WPD first in UK to install outage-mitigation device
UK: Utility installs S&C’s TripSaver® II Cutout-Mounted Recloser at 10 sites throughout its service territory.
Image source: S&E Electric Company
UK: Utility installs S&C’s TripSaver® II Cutout-Mounted Recloser at 10 sites throughout its service territory.
S&C Electric Company, a leading grid innovator improving power reliability and delivery worldwide, and Western Power Distribution (WPD), a UK-based electricity distribution network operator serving 7.9 million customers throughout Wales and England, have completed the installation of the first S&C TripSaver® II Cutout-Mounted Recloser in the United Kingdom.
Designed to significantly improve the way utilities respond to faults on power lines, the TripSaver II Cutout-Mounted Recloser is an advanced lateral, or spur, protection device. Used in place of conventional single-use fuses, TripSaver II reclosers can test whether faults are temporary and quickly restore power on those faults. With 80 percent of faults on overhead lines being temporary in nature, these devices will mitigate a significant number of customer power outages.
“It’s great to be working with S&C on this innovative pilot,” said Paul Jewell, WPD’s DSO development manager. “At a time when a lot more people are working from home, it’s more important than ever to ensure supply reliability and to keep the electricity flowing to enable them to work and stay connected to loved ones. For rural customers who are supplied by overhead lines, we hope to continue to improve network resilience and our customers’ experience with the help of technology such as the TripSaver II recloser. Those customers can experience short interruptions as a result of temporary faults, and this solution helps reduce the impact of this on our wider network.”
Source: S&C Electric Company