Now is a time of great change in the world of electrical infrastructure. Not only has technology continued to improve in terms of traditional electrical transmission, but the grid now needs to accommodate a growing number of energy sources that range from traditional generation such as coal to renewable sources like wind and solar generation. The entire industry from coast to coast is looking for the answers to modernizing their operations and preparing for the next great wave of changes, and S&C Electric Company believes it has those answers. Chief Strategy Officer Wanda Reder says bringing innovative solutions to the electric power market has been S&C’s mission for more than a century.
“We’re all about transforming the grid and allowing the grid to be modernized by bringing technology and solutions to the marketplace that allow more customer choice and more flexibility,” Reder says.
Founded in 1911, S&C is a global provider of switching and protection products for electric power transmission and distribution systems. “S&C’s products help deliver electric power efficiently and reliably,” the company says. “Some are used to switch circuits. Others minimize damage to equipment in the event of a fault or reduce the area of an outage by automatically rerouting power flow.”
Along with its line of switching and protection equipment, S&C also provides its customers worldwide with services including engineering, testing and laboratory services. The company says its customer base include electrical utilities as well as commercial, industrial and institutional electrical system operators. Its subsidiaries can be found in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia and China.
No matter where or how it serves its customers, Reder says S&C is dedicated to providing them with the latest technology that supplies the most effective solutions for their needs. She says the company’s advanced research capabilities have led to the development of a number of innovative and award-winning products, and the company has worked tirelessly to bring its services to new corners of the electric supply market. “We are committed to bringing true innovations to the marketplace, which is a unique aspect,” Reder says. “We are specialists in what we do.”
Reder came to S&C with a deep background in electric utilities, spending the first half of her career on the distribution side specializing in bringing new technologies to utilities’ distribution networks. That led her to an executive role at ComEd Exelon, after which she joined S&C on the services side of the company. Reder specialized in field support and asset management for S&C, helping to develop more turnkey capabilities for solar and wind generation. It was that experience that helped Reder earn the title of chief strategic officer, focusing her attention more on strategic planning and outreach.
Advanced Technology
One of the biggest reasons for S&C’s success over the years is the company’s strong internal culture, according to Reder. She says the company’s ability to deliver advanced, forward-thinking technology that fits the needs of customers today and tomorrow can be traced back to the company’s long-range vision for the future. While many of its competitors only look at what will keep them profitable in the short-term, S&C concentrates on thinking ahead. “We look at the long-term,” Reder says. “Many other companies get into a bit of a view that’s quarter-by-quarter.”
Evidence of the company’s commitment to innovation can be seen throughout its product line. One of the most prominent examples is the company’s IntelliRupter® PulseCloser® Fault Interrupter, which represents a major development in protection for overhead distribution systems. The company says the product was designed from the ground up to provide a superior alternative to conventional automatic circuit reclosers, incorporating S&C’s self-healing IntelliTeam® SG Automatic Restoration System.
According to the company, the IntelliRupter uses less than 5 percent of the energy to clear a fault compared to traditional reclosers, which apply the full fault current to the line during reclosing. The company says this significantly reduces the stress on system components, extending their lifespan and maintaining a more consistent flow of power to customers.
Another unique solution developed by S&C is the company’s TripSaver® II Cutout-Mounted Recloser, which can be utilized to eliminate permanent outages in smart grid applications. “Ideally suited for lateral circuits that frequently experience momentary fault interruptions, this smart grid solution eliminates the permanent outages which can result when lateral fuses operate in response to transient faults,” the company says. “It also eliminates the momentary interruptions on feeders in instances where the substation breaker is tripped to save the lateral fuse during a transient fault.”
Recently, S&C announced that Florida Power & Light would implement its TripSaver II technology throughout its transmission system to reduce outages for its 4.7 million customers. Because of the amount of severe weather Florida experiences, even momentary outages can end up costing millions of dollars over the course of a year. S&C also announced a plan to expand its operations in Florida with the creation of a new $3 million manufacturing facility for the TripSaver II. Reder says this commitment is representative of the company’s strong culture.
“I think it all comes back to doing the right thing, standing behind what we say we’re going to do and doing things right,” she says, adding that S&C‘s status as an ESOP means all of its employees are fully invested in the company’s success.
Working Together
S&C also partners with other leaders in the technology realm to develop innovative solutions for utilities’ needs. One of the most recent examples can be found in Texas, where S&C teamed with leading energy management firm Schneider Electric to develop one of the most advanced microgrids in North America for Oncor. Oncor is an electric transmission and distribution company that serves more than 10 million customers across the state, and the new microgrid has been created to maximize energy storage, incorporate renewable generation sources and improve overall reliability.
“S&C teamed with Schneider Electric to combine new hardware and software technologies for the state-of-the-art facility, which includes an integrated demonstration center for Oncor to showcase the microgrid’s advanced capabilities and customer benefits,” the company explains.
The microgrid consists of four interconnected microgrids and nine unique generation sources. The generation sources include two solar arrays, a microturbine and four generators. “To turn these diverse generation assets into a microgrid, S&C and Schneider Electric developed a distribution automation scheme that leverages multiple intelligent grid solutions from both companies – enabling the four microgrids to effectively operate independently or as one larger microgrid,” the company explains.
Through technology developed by S&C and Schneider Electric, the Oncor microgrid utilizes high-speed communication and distributed grid intelligence to detect problems on the grid in the event of an outage, the company says. S&C’s IntelliRupter technology detects an interruption, tests to see if the disruption is permanent and then isolates the facility if it is. The system then is capable of automatically reconfiguring the distribution system and switching to alternative power sources within a matter of seconds.
S&C Electric continues to drive greater innovation throughout the industry through its work with long-term trusted supplier Bestronics, a San Jose, Calif.-based electronics manufacturer. Bestronics has been manufacturing a variety of complex electronic assemblies for S&C for more than two decades. Recently, Bestronics has made significant investments in its facilities and test infrastructure to support S&Cs growth and extremely rigorous quality requirements. For example, Bestronics commissioned a very high capacity environmental stress chamber that allows S&C to test its products under extreme temperature conditions so the products like the TripSaver can achieve extraordinarily high reliability and field life.
Here to Stay
S&C sees much opportunity in the future of electric distribution. Coal used to represent half of the electrical power generated in the United States, but today that is declining in favor of renewable resources. Not only could the design of distribution systems be changed radically in reaction to that, but battery storage could become a major component of the grid as more microgrids become connected to the infrastructure.
“We offer solutions for all of that,” Reder says.
As the industry continues to change, S&C will continue to exist on the cutting-edge of technology to make grids safer, more reliable and flexible. “We’re all about making sure the grid we have is capable of being modernized to facilitate increased customer choice and more renewable interconnection,” she says. “It’s fairly obvious that these trends are here to stay.”
