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SAIC has predictive analytics system ready for market

Engineering giant Scientific Applications International (SAIC) in McLean, Va, Friday told us it completed work on software that predicts failures in distribution and transmission systems days, weeks or months before they occur.  Called Distribution Monitoring System, it is ready for release after nearly a year of research, said project lead Paul Halpin in an exclusive interview. “Making predictions like this is a very, very hard problem and we've done some really smart things to solve it,” said Halpin, a mathematician and mechanical engineer.   

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first published week of:   11/09/2009

SAIC software predicts grid failures weeks, months in advance

Engineering firm Scientific Applications International (SAIC), a company that has been playing at the edges of the emerging Smart Grid space, is putting the finishing touches on software that could predict and pinpoint the causes of electricity outages up to months in advance. Dubbed the Distribution Monitoring System, the software will be released soon, reports Smart Grid Today. The system combines years’ worth of previously recorded data, with knowledge about how certain pieces of equipment work, their failure rates, and their likely reasons for failure. One of the key pieces of information is maximum voltage limits for transformers, substations and other milestones along the electricity supply chain. If voltage exceeds these limits, the equipment will fry and fail. By continuously running all of this data side by side, the company claims its software can determine which equipment is most likely to fail in the next several days. Then, by connecting failure rates to their causes, it can make suggestions for how to avert future outages. It has even licensed Google Earth to indicate exactly where the failure-prone equipment is located. This could help utilities send out maintenance crews before costly outages or disruptions occur. Preventing grid failure is one of the major goals of the cleaner, more efficient electrical grid slowly being built in the U.S. and abroad. SAIC’s Distribution Monitoring System, which sends alerts up the chain of command at utilities, could be the future of advanced outage prevention.

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first published week of:   11/16/2009

San Diego must clean up its sewage plant

The California Coastal Commission has denied San Diego’s request to keep running the region’s main sewage treatment plant below federal pollution standards. The commission voted on August 13 at its monthly meeting against the recommendations of its staff, state water-quality regulators and the Environmental Protection Agency. The decision could put the city of San Diego on the hook for a $1.5 billion upgrade to its Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant. The city would probably have to raise sewer rates to pay for fixing the plant that treats sewage from 2.2 million people from San Diego and surrounding cities. San Diego city officials plan to appeal to the Secretary of Commerce for a third waiver from the Clean Water Act.

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first published week of:   08/24/2009

Satellite solar is out of this world

Another type of space race is to be the first company to get solar satellites into orbit. U.S. companies are aggressively researching the technology, reports Yale 360. One firm called PowerSat in Washington State has filed for patents to link as many 300 shiny satellites together in space, beam the energy to one big satellite, then transmit the power back to Earth. The star trek also includes using solar-powered thrusters to launch satellites into orbit 22,000 miles above Earth. California utility PG&E also has signed a deal with Solaren for 200 megawatts of space-based solar power in 2016, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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first published week of:   06/29/2009

Science Club Investigates Alternative Energies

An ocean of clean energy pours from the sky. We could forget about nonrenewable climate altering sources like gas, oil and coal, if we could fill the tank or power our homes with a sunbeam. Current solar technologies aren’t quite up to that task.

Conventional solar panels are inefficient; electric batteries are expensive and can’t store enough to light a city through the night. If only the sun’s rays could be converted into an easily stored fuel.

But how do you bottle sunshine?

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first published week of:   10/12/2009

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Volume 31

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