ARRA SGDP NSTAR Electric and Gas Corporation (Urban Grid Monitoring and Renewables Integration)

NSTAR will enhance grid monitoring instrumentation on one of its secondary area network grids in downtown Boston, MA using state-of-the-art sensor equipment to monitor current and conductor temperature. This project will monitor grid-points in about 445 manholes with a layered instrumentation approach. The manholes designated “minor nodes” (about 315) will have sensors that detect high and low current and cable temperature threshold values on individual secondary-main cables within the grid-point. These nodes will have wireless transmitters to broadcast the alarms which will be collected wirelessly. The “major nodes” manholes (about 130) will be instrumented with technology to provide current sensing on a real time basis and be equipped with powerline carrier technology to allow near real-time monitoring at the operations center. Advanced metering infrastructure-capable meters will be deployed at customer locations on the grid where solar photovoltaics (PV) are located and will monitor consumption. In two substations, the remote terminal units will be upgraded to include programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to store network feeder information, continuously analyze data, and take actions when necessary. Information from the sensors, smart meters, and SCADA data will be sent to a repository for analysis.