Grid Power Management – How Is It Done?

There are challenging and expensive issues to contend with to maintain an effective and reliable grid infrastructure. Unplanned outages are impossible to eliminate and buildings and facilities where power is crucial to their operations need to have a back-up plan. An onsite back-up generator needs to be maintained and load bank tested to ensure its reliable when needed. Other facilities may turn to a mobile generator option where all risk associated with the generator is passed to a third party. Power utility companies serving Milbury can turn to Prime Power Rentals to provide load banks to their end-users, electrical contractors and to generator service companies. We’ll dive into some detail about why Prime Power Rental’s services are valued by commercial power suppliers across the northeast region.

Electricity can be stored only in very small amounts, so it must be produced the instant it is consumed. Therefore, grid operators must consider a large number of variables that can at any moment affect the electricity production and flow of electricity across the grid to ensure enough power is generated and gets to where it is needed. Operators monitor power plants for unexpected outages and transmission lines for overloads. They also track weather and other events to forecast electricity demand. In case of an emergency outage or increased demand due to changes in weather, the operators also can call on reserves—power plants and resources on standby and ready to produce power at a moment’s notice. They can also call on manufacturers and businesses to cut their electricity use temporarily, and can limit exports to neighboring grids if power supplies are tight within New England. They coordinate the schedule for transmission line and power plant maintenance outages to ensure these outages do not compromise power system reliability. On average, the ISO processes almost 5,500 transmission equipment outages per year.

To be reliable in the short term, the system must have enough power plants producing electricity, plants in reserve, and plants on line that provide services to keep the physics—the voltage and frequency—of the system in balance. To be reliable over the longer term, these resources and the transmission lines that make up the power system must adapt to keep pace with changing consumer demand for electric energy, retiring plants, and the addition of new resources and technologies.

We provide full comprehensive power contingency planning that ensures a properly sized mobile generator and turn-key installation within a guaranteed response time. We welcome the opportunity to discuss Power Contingency Planning or load Bank Testing with you at anytime. Contact Prime Power Rentals today.