The Project
PPL’s Smart Grid upgrades will incorporate new technology to strengthen reliability, save energy and improve electric service.
Our first step is a project that will improve service to more than 60,000 customers in the Harrisburg area. It will also provide benefits for customers elsewhere in our service territory.
The $38 million multiyear effort in Harrisburg supports the nation’s push for a better, smarter electric grid and is funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Our second Smart Grid project is expected to begin work early in 2013 and will benefit about 70,000 customers in Monroe County, Pa.
Project Scope: Harrisburg
We are installing hundreds of automated electrical devices across a 150-square-mile area of our delivery system in the Harrisburg suburbs in Dauphin and Cumberland counties. In addition, we are adding a high-speed communications network, a centralized computer system, known as a distribution management system, and sophisticated software.
The distribution management system, designed by GE Energy, will be able to “talk” to and manage the smart devices in the project area. As a result, it will detect and react instantaneously to changes ranging from a subtle voltage drop to a power outage.
PPL Electric Utilities is partnering with Drexel University and technology leaders GE Energy, Lockheed Martin Corporation and Alcatel-Lucent on the project.
PPL Electric Utilities is already a nationwide leader in the use of advanced metering technology. This project will mark yet another step in our ongoing efforts to invest in technology that improves electric service. We are also in the midst of billions of dollars of equipment and system upgrades that will also improve reliability and strengthen and modernize our system.
To learn more about how customers will benefit, click here.
Timeline
We officially kicked off the Harrisburg project in January 2010 and expect to complete the project by the end of June 2012. Field work is expected to begin early in 2013 on our second smart grid project.
Project Area
The PPL Smart Grid Harrisburg project will involve improvements across a 150-square-mile area of our service territory in the Dauphin and Cumberland counties. The map below illustrates the project area.
