Critical need for communications protection in a deregulated power market

As the power industry moves into the 21st Century, it must be prepared to deregulate and become a highly skilled competitor at expanding market share. The single most important key to success in this new age will be the ability to communicate error free and without interruption over all types of facilities, particularly wire-line networks. Failure to accomplish this single task will result in a significant loss of revenue and allow the competition a significant advantage. Error free and highly reliable wire-line communications, require isolation as a means of protection against a ground fault and resulting ground potential rise (GPR). Power companies must begin properly protecting their facilities now, in order to be prepared for the competition they will face under deregulation. This paper provides specific examples that demonstrate the added bottom-line costs for electric companies failing to protect wire-line communications facilities.