ENWIN Self-Healing Grid Automated Feeder Ring Project.

Mitigating the inconveniences of power outages to Windsor’s customers.

Story and photos by ENWIN

Extreme weather conditions can often lead to power outages. Whether they are caused by an ice storm, windstorm, or thunderstorm, it’s no secret that power outages are a major inconvenience for many of ENWIN Utilities Ltd.’s (ENWIN) customers. This ongoing issue has sparked ENWIN towards the investment and development of a Self-Healing Grid Automated Feeder Ring Project, a solution that will help mitigate the negative impacts of power outages on the community.

A feeder ring is a special configuration of the electrical distribution system where the high-voltage feeders start and finish at the same point, thereby forming a ring, instead of a conventional linear configuration. This ring configuration enables an automated isolation of a faulted section of the ring while allowing the other parts of the ring to remain in power.

The ENWIN Self-Healing Grid Project is focused on implementing two automated feeder ring systems within the City of Windsor. When a fault occurs, smaller feeder sections will be automatically isolated by protective devices on the grid and only customers within the faulted section will be impacted. In other words, outages that normally affected thousands may only affect hundreds.

In November of 2022, it was announced that ENWIN would receive funding for this project in the amount of $800,000 from the Federal Government through Natural Resource Canada’s Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program.

According to the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, “By investing in the modernization of our grid infrastructure, the Government of Canada is supporting Canadians in reducing emissions, accessing reliable clean energy and strengthening the energy security of our electricity system. This project will strengthen the resiliency of Windsor’s grid while creating sustainable jobs.”

Including contributions from ENWIN Utilities, the total investment in this project is estimated at $1.6 million. The self-healing grid will provide service with no incremental cost to customers served by the self-healing grid and allow them to further benefit by avoiding other costs associated with long power outages such as indoor lower-level flooding, loss of perishable foods, loss of potential business, and general inconvenience. Additionally, not only will the system allow for the continuation of power for people served in unfaulted sections, but it also allows any solar generation connected to those sections to continue to produce renewable power.

The self-healing grid will also improve the reliability of the two automated feeder ring systems as the number of outage hours will lower for areas where the ring sections are unaffected by the cause of the outage.

The successful completion of this project will benefit nearly 5,000 residential and commercial customers within Windsor-Essex. This innovative system can also be leveraged in other regions to create similar self-healing grids.

“Investing in grid modernization technologies is a key part of securing a prosperous net-zero future for Canadians,” says Irek Kusmierczyk, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion and Member of Parliament for Windsor-Tecumseh. “The Self-Healing Grid project will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, improve renewable -energy capacity, and keep electricity reliable and affordable for Windsorites. This is another investment in Windsor–Tecumseh that creates sustainable jobs, tackles climate change, and makes life more affordable.”

With plans to be implemented by 2025, the Self-Healing Grid Automated Feeder Ring Project will provide immediate benefits to customers and is also part of ENWIN’s larger plan to create a “smart” grid. As part of ENWIN’s vision, this grid upgrade will include additional features such as remote sensing of grid conditions and rapid system reconfiguