WELCOME
Distribution systems are stressed by an aging infrastructure and increased
demands for power. Electric distribution companies are under pressure to
improve reliability and system performance, while dealing with the ongoing
challenges of an aging infrastructure and increasing customer demands for
higher reliability and power quality. In addition, budget and investment
constraints require electric utilities to manage their distribution systems
more efficiently by optimally reducing system losses and minimizing overall
costs of service.
The Bonneville Power Administration is sponsoring educational and training
workshops throughout the Northwest region to help establish efficient ways for
electric distribution utilities to reduce demand and reactive peaks, improve
power factor, and achieve energy savings. Seven training sessions will be held
in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
The Workshops will build on the Distribution Efficiency Initiative (DEI)
developed by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance to support distribution
engineers and utility management in adopting energy efficiency strategies and
technologies when appropriate. The DEI Final Report showed that “operating a
utility distribution system in the lower half of the acceptable voltage range
(120-114 volts) saves energy, reduces demand, and reduces reactive power
requirements without negatively impacting the customer. The energy savings
results are within the expected values of 1 to 3 percent total energy reduction,
2 to 4 percent reduction in kW demand, and a 4 to 10 percent reduction in kvar
demand.”
The Workshop will introduce the DEI Calculator and Guidebook and cover
high-interest topics such as voltage optimization, lost revenue concerns and
voltage impacts on equipment. Each presenter is a specialist in his field and
will bring down-to-earth experience to the workshops.