November 15, 2004

Major Midwestern Utility Opts for IntelliTEAM II^® Automatic Restoration System to Increase Reliability.

A major user of the original IntelliTEAM Automatic Reconfiguration System upgraded one particularly problematic feeder to IntelliTEAM II in September 2004 as a trial of the newest in feeder automation technology. This particular feeder was selected for the trial specifically due to its high degree of exposure (35 mile long 34.5kv radial circuit) and history of extended outages (see Diagram 1 below). With original IntelliTEAM (See Diagram 2 below), the reliability of the line was increased for faults toward the end of the feeder since all unfaulted sections upstream of the fault would be restored to service. But the linear limitation of the original product meant that the utility was not able to take advantage of a second source that stands normally open at roughly the midpoint of L-7347. IntelliTEAM would reconfigure to isolate a fault and restore service, but for faults near the source major portions of the load would remain out of service since all loads were radially fed.

With the ability of IntelliTEAM II to accommodate much more complex feeder configurations, the utility will now be able to automatically capitalize on the available capacity of the second source to restore service to the radially fed customers for faults upstream of the tie point (see Diagram 3 below). This is expected to significantly improve SAIDI and CAIDI statistics for this line section, currently one of their consistently poor performers.

Diagram 1.


Diagram 2.


Diagram 3.