How Can You Improve Grid-Edge Reliability with Data?

Delivering resilient, reliable power has always been the utility industry's goal. As distribution systems face more dynamic challenges, utilities are turning to data to find where to act.

It's worth a closer look at what the data is showing.

Over the past decade, SAIDI including major events has climbed about 26 minutes per year, while SAIDI excluding major events has remained relatively flat.

That widening resilience gap reveals how much an aging distribution grid is struggling under severe weather—and points utilities to where improvements will pay off most.

What’s Contributing to Grid-Edge Outages

A major share of this resilience gap can be traced to overhead distribution laterals.

Up to 80% of distribution system faults occur on laterals, many of which are still unprotected or protected by conventional fuses. That means storm debris, tree limbs, or any transient event can trigger a sustained outage and truck roll. In fact, 70% of lateral fuse operations are due to temporary faults.

Implementing a fuse-saving strategy at the feeder level can help, but it comes with trade-offs. Circuit breakers or reclosers clear temporary faults by tripping the whole feeder. But fuse-saving doesn’t always work and can still result in mass momentary outages that affect reliability metrics.

Identifying a Data-Backed Solution

Utilities working to narrow the resilience gap are increasingly applying a targeted approach: replacing fuse cutouts in high-outage locations with lateral reclosers.

Alabama Power is one example.

The utility began with 20 TripSaver® II Cutout-Mounted Reclosers installed at hot-spot locations to clear temporary faults and isolate permanent faults to smaller segments.

In the first year, Alabama Power saved 106,947 customer minutes of interruption and avoided $15,570 in truck roll costs. Those results led to expanded deployments, which improved System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) by 70% and System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) by 57% in those areas.

Making a Case for Investment Using Your Data  

Lateral reclosing is well-documented as an effective investment. The challenge is using your own data to demonstrate the value of a different lateral-protection approach and the technology investment required to implement it. Given the volume of data available today, even the most experienced teams struggle with creating a compelling case for investment.

Our work helping utilities build grid resilience has shown that four steps can turn your outage data into a clear, defensible rationale for lateral reclosing: 

1. Outline your goals. Start with the end in mind. Are you prioritizing cost reduction, reliability improvement, or both? Define your goals to set your data criteria, such as outage events, service trips, or reliability metrics.
2. Build your data story. Use outage and field data to find fuse locations driving a disproportionate share of events and/or outage minutes. S&C works with Southwire® Digital Services to combine outage and mapping data for our customers in a comprehensive analytics dashboard. You can then quantify how many fuses to replace and estimate investment size, impact, and return on investment.
3. Estimate your return on investment. Calculate the estimated years for 100% payback. Across S&C supported deployments, payback is often in six years or less if at high-event locations.
4. Track, scale, and repeat. Allow one year of operations for meaningful comparison against historical performance. Results can be tracked using OMS, device-level event logs, or pole-mounted sensors such as Gridscope^TM from Gridware®. Tools like Southwire’s Benefits Achieved Module can quantify the value of initial deployment to support the next expansion phase.

A Real-World Example

Applying this approach can quickly substantiate the case for targeted upgrades.

In one utility analysis, S&C identified that replacing 1% of sampled distribution fuses—127 fuses—could significantly improve reliability and costs.

The fuses accounted for 869 outage events due to temporary causes, and each outage event required a truck roll. Replacing them with lateral reclosers would deliver the following.

*Estimate for example only. Costs can vary.

Support for Your Analysis

This level of analysis doesn’t need to be complex. Utilities of any size can use the approach.

The process is straightforward: review outage data, identify the worst-performing laterals, and prioritize targeted fuse replacements with reclosers.

S&C's Technology Assessment for TripSaver Recloser pilots can simplify the process. It includes Southwire data analysis, install location identification, and more—helping utilities compress the timeline to results without pulling engineering teams off other priorities.

Every utility’s path to a more resilient grid will look different. But when decisions are guided by your own outage data, it’s easier to justify targeted investments that keep power delivery consistent to the communities, businesses, and critical services that depend on it. 

Looking for a field-proven solution that gets results?

Explore how TripSaver® Reclosers can help.