes” (about 315) will have sensors that detect high and low current and cable temperature threshold values on individual secondary-main cables within the grid-point. These nodes will have wireless transmitters to broadcast the alarms which will be collected wirelessly. The “major nodes” manholes (about 130) will be instrumented with technology to provide current sensing on a real time basis and be equipped with powerline carrier technology to allow near real-time monitoring at the operations center. Advanced metering infrastructure-capable meters will be deployed at customer locations on the grid where solar photovoltaics (PV) are located and will monitor consumption. In two substations, the remote terminal units will be upgraded to include programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to store network feeder information, continuously analyze data, and take actions when necessary. Information from the sensors, smart meters, and SCADA data will be sent to a repository for analysis.Contact Information
David Szucs
Project Manager
National Energy Technology Laboratory
626 Cochrans Mill Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15236-1940
412-386-4899
David.Szucs@netl.doe.gov
Swapan Dey
Principal Investigator
NSTAR Electric & Gas Corp.
1 NSTAR Way
Westwood, MA 02090-2341
(781) 441-8351
Swapan.Dey@nu.com
Moody Demetry
Lead Project Engineer/ PM
NSTAR Electric & Gas Corp.
1 NSTAR Way
Westwood, MA 02090-2341
(781) 441-8937
Moody.Demetry@nu.com
- Demonstration Projects
- Advanced Metering Infrastructure
- Distributed Energy Resource
- Distribution System
- Equipment Condition Monitor
- Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Communications Network
- Major and Minor Node Sensors
- Greatly improved knowledge of the urban grid’s status in near real-time allowing proactive maintenance leading to improved safety & reliability
- Possibly enable DG integration with secondary area network grids