Lindsey
A Modern-Day Innovation for Utility Operations

While explaining how utilities can benefit from a new approach to an age-old problem, Jack McCall compared the power carried by a transmission line to that of a car stuck in a traffic jam. In his analogy, the map application on your smartphone informs you that your car is not moving and caught in traffic. While informative, it is not particularly helpful. What you needed was knowledge that another route would be less congested at the time you needed it. Power congestion on transmission lines is similar. The amount of power a line can carry is limited by the line’s nameplate rating (i.e., its “static” rating). This fixed rating does not reflect that the amount of power a line can carry varies over time. While products exist which tell a utility how much power a line could carry in real-time, like the traffic jam analogy, that information does not help. Utilities need to know before they schedule their daily operations how much power a line can carry. Lindsey provides insightful transmission capacity forecast information to utilities, enabling them to leverage their existing transmission infrastructure. This leverage can help optimize day-to-day energy transactions, and enhance resilience in the face of operational glitches or natural disasters. “Enhancing utility operations is Lindsey’s core area of expertise,” states McCall, VP, sales at Lindsey.

The Azusa, CA-based firm assists utilities in improving transmission line operations and in obtaining accurate data on the distribution system. Its transmission capacity forecasting platform–SMARTLINE-TCF—learns the conductor behavior regarding changes in temperature, load, and the conductor’s exact clearance-to-ground.

It then generates transmission capacity forecasts in one-hour to one-week increments. SMARTLINE-TCF provides the needed tool to forecast line capacity, making it available for operational scheduling. “With this information, utilities can plan economic dispatch or maximize the energy transactions that can be performed in the course of a day. This provides substantial economic benefits,” adds McCall.

Enhancing utility operations is Lindsey’s core area of expertise

The company has turned the corners for numerous utilities across the globe. For instance, a 140 MW wind farm had been forced to curtail its production for almost half their operation time, incurring losses of millions of dollars every month. Lindsey showed that deployment of the SMARTLINE-TCF system—which takes weeks, not years—could eliminate the transmission congestion which had caused the curtailment situation, allowing for full wind farm operation.

Making utilities physically resilient is a vital part of Lindsey’s business mission. The company offers emergency restoration system (ERS) structures that can be erected in hours to restore energy supply after transmission towers have been damaged due to storms, flooding, or even willful attack. Recently, Lindsey’s ERS played a crucial role in the restoration work of a windfarm located in the southwest. Using Lindsey ERS structures, the utility was able to quickly bypass three collapsed 500kV towers, getting the transmission lines back in the air and re-energized in only three days.

With a mission to be the best in the industry, seven decades of Lindsey innovations are not limited to the transmission side of utility operations. Lindsey’s industry-standard distribution sensors have achieved an enviable 10,000 year meantime between failure rate, the result of expert engineering and extensive testing. The firm recently launched its GEN2 sensor line that achieves 0.5 percent voltage accuracy and offers numerous advantages to installation personnel. At the end of the day, Lindsey strives to empower its clients with better data and systems to easily improve operations, enhance efficiency, and increase resiliency.