Automation Comes to All DEC Substations

Reliable electric service is essential to everyone’s day-to-day life. At DEC, it’s our job to maintain that reliability,  and one way we continue to do that is through the use of distribution automation (DA). Since 2010, DEC has utilized DA technology to improve our system, and by the end of the year, this technology will be included in all DEC substations. When outages occur, DA works to identify issues on the grid and isolate them to limit the number of members affected. It then communicates that information back to DEC employees, resulting in quicker response times and shorter restoration times. In 2022, This innovative technology helped DEC achieve record reliability. According to manager of system controls Brittany Wagner, the inclusion of DEC’s substations under the DA umbrella has been a process years in the making. “For about three years now, we have really made a concerted effort to integrate DA onto our lines in as many ways as possible,” Wagner says. “We have over 200 devices in the field, and all of them have to be incorporated along with the substation equipment itself, so it is a tremendous feat, both for the Co-op itself and in how it will enhance reliability for our members.”