Predicting Lightning and Weather Information: Then and Now
Lightning results when rising and descending air within a thunderstorm separate positive and negative charges. Water and ice particles affect the distribution of the charge, with lightning resulting from the buildup and discharge of electrical energy between the positively and negatively charged areas.
Science started seriously studying lightning in the 1960s with the advent of the space program. Properly understanding lightning was necessary in order to help protect passengers and crewmembers from electrical damage. Just as it is important to protect passengers and crewmembers in space from lightning, it’s equally important for electrical utilities to protect its employees and business assets from lightning activity.
In the past, when an electrical utility wanted to predict weather events such as lightning, utility managers had to keep an eye to the sky and look to recent history in order to generate a prediction. Today, with the help of new and improved satellite technology, NEXRAD radar and (GIS) Geographical Information System systems, electrical utility mangers around the world are receiving complete lightning and weather solutions. With these advances in technology, utility managers can now receive customized lightning information, up-to-the-minute weather forecasts and targeted weather alerts which draws their attention to developing weather conditions that have the potential to impact their service area. If lightning poses a threat to your transformers or power lines, a state-of-the-art weather system can help you pinpoint where a problem may occur and thus help you reduce the time it takes to get service back up and running. The proper weather forecasting system can even take a utility one step further, helping to budget and plan ahead by looking at energy consumption levels and predicted use.
Since an electric utility’s primary responsibility is to deliver energy while keeping service interruptions at a minimum for its customers, major weather events like lightening, heavy storm systems, tornadoes and ice all stand to increase a utility’s susceptibility to power outages. Deregulation provides extra incentive for a utility to do its best to keep energy use constant and customers satisfied. To be able to do this, electrical utilities need to quickly dispatch crews to repair power lines after lightning events and reduce power outage times before customers begin to seek out other providers.
Keeping Crews Safe and Service Constant
Proactive weather planning allows for the adequate staffing and positioning of repair crews and supplies in time for lightning strikes and severe weather. Having advance notice of potential lightning activity and large – scale weather events also helps utilities protect the safety of their crews from exposure to hazardous working conditions. That advance knowledge also saves the company money in areas like paying for medical costs, disability insurance and potential lawsuits should severe weather injure an employee.
Forecasting For a Positive Budget
Accurate and timely weather forecasts are crucial in assisting utilities plan for appropriate load allocation. Sudden changes in temperature and the rapid development of high-impact storms can disrupt even the best-made plans. To assist in estimating load allocation, seasonal weather information should be utilized on a consistent basis to help a utility keep costs under control. Purchasing electrical cable for power lines and utility poles and obtaining climate trend information all can be done to help a utility prepare ahead of time for the “where” and “when” of lightning and severe weather. This type of planning directly translates into cost savings. A utility that saves five or ten percent in their budget might find that it equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings.
Utilizing weather systems also allows an electric utility to plan for more immediate weather concerns. With proper weather information and enough advance notice, a utility can either mobilize an entire service area – or a portion of that area – that’s expected to be hit the hardest. Then, as severe weather develops, the utility can send poles, lines and crews out ahead of the storm. Advance weather information also can help a utility predict how much overtime it will need to pay employees. The end goal is always the same – restoring service to customers faster, while keeping employees safe and working efficiently.
Forecasting and Load Accuracy
Load forecasting is critical for utilities. Especially when you figure that 20 percent of all weather makes up 80 to 90 percent of a utility’s revenue. Properly forecasting for a utilities’ needs entails looking at the amount of energy a utility estimates that it will use, and then factoring in what it can produce in-house and what it needs to buy on the market from other utilities. Utilities should evaluate their needs upon weather information, looking at weather patterns on a seasonal basis, and weekly basis as well as daily and real-time.
Weather forecasting also has a direct impact on load accuracy for electric utilities because even a two-degree change in temperature can have a substantial impact on load. By paying close attention to customized weather, energy traders can help ensure there is an adequate energy supply to meet demand or decide ahead of time that they should be looking to the market to either purchase more energy or sell their excess.
Meteorlogix, the world’s largest commercial weather services provider, generates timely, accurate weather information that enables electric utilities to manage weather-related power outages, work more efficiently and stay profitable. To assist in making these types of important decisions, a weather system such as Meteorlogix’s MxInsight EnergyWatch™ is employed. The weather system is displayed on an easy-to-use PC format that delivers real-time, GIS-enabled weather data showing weather information such as lightning strikes, areas of high wind, ice and snow.
Where Lightning and Weather Detection Information is Headed
The MxInsight EnergyWatch weather system is a good example of the type of next generation weather tools that are now available for electrical utilities. While no existing weather systems can predict lightning before it happens, MxInsight EnergyWatch is a complete solution for outage management and GIS mapping. The system combines GIS weather data and decision support tools designed for managers of utility companies. MxInsight EnergyWatch allows utility managers to integrate up-to-date weather information into their own operational maps, thereby seeing in real-time a utility's stationary and mobile assets and the current weather that's occurring.
One example of an electrical utility that has embraced GIS technology is the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). TVA is one of the largest electric power providers in the country and serves Tennessee and parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia. TVA has successfully utilized GIS capabilities to map all of its power lines. As a result, utility managers at TVA can access information on a specific pole based upon location coordinates. GIS-based information then provides the utility with an actual photo of the pole and a history of its maintenance work, finds the current temperature and determines its height. Then, if severe weather is expected to have an impact, the weather system provides TVA with an automated warning when severe weather is within a mile.
The true benefit of working with a complete weather solutions provider is the ability to integrate the information into areas that expand beyond weather. A utility based in South Carolina uses GIS capabilities to automatically reserve hotel rooms for its utility crews during hurricane season. Area hotels are mapped into the GIS system based upon their latitude and longitude coordinates, and when the surrounding climate meets severe weather criteria, the system automatically reserves a predetermined number of hotel rooms located just outside the eye of the storm.
Complete and Customized Weather Solutions
By using real-time, customized weather information, electrical utilities have the opportunity to select their own parameters and receive targeted weather information. That being said, electric utility managers should focus on choosing a weather provider whose capabilities include lightning alerts, GIS interfacing, storm forecasting and the ability to produce both short-and long-range forecasts. Look for a weather provider that has a staff of trained meteorologists on hand who have access to advanced computer models, therefore ensuring that forecast information is as accurate as possible. The weather tools you employ to manage lighting events and forecast load allocation will directly translate into bottomline successes.
About the Author
Rich Wilson is the director of energy services at Meteorlogix, the world’s largest commercial weather services provider. Based in Minneapolis, the company provides weather solutions to help customers oversee weather-related business risks, maximize personal safety and minimize financial loss. Meteorlogix serves leading electrical utilities including: Tampa Electric, Excel Energy, Wisconsin Electric, Tennessee Valley Authority and NSTAR. Meteorlogix serves more than 22,000 customers with a focus on public safety, broadcast media, transportation, energy and aviation industries. Additional information about Meteorlogix can be found on the Web at www.meteorlogix.com.
Lightning results when rising and descending air within a thunderstorm separate positive and negative charges. Water and ice particles affect the distribution of the charge, with lightning resulting from the buildup and discharge of electrical energy between the positively and negatively charged areas.
Science started seriously studying lightning in the 1960s with the advent of the space program. Properly understanding lightning was necessary in order to help protect passengers and crewmembers from electrical damage. Just as it is important to protect passengers and crewmembers in space from lightning, it’s equally important for electrical utilities to protect its employees and business assets from lightning activity.
In the past, when an electrical utility wanted to predict weather events such as lightning, utility managers had to keep an eye to the sky and look to recent history in order to generate a prediction. Today, with the help of new and improved satellite technology, NEXRAD radar and (GIS) Geographical Information System systems, electrical utility mangers around the world are receiving complete lightning and weather solutions. With these advances in technology, utility managers can now receive customized lightning information, up-to-the-minute weather forecasts and targeted weather alerts which draws their attention to developing weather conditions that have the potential to impact their service area. If lightning poses a threat to your transformers or power lines, a state-of-the-art weather system can help you pinpoint where a problem may occur and thus help you reduce the time it takes to get service back up and running. The proper weather forecasting system can even take a utility one step further, helping to budget and plan ahead by looking at energy consumption levels and predicted use.
Since an electric utility’s primary responsibility is to deliver energy while keeping service interruptions at a minimum for its customers, major weather events like lightening, heavy storm systems, tornadoes and ice all stand to increase a utility’s susceptibility to power outages. Deregulation provides extra incentive for a utility to do its best to keep energy use constant and customers satisfied. To be able to do this, electrical utilities need to quickly dispatch crews to repair power lines after lightning events and reduce power outage times before customers begin to seek out other providers.
Keeping Crews Safe and Service Constant
Proactive weather planning allows for the adequate staffing and positioning of repair crews and supplies in time for lightning strikes and severe weather. Having advance notice of potential lightning activity and large – scale weather events also helps utilities protect the safety of their crews from exposure to hazardous working conditions. That advance knowledge also saves the company money in areas like paying for medical costs, disability insurance and potential lawsuits should severe weather injure an employee.
