New Braunfels Utilities Partners With Sentient Energy to Improve Disturbance Management and Fault Detection Operations

May 17, 2018

New Braunfels Utilities Improves SAIFI with Sentient Energy┬« Intelligent
Sensors and Grid Analytics SystemTM

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–New Braunfels Utilities (NBU) ÔÇô a Texas based industry leading utility
recently partnered with Sentient Energy to improve their energy
operations and fault detection practices. New Braunfels Utilities
installed and are reaping the benefits of the Sentient Energy Grid
Analytics SystemTM and new disturbance sensors.

Sentient EnergyÔÇÖs Grid Analytics SystemTM consists of
intelligent sensors, distributed apps, and the Ample Analytics suite. The
Sentient Grid Analytics System combines intelligent sensors which are
easily deployable on any power line with powerful management and
analytics applications enabling utilities to detect faults, preempt
problems, and deliver dependable power.

Recently while performing routine system checks using the Sentient
Energy Grid Analytics System and Sentient Ample Software┬« for line
monitoring, an NBU Control Center Operator noticed a considerable amount
of line disturbance at a substation off the highway. Sentient EnergyÔÇÖs
Ample Software showed several disturbance spikes which correctly pointed
to what ended up being a vegetation encroachment problem on 2 phases.
New Braunfels Utilities was able to address the issue before an outage,
and improved SAIFI, and therefore SAIDI by an estimated 2.66 minutes.

By catching this disturbance early, the team was able to prevent what
could have been a sustained outage for over 880 customers. These efforts
directly support the Tier 1 SAIFI goal by preventing sustained outages
from happening.

New Braunfels UtilitiesÔÇÖ Control Center Supervisor, Justin Stroupe, was
pleased with these results and stated, ÔÇ£The line sensors are proving to
be a great value to NBU; we have been able to prevent a possible feeder
outage. This was accomplished by looking at the disturbances in the
Sentient Ample Software and the Sentient MM3┬« Sensor was seeing hundreds
of disturbances on B phase.

We found some trees that were growing into the primary. The trees were
trimmed back and it is apparent from the number of disturbances, that
this was the problem.ÔÇØ

Ample Line Monitoring correctly pointed to a vegetation encroachment
problem, trees growing into the primary, on 2 phases. By catching this
disturbance early, the NBU team was able to:

Prevent what could have been a sustained outage for more than 880
customers.
Directly support the Tier 1 SAIFI goal by preventing sustained outages
from happening.
Address the issue before an outage.
Improve SAIFI, and therefore SAIDI by an estimated three (3) minutes.

ÔÇ£These efforts directly support the Tier 1 SAIFI goal by preventing
sustained outages from happening. We estimate that this proactive work
saved approximately 3 SAIDI minutes,ÔÇØ commented Ryan Kelso, NBU System
Control Manager. ÔÇ£We are looking forward to a full utility
implementation which will improve our operationsÔÇÖ reliability and phase
balancing and reduce lineman work hours and outage times for customer
satisfaction. Our goal is to become more proactive versus reactive to
enhance customer satisfaction.ÔÇØ

Both New Braunfels Utilities and Sentient Energy agree this partnership
and solution is a true success story and is a great testimonial for all
aspects of the Sentient Energy Solution and NBU teamwork. New Braunfels
Utilities and Sentient Energy have plans to expand the Sentient Energy
Solution to underground and additional overhead deployments.

About New Braunfels Utilities

Dedicated to excellence in service, NBU is one of 2,000 community-owned,
not-for-profit public power electric utilities in the nation. The
mission of NBU is to enhance the quality of our community by providing
innovative, essential services. Governed by a Board of Trustees
comprised of local residents appointed by the New Braunfels City
Council, NBU is committed to being a recognized and trusted community
partner, providing electric, water, and waste water services. The
profits of NBU are continually invested back into the systems of the
customers we are privileged to serve. NBU provides an annual payment to
the City of New Braunfels which is used to pay for services such as
fire, police, and parks. Follow NBU on Facebook at
newbraunfelsutilities, on Twitter at nbutility, and to learn more visit
nbutexas.com.

About Sentient Energy

Sentient Energy makes power delivery safe, reliable, and solar ready.
The company provides the industryÔÇÖs only Grid Analytics System that
covers the entire distribution network with quickly deployed intelligent
sensors and analytics that identify and analyze potential faults and
other grid events. Sentient Energy leads the market with the largest
mesh network line sensor deployments in North America, and partnerships
with leading utility network providers including Silver Spring Networks,
Landis + Gyr, and AT&T. For more information visit www.sentient-energy.com.

Contacts

Sentient Energy
Sarah Prinster, 415-726-8773
[email protected]
or
New
Braunfels Utilities
Justin Stroupe, 830-608-8923
[email protected]