Distribution automation helps revitalize community

Over the past ten years, the City of Danville has seen the region's core industries, such as tobacco and textiles, close down or move overseas. Understanding the need to develop new jobs in the region, the City of Danville and many other communities sought to draw high-tech and manufacturing companies to the area with a large available work force and pro-business politics. Recognizing the importance of power system reliability to industry, the City of Danville created a new technology district, called Cyber Park, which boasts a cutting-edge electrical distribution system. This paper examines the implementation of this distribution system and the advantages it provides to customers. The distribution system eliminates customer outages using high-speed switchgear and advanced relaying in a completely automated system. Power is supplied to Cyber Park in a closed-loop configuration from a local substation. Substation-relayed circuit breakers and underground switchgear utilize communications-assisted, high-speed tripping to detect and isolate faults, allowing the power to reroute around the loop and provide a highly reliable power supply to customers. This paper presents high-speed communications techniques over fiber-optic networks, which allow total clearing times of six cycles or less. Conclusions include the economic benefits of distribution automation projects for utilities and end users.