Personnel safety for electric utilities with dispersed storage and generation (DSG)

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:5241046

Rizy, D T

Present day safety practices and hardware employed by electric utilities in electric distribution systems have evolved consistent with the unidirectional flow of electric power from central production facilities at the generation level to dispersed loads at the electric distribution level. The interconnection of dispersed production devices, such as wind powered ac generators and photovoltaic powered dc-to-ac inverters, to the electric utility system at the distribution level will pose problems with these present safety methods. DSG devices will produce bidirectional flow of real electric power that can re-energize sections of the electric distribution system that have been open-circuited by recloser operation for an abnormal system condition, such as a fault, or at the substation breaker by utility personnel for maintenance. Preliminary results of a study underway by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) indicates that present practices with some modification and without major hardware changes can be used for an electric distribution system with a low penetration level of DSG devices. However, automatic disconnect/connect schemes, centrally controlled by the utility, appear to be a more practical method for the maintenance of an electric distribution system with a high penetration level of DSG devices. The major barrier to the implementation of these automatic schemes is in meeting present national and electric utility industry safety standards requiring a visible open-circuit and lock-out capability for the maintenance of electric sources in the electric distribution system.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5241046
• Report Number(s): CONF-820350-1; ON: DE82009627
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

200300* -- Electric Power Engineering-- Power Transmission & Distribution-- (-1989)
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
296002 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Electric Power Transmission & Distribution-- (-1989)
42 ENGINEERING
420600 -- Engineering-- Safety Engineering-- (-1987)
DISPERSED STORAGE AND GENERATION
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ENERGY SYSTEMS
MAINTENANCE
PERSONNEL
POWER DISTRIBUTION
POWER SYSTEMS
POWER TRANSMISSION LINES
PUBLIC UTILITIES
SAFETY