Forecasting For a Positive Budget
Accurate and timely weather forecasts are crucial in assisting utilities plan for appropriate load allocation. Sudden changes in temperature and the rapid development of high-impact storms can disrupt even the best-made plans. To assist in estimating load allocation, seasonal weather information should be utilized on a consistent basis to help a utility keep costs under control. Purchasing electrical cable for power lines and utility poles and obtaining climate trend information all can be done to help a utility prepare ahead of time for the “where” and “when” of lightning and severe weather. This type of planning directly translates into cost savings. A utility that saves five or ten percent in their budget might find that it equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings.
Utilizing weather systems also allows an electric utility to plan for more immediate weather concerns. With proper weather information and enough advance notice, a utility can either mobilize an entire service area – or a portion of that area – that’s expected to be hit the hardest. Then, as severe weather develops, the utility can send poles, lines and crews out ahead of the storm. Advance weather information also can help a utility predict how much overtime it will need to pay employees. The end goal is always the same – restoring service to customers faster, while keeping employees safe and working efficiently.
Forecasting and Load Accuracy
Load forecasting is critical for utilities. Especially when you figure that 20 percent of all weather makes up 80 to 90 percent of a utility’s revenue. Properly forecasting for a utilities’ needs entails looking at the amount of energy a utility estimates that it will use, and then factoring in what it can produce in-house and what it needs to buy on the market from other utilities. Utilities should evaluate their needs upon weather information, looking at weather patterns on a seasonal basis, and weekly basis as well as daily and real-time.
Weather forecasting also has a direct impact on load accuracy for electric utilities because even a two-degree change in temperature can have a substantial impact on load. By paying close attention to customized weather, energy traders can help ensure there is an adequate energy supply to meet demand or decide ahead of time that they should be looking to the market to either purchase more energy or sell their excess.
Meteorlogix, the world’s largest commercial weather services provider, generates timely, accurate weather information that enables electric utilities to manage weather-related power outages, work more efficiently and stay profitable. To assist in making these types of important decisions, a weather system such as Meteorlogix’s MxInsight EnergyWatch™ is employed. The weather system is displayed on an easy-to-use PC format that delivers real-time, GIS-enabled weather data showing weather information such as lightning strikes, areas of high wind, ice and snow.
Where Lightning and Weather Detection Information is Headed
The MxInsight EnergyWatch weather system is a good example of the type of next generation weather tools that are now available for electrical utilities. While no existing weather systems can predict lightning before it happens, MxInsight EnergyWatch is a complete solution for outage management and GIS mapping. The system combines GIS weather data and decision support tools designed for managers of utility companies. MxInsight EnergyWatch allows utility managers to integrate up-to-date weather information into their own operational maps, thereby seeing in real-time a utility's stationary and mobile assets and the current weather that's occurring.
One example of an electrical utility that has embraced GIS technology is the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). TVA is one of the largest electric power providers in the country and serves Tennessee and parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia. TVA has successfully utilized GIS capabilities to map all of its power lines. As a result, utility managers at TVA can access information on a specific pole based upon location coordinates. GIS-based information then provides the utility with an actual photo of the pole and a history of its maintenance work, finds the current temperature and determines its height. Then, if severe weather is expected to have an impact, the weather system provides TVA with an automated warning when severe weather is within a mile.
The true benefit of working with a complete weather solutions provider is the ability to integrate the information into areas that expand beyond weather. A utility based in South Carolina uses GIS capabilities to automatically reserve hotel rooms for its utility crews during hurricane season. Area hotels are mapped into the GIS system based upon their latitude and longitude coordinates, and when the surrounding climate meets severe weather criteria, the system automatically reserves a predetermined number of hotel rooms located just outside the eye of the storm.
Complete and Customized Weather Solutions
By using real-time, customized weather information, electrical utilities have the opportunity to select their own parameters and receive targeted weather information. That being said, electric utility managers should focus on choosing a weather provider whose capabilities include lightning alerts, GIS interfacing, storm forecasting and the ability to produce both short-and long-range forecasts. Look for a weather provider that has a staff of trained meteorologists on hand who have access to advanced computer models, therefore ensuring that forecast information is as accurate as possible. The weather tools you employ to manage lighting events and forecast load allocation will directly translate into bottomline successes.
About the Author
Rich Wilson is the director of energy services at Meteorlogix, the world’s largest commercial weather services provider. Based in Minneapolis, the company provides weather solutions to help customers oversee weather-related business risks, maximize personal safety and minimize financial loss. Meteorlogix serves leading electrical utilities including: Tampa Electric, Excel Energy, Wisconsin Electric, Tennessee Valley Authority and NSTAR. Meteorlogix serves more than 22,000 customers with a focus on public safety, broadcast media, transportation, energy and aviation industries. Additional information about Meteorlogix can be found on the Web at www.meteorlogix.com.
