There is a lot of activity around adding renewable projects to isolated system and/or behind the meter. Renewable generation development has matured a lot in the last 10 years, and solar has come down in price to the point that the risk of installation is very low. The yellow line is PV solar and the […]
Everything Smart Grid
Electric Thermal Storage
There is a lot of talk about chemical based energy storage (batteries), but before batteries there was thermal storage. Thermal storage is similar to using bricks or water for thermal mass, it limits the thermal swings by slowly releasing the thermal energy into the space even after the heat source (sun, fire, etc) has gone […]
What is the Point of Common Coupling
I have been working with a couple regulated utilities over the last few years. Neither of these utilities have a lot of small independent power producers (IPPs). There may be a couple of edge cases, or medium sized wind farms, but as a rule they generate all the energy they need. The grid is getting […]
Battery Economics and Grid Stabilization
I read an article last week about how using electric cars for grid stabilization will shorten the life of the batteries. In fact the article uses the trigger word detrimental! But if you understand how the electrical utility industry works, and some basic understanding of battery chemistry, that’s a no brainer. The real question is […]
VTScada Certified Solution Provider
Effective immediately JMK Engineering is a VTScada Certified Solution Provider. We are proud to be a partner with Trihedral, creators of the VTScada SCADA System. Coming Soon Jeff has been tweaking a home energy monitoring system using VTScadaLight and a GreenEye monitor for the last couple of months. We are planning to set something up in […]
Generator Motoring: What It Is and How to Protect Against It.
Generator motoring is exactly what it sounds like: the generator acts like a motor. In a typical generator, a prime mover (such as a steam turbine) supplies mechanical power to the generator, which is converted to electrical power and delivered to the electrical system. What Causes Generator Motoring? Generator motoring is a condition that happens when the […]
Generator Protection: Grounding and Ground Fault Protection
An important part of generator protection is that generators need to be grounded. And because they need to be grounded, generators are susceptible to ground faults. This article is going to talk about general case ground faults on a generator and the appropriate use of generator protection, and then talk about the specific case of […]
How to Detect Generator Faults with Generator Protection
Your generator protection must have a way to detect generator faults. A fault is any unwanted current flow in an electrical system. Faults can cause all kinds of problems for your generators, including current loss, interruption of power delivery, and damage to the generator due to overheating. There are three things your generator protection needs […]
Generator Protection: 7 Things that Wreck Your Generator
Generator protection is an important part of having a reliable power delivery service. Electrical systems are complex, and the failure of a generator can mean loss of critical plant systems. If you don’t have generator protection and your generator fails, you lose tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars in repair and replacement […]
Is a Change Management Process Important?
First, what is change management or a change management process? A change management process is a set of steps, or workflows, that document a change from proposal – approval – implementation – testing, allowing for each step to be verified and tracked. Practically it is a process that includes the document control system, procurement, management […]