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A ‘Circuit of the Future’ That Keeps Blackouts Brief and Local Is Tried in California

By Matthew Wald

In case of a short circuit, a device called a fault current limiter will stop a surge to prevent damage to the equipment, much the way a surge protector works on a personal computer. If the short circuit is brief — because of a tree branch brushing a cable or an animal being zapped in a transformer — the circuit may insulate customers from a power failure.

If there is a failure, sensors will locate it to within a few city blocks, allowing the utility to keep most of the circuit in service, according to the company.

“In the old style distribution circuit, typically you would have a problem, and a relatively dumb device would identify the problem and take action, but the action was usually with a meat cleaver instead of a scalpel,” said John E. Bryson, chairman and chief executive of Southern California Edison’s parent, Edison International. The new system should be able to keep 80 percent of the line in service, he said.

The current practice is to wait for customers to call in to complain, and then to dispatch a crew to go over the entire length of the circuit, usually several miles, to find the problem.

Another new touch is what the company calls “plug and play distributed generation.” The utility poles have hookups where the company can plug in an emergency diesel generator, a fuel cell or some other power source. Click here to read the full story.