October 26, 2007—California’s largest electric utility, Southern California Edison (SCE) has designed and installed the nation’s most advanced neighborhood electricity circuit. The pioneering project, known as “Circuit of the Future,” recently began delivering power to 1,420 residential and business customers in Southern California’s Inland Empire, the nation’s fastest growing urban region. It is billed as having all three “Smart Grid” technology areas: transmission, distribution, customer metering.
“A high-tech world can no longer afford a low-tech electricity grid,” said John E. Bryson, chairman and chief executive officer of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison. “With smart grid technology, power outages will be fewer and shorter. Because advanced digital technology can react more quickly than human operators, potential problems can be identified, analyzed and isolated before they become significant power outages.”
The US Department of Energy provided almost $1 million in research and development funds in support of the SCE smart circuit project.
The Circuit of the Future is reported to be the first US distribution circuit to use powerful new surge protection devices called fault current limiters to rapidly sense and isolate problems. The Circuit of the Future also monitors duct bank temperature, making it possible to manage Edison’s power grid more efficiently.
The circuit is capable of using plug-and-play distributed generation, much like hooking up a portable generator to an entire circuit. In addition to providing more reliable service for customers, smart grid technology is also safer for the public and for SCE employees who work on the electrical system.
An Edison International company, Southern California Edison is the largest electric utility in California, serving a population of more than 13 million via 4.8 million customer accounts in a 50,000- square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.
For more information visit the SCE Web site.
