The Electric Power Research Institute recently honored Steve Atkinson, principal business project manager at Pepco Holdings, with the Technology Transfer Award. EPRI gives the award annually to utility employees who have explored and implemented innovative technologies on behalf of their company and the industry.
Delmarva Power is a Pepco utility
Atkinson was part of a team of employees from fellow Exelon utilities BGE, ComEd and PECO who researched how deploying low-cost sensors on electric distribution poles could assist utilities in responding to outages faster and more efficiently.
“We are committed to studying and implementing innovative technologies that help maintain safe and reliable service for our customers,” said Miguel Ortega, Pepco Holdings’ vice president of technical services. “I applaud Steve and the Exelon team for this well-deserved award and their ongoing efforts to help us improve reliability for our customers.
Atkinson and the Exelon team discovered that two types of sensors, including one developed by EPRI, can communicate over a cellular network to detect a downed utility pole. The research also discovered that the sensors could detect when damaged poles were leaning and when power lines were sagging during times of heavy load.
Installing the sensors will allow energy companies to not only identify exactly where a downed pole is located and respond quickly, but also identify damaged poles and fix them before an outage occurs. Twenty sensors were installed as part of this project, including in Atlantic City Electric’s service area in southern New Jersey, where local Engineering Supervisor Ryan Sherwood and his team coordinated deployment of the sensors.
The awards were presented during EPRI’s Power Delivery and Utilization awards dinner in Coronado, Calif. on February 6.
Ten employees from Exelon’s utilities and generation fleet received a total of five awards.
