Distribution automation at the Athens (Tennessee, USA) Utilities Board

The Athens Automation and Control Experiment (AACE), a large-scale distribution automation research project, was conducted at Athens, Tennessee, USA. The experiment involved the automation of three substations and twelve feeders (nearly the entire system) of the Athens Utilities Board (AUB). The monitoring and control hardware consists of supervisory and data acquisition, feeder monitoring and control, and customer load control. In total 75 locations on the AUB distribution system have been automated and 2000 customer loads are being controlled. Two software programs, an automated capacitor control program and a distribution automation analysis program, that have been essential to the AACE are discussed. There have been several reliability, operations, and planning benefits associated with the automation of the AUB system which are described under equipment experiences. 6 refs.