Utility regulators need to know the real benefits of new resiliency technology

The utility industry continues to come up with new, sometime futuristic, ideas for improving the performance and resiliency of the electric grid, and it is up to state regulators to decide which ones are performing as advertised, panelists said at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Winter Policy Summit.

A new generation of software and hardware has been deployed in recent years by utilities amid a new urgency to increase the ability of the grid to withstand and recover from stresses as old as the weather and as modern as international computer hackers. Artificial intelligence (AI) and drones are taking on the task of inspecting transmission lines while home smart meters have the potential to tip off operations to localized outages before their customers have a chance to report it.

As with any technology, the goal is to improve the overall performance of the grid. Utilities, however, cannot simply raise customer rates to pay for new resiliency programs without the blessing of a regulatory commission. And those commissions will not rubber-stamp a rate increase just because the utility thinks a project or technology investment sounds like a good idea.

“It can be easy to get caught up in the latest shiny new thing,” said the virtual NARUC session’s moderator, Willie L. Phillips, chairman of the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia.

Reliable Data
Regulators regularly tackle a host of complex issues and must balance out the needs of various stakeholders before approving a rate request. With climate change threatening to increase the frequency of damaging storms and wildfires over the foreseeable future, commissions will be considering rate hikes for resiliency that go beyond vegetation-management budgets. They will increasingly be discussing multimillion-dollar AI software suites, squadrons of drones, advanced designs for the once-simple power pole, and of course the staffing and training required to operate them.

“The technology can lower the cost curve for that particular work, but it can introduce a new cost,” said panelist Andy Abranches, senior director of special projects for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). Earlier this month, PG&E filed a proposal with the California Public Utilities Commission that updated its wildfire mitigation plan, which the company said would impact its customers about $3 billion annually over the next two years.

‘The regulator needs to ask the utility: ‘How are you making sure that the technology is effective? What is the outcome the data is showing?” Abranches said. “Those outcomes are the ultimate measure for our customers, and that is what the utilities should be asked about.”

Grid resiliency has been a center of attention at PG&E, and the company has pulled out a lot of stops to improve the sturdiness of its vast network of wires serving northern California. One of their flagship programs has been the Sherlock Suite, a 21st-Century strategy that connected camera-equipped drones to an AI system and a crew of PG&E technicians to create a new method of monitoring transmission lines for signs of wear-and-tear that could lead to a catastrophic equipment failure.

Drones are also employed by Duquesne Light Company to monitor power lines fitted to the underside of bridges around Pittsburgh or running through landslide-prone areas. “It has really helped us save time, and money,” said Duquesne Light Company COO Kevin Walker. “Drones are making our lives easier and are helping our customers.”

The panelists agreed that regulators, in their role as the public’s representatives, should insist on facts and data to back up the claims of electric utilities when considering rates and other regulations. “It comes back to data and trust,” said Drew McGuire, senior program manager of distribution for the ‎Electric Power Research Institute. “If you have data to back up your claims, it goes a long way.”

Changing Times
The innovative nature of the current technology boom in the utility sector also means that regulators will also have to be on top of a fairly fluid situation. Utilities are finding new uses for their innovations even after deployment and are also finding themselves facing new considerations, including climate change, customer privacy and political pressure to do more to accommodate lower-income communities.

Drones, for example, commonly inspect larger transmission lines, but flying around residential areas to look over smaller distribution infrastructure can be a different story because of privacy and flight safety regulations. “There is a lot to consider when you are using a drone,” said Walker. “You can’t just get a drone and fly it over somebody’s house.”

There is also the “equity” question when it comes to when, where and how new resiliency technology is deployed. How do regulators ensure that a utility’s grid-wide plan doesn’t leave low-income or minority neighborhoods at the end of the line when it comes to upgrades or even the restoration of service after an outage. “Disadvantage communities sometimes need extra care and attention,” Abranches said. “You are trying to make sure everyone in society is feeling the benefit of the electric grid and gas infrastructure.”

“There is no perfect answer,” he added.