S&C Offers Hands-on Experience for the Next Generation of Utility Professionals at 2018 IEEE PES T&D Show

Company donating $25 of equipment to lineworker training facilities for every visitor to its booth

Post-Conference Note: Following the IEEE PES T&D Conference and Exhibition, S&C announced it would be donating more than $12,000 worth of lineworker equipment to Northwest Lineman College.

CHICAGO, April 12, 2018 – S&C Electric Company, a smart-grid leader shaping the future of power reliability, will showcase 15 pieces of field-ready equipment at the upcoming IEEE PES T&D Conference and Exhibition to further educate and train the next generation of utility professionals.

With innovative and reliable solutions coming onto the grid so quickly, utilities are experiencing growing concerns on how to train lineworkers effectively. S&C’s interactive booth will give utility professionals the opportunity to operate fully functioning equipment while simultaneously learning how S&C solutions directly benefit utilities and their customers. For every scanned visitor at booth #2542 during the conference, S&C will donate $25 worth of equipment to Northwest Lineman College.

“With so many constant changes to the grid, education and training are vitally essential for lineworkers’ safety and grid operational reliability,” says Gil Maiuro, Industry Relations Manager, Northwest Lineman College. “We’re grateful for S&C’s support in equipping our students with the most up-to-date technologies to help them prepare for the grid of the future.”

Amid the products utilities can interact with in S&C’s booth are new innovations enabling a safer, more reliable grid. These newly announced innovations include:

• New designs for S&C’s Vista® SD Underground Distribution Switchgear, a distribution switching and protection device. With many utilities moving from conventional air-insulated and SF6 gas switchgear to solid-dielectric versions, these new designs maintain consistent footprints with other switchgear already on the grid, reducing installation costs and enabling more reliable energy.

• A new version of S&C’s Alduti-Rupter® Switch that makes manual operation safer and easier for lineworkers—a priority for any utility. This redesign increases the number of operations the device can perform and strengthens its capability to function in severe weather.

• A new low-gas-pressure monitor for S&C’s Mark V Circuit-Switcher and Line-Rupter™ Switch that enables utilities to monitor the health of circuit-switchers and LineRupter Switches without spending time and money on crews to routinely check equipment in person for low-gas-pressure warnings.

• A variety of new features for S&C’s TripSaver® II Cutout-Mounted Recloser, which is helping utilities dramatically eliminate both sustained and momentary outages around the world. These include:

    o A Local Manual Open feature that allows lineworkers to activate the device to break load current without the use of additional loadbreaking equipment

    o A cordless power module, which allows viewing of the operational information on the device’s LCD indicator when the load current is too low to power the device fully

    o An updated Service Center Configuration Software and transceiver, which allows backward compatibility with earlier versions of device software, making it easier for utilities to upgrade their existing TripSaver II Cutout-Mounted Reclosers.

“Our goal to improve power reliability relies not only on innovating solutions for today and tomorrow, but also keeping in mind the lineworkers who help keep the lights on every day,” says Mike Edmonds, Chief Commercial Officer, S&C Electric Company. “While we’re excited to debut our latest technologies and equipment at IEEE, we recognize that collaboration with utilities and educational institutions, such as Northwest Lineman College, truly push reliability forward.”

IEEE PES T&D Conference & Exposition 2018 is being held at the Colorado Convention Center April 16-19 in Denver. S&C Electric Company will be located at booth #2542.