As technology evolves at a breakneck pace, New Jersey’s utility companies are continuing to identify and adopt new innovations in an effort to conquer some of the sector’s biggest challenges. This includes modernizing infrastructure, improving resilience against extreme weather, and reducing carbon emissions, all while maintaining reliability for millions of residents and businesses.
“The electric grid at its core is a very basic concept: wires, either overhead or underground, carrying electricity to homes and businesses. Technology has given us the tools to do this work better and more efficiently,” says Patricia Mullin, Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) vice president, operations.
One example of this is automation, which is having a big impact on the energy space, particularly when it comes to reliability.
“Automation allows us to keep lights on or get them back on faster if there is an outage,” Mullin says. “Devices like automated reclosers and TripSavers can recognize outages – caused by tree branches bouncing off lines or other quick, passing causes – and restore them in seconds. Most importantly, this technology allows us to do our work more safely.”
She adds that the increased pervasiveness and reach of automation and connected device technology has been key to fully and effectively leveraging its benefits.
“Automated devices prevent crews from having to go out and inspect lines, find nothing actively causing an outage, then manually reset the system. The connected devices allow us to reroute power around damage and get customers back on without having crews go back and forth between isolation points, setting up their trucks at each location and manually doing that work,” she says. “Ultimately, that means the lights are back on faster for our customers, our crews are safer and we’re keeping costs down for our customers by preventing unnecessary crew response and wear and tear on trucks.”
She adds that JCP&L, which provides electricity to more than 1.1 million customers across 13 counties, has been installing more of these automated and connected devices in its upgrade projects, which give its control centers even more ability to segment and isolate lines.
On the natural gas side of things, Steve Cocchi, chief operating officer of Folsom-based South Jersey Industries (SJI) tells New Jersey Business Magazine that he is excited about the company’s flagship renewable natural gas (RNG) project, the Linden Renewable Energy Project, one of the largest food waste-to-renewable natural gas projects in the US.
“It is expected to convert 1,450 tons of waste, producing up to 3,700 MMBtu/day of RNG, equivalent to 30,200 gallons of gasoline a day, and be injected into the Elizabethtown Gas system,” he says.
Another key innovation that Cocchi is excited about is the production of hydrogen-based energy – a low-carbon fuel produced using a renewable energy source, such as solar energy, which can be safely blended with natural gas or renewable natural gas to lower the carbon intensity of a fuel supply.
He adds that SJI has its own hydrogen generation project in operation, located at South Jersey Gas’ new $69 million pressure regulation station in South Harrison Township.
“The project uses solar energy to generate green hydrogen that is blended into the gas distribution system to offset geologic gas use, which is currently imported from out-of-state via interstate pipelines,” Cocchi says. “The solar array in South Harrison generates 100% of the electricity needed to run the 1-megawatt equivalent electrolyzer, therefore generating ‘green’ hydrogen. The electrolyzer takes water from the existing well onsite and, through an electrical process, separates the hydrogen from the water and the hydrogen is [then] used in South Jersey Gas’ pipelines.”
He says the project is designed to generate approximately 33,000 kilograms of hydrogen annually, which has the same amount of energy as 33,000 gallons of gasoline.
Another exciting technology, according to Cocchi, is SJI subsidiary Elizabethtown Gas’s recent deployment of CISBOT, or Cast Iron Sealing Robot, in the Port Elizabeth section of Elizabethtown Gas’s territory to extend the life of a critical gas main.
CISBOT, which was developed by New York-based ULC Technologies, renews cast iron pipe by internally injecting anaerobic sealant into joints under live conditions. It enters live gas mains through a very small opening in the street and is capable of traveling 750 feet in either direction underground to internally remediate the joints.
Cocchi says it can seal up to 1,500 feet of main, which can contain more than 100 joints, all from a single small 6-foot by 6-foot excavation.
Read the full article from New Jersey Business Magazine.