TransActions Newsletter - Q2 2020

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Let’s Talk Arc Flash – the new IEEE 1584-2018

Many utilities and industries around the world were holding their breath for many years for publication of the new Arc-flash calculation guide. At the end of 2018, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) voted and approved a new Arc-Flash calculation methodology that can be used to assess incident energy for three-phase, line-to-line, voltages between 208V and 15,000V. Calculations for single-phase AC systems and DC systems are not part of the standard but it does offer some guidance and references for those applications. Incident energy is the amount of thermal energy generated during an electric arcing event at any discrete distance from the source. It is extremely important to know these values to be able to equip electrical workers with the proper personal protective equipment (PPE). Changes in the calculation methodology can impact these values which could alter the level of PPE required or even require work to be done de-energized.  READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Rate Design in the Face of Emerging Technologies

Ten years ago, if someone told a room full of electric utility personnel that energy sales and the economy were highly correlated and that sales would increase year after year, most people would nod their head in agreement. With steady and predictable energy sales, recovery of fixed costs based on these sales was generally not subject to significant
risk. Even though the economy has been strong over the past ten years, this correlation no longer holds true and residential consumption has been flat or decreasing every year. New technology has resulted in higher energy efficiency in the everyday products used by customers and some consumers have also turned to using alternatives such as rooftop solar panels and are generating their own energy, impacting sales even further. One major concern is with sales unable to recover costs like they once did, externalities
like fluctuations in the weather, causing either much higher consumption due to excessive AC or much lower consumption due to mild weather, have a much greater impact on utility margins. Finding unique and adaptive solutions is essential to this new era of electric sales because traditional methods don’t always recover fixed costs in a reliable fashion. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE