Normally, when the lights go out, so do the lineman. However, thanks to upgrades planned for the 27 cooperative-owned substations, that may not always be the case.
Last fall, the co-op completed installing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) controls at the new Stratford substation in Hamilton County and the Scranton substation in Greene County. The equipment enables the co-op to remotely monitor critical substation systems and open and close breakers from a remote computer terminal in the office or a laptop in the field.
As a result, some outages that used to require a crew to physically respond to a substation can instead be restored with just a few keystrokes.
"SCADA is a real game-changer," said Midland Power Utility Engineering Manager Johanna James. "Not only will installing SCADA reduce outage times today, but it’ll also help avoid future outages due to equipment failure."
Once installed, SCADA allows James and other operations staffers to monitor the health of various substation equipment, including transformers and breakers. If equipment begins to fail, it can be maintained or replaced before it causes an outage.
With the purchase lead time for transformers stretching months – and in some cases years – this preventative step could help avoid prolonged outages. The improvements can also help reduce operating costs since some outages can be cleared without having to roll a truck and crew.
The Midland Power board of directors approved the five-year, $2.1 million plan in November 2023.
Most of the SCADA installations are being scheduled to correspond with previously planned substation upgrades. Midland is currently in the middle of upgrading many of the co-op-owned substations from 34.5 kV to 69 kV to take advantage of Central Iowa Power Cooperative’s transmission upgrades. These improvements will allow for greater redundancy in the system and facilitate future load growth.
This year, Midland plans to install SCADA at the Farlin substation in Greene County and the Ridgeport substation in Boone County.
"While we’re excited about the reliability improvements these upgrades will make, this really is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how we can utilize new technology," James said.
"I think in the future, you’ll likely see more of these types of controls installed not just in substations but throughout the system. And hopefully, that’ll mean fewer and shorter outages for our members."