Depending on what trade organization or consulting company you rely on, you may be considering from 4 to 17 separate issues to be concerned about and include in your strategic planning approach in 2017. While the actual number is confusing in itself, no specific issue is agreed upon as being the most outstanding or even in the running. So, how do you decide where to focus?

Four Primary Issues and Possible Industry Impacts

• Clean Coal Plan support– some say it needs to happen …. Others say the new DC regime will kill it. If support for the CCP continues NERC says 7,000 miles of transmission should be added to the infrastructure. Until then, T&D companies can expect more fluctuating load flows due to the changing generation mix. The result? – More transmission capacity issues.
• Climate change – some believe it is a valid concern … others think it is a scientist’s pipe dream. If weather related threats due to climate change are on the increase, then we can expect the frequency and duration of power outages to increase. This could mean T&D outage plans will need even more focus than ever before.
• Renewable power — some want federal land designation to support growth … Others point to bird and pristine view ‘killers.’ If the drive for less reliance on foreign fuel is a goal and the economics continue to improve, then preparation to open up the gates to renewable power will impact an already over stressed and aging infrastructure.
• Modernizing the grid – the growth of our T&D system has not kept up with demand. But will the industry stick with the age old approach of adding transmission infrastructure alone to meet the changing grid needs or should new technology be at the forefront? Will modernization include alternative rate designs to accommodate technologies that make our power system more flexible? Recent rulings point to regulator support for new technologies so we should prepare to embrace dramatic change in the way we meet our energy needs.

Combine these with this year’s unusual increase in political turmoil, uncertainty from the industry’s ‘disruptive challenges’ (e.g., the EEI utility death spiral paper), and widespread disagreement over what actually are the most important issues, and it is easy to see that cost effective, fast to deploy, dependable solutions are needed.

Two Cost Effective Ways to Address Many of these Issues

Lindsey Manufacturing is committed to the power industry – in fact, 2017 is our 70th year serving the industry: T&D owners’ and operators’ issues are our issues and we strive to develop hardware and software products to help solve these issues.

• Our transmission capacity forecasting system, SMARTLINE, provides exceptionally reliable line capacity ratings ranging from 1 hour to 48 hours in the future. This operational values can quickly and cost-effectively address a variety of issues associated transmission capacity including; congestion, unlocking generation capacity, system flexibility during short or long term outages, grid resiliency, renewables integration, and more. Click here to contact an expert at Lindsey to discuss SMARTLINE.
• For over 30 years, Lindsey ERS structures have been assisting utilities around the world recover quickly when weather (or man) cause the collapse of transmission towers. See this T&D World article on how utilities in Australia shared their Lindsey structures to respond to a freak storm that blacked out an entire state. Click here for more information on Lindsey ERS structures.