Ohio Edison says Trumbull County improvements should help prevent outages
WARREN, Ohio - Ohio Edison says its crews are finishing work on a project to help prevent power outages for nearly 25,000 homes and businesses in Trumbull County and to restore service more quickly if there is an outage.
The modernization work includes installation of new, automated equipment and technology in substations and along power lines in parts of Warren, Niles, Girard, McDonald, Cortland, and nearby areas.
"The work we're doing across the greater Warren area will provide new technology and backup power lines for thousands of our customers and reduce many power interruptions to just a brief or momentary outage," said Ed Shuttleworth, president of FirstEnergy's Ohio operations. "These upgrades will be particularly beneficial during severe weather events that often cause equipment damage that is out of our control."
Utility workers are upgrading electrical equipment in five Trumbull County substations as well as modernizing the power lines that deliver electric service to customers from those facilities.
Sixty new automated reclosing devices are being installed in the substations and along power lines to help limit the frequency, duration and scope of service interruptions.
The reclosing devices work like a circuit breaker in a home, not only shutting off power when trouble occurs, but also automatically reenergizing a substation or power line within seconds for certain types of outages to keep power flowing.
FirstEnergy says the technology is safer and more efficient because it often allows utility workers to automatically restore service to customers rather than sending a crew to investigate.
If the device senses a more serious issue, like a fallen tree on electrical equipment, it will isolate the outage to that area and limit the total number of affected customers.
The device's smart technology will quickly pinpoint the location of the fault and help utility personnel better understand the cause of the outage to help speed restoration, according to the utility.
To determine the best locations for the automated devices, Ohio Edison and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio reviewed outage patterns across Trumbull County and identified areas that would benefit from new technology.
Additional power lines that tie together existing circuits are also being constructed to provide more flexibility in restoring service following outages caused by events such as storms and vehicle accidents.
The new power lines, which Ohio Edison says are designed to better withstand tree debris and severe weather, will help reduce the length and overall number of customers impacted during an outage by switching them to a backup line for faster service restoration.
In addition, more than 30 capacitor banks are being installed to help ensure all customers served by a single power line receive the same flow of safe, reliable power by evenly distributing electricity down the line.
FirstEnergy says the capacitor banks are expected to reduce energy usage for customers served near the beginning of a power line because they will benefit from lower power voltages being fed into their homes or businesses.
According to Ohio Edision, this year's work builds upon system upgrades that were completed last year in Trumbull County, allowing thousands of customers in rural areas of Kinsman, Farmdale, Fowler, Yankee Lake, Hartford, Burghill and West Farmington to experience average restoration times improve by nearly an hour in more complex outage scenarios, such as equipment damage from severe weather or a vehicle accident.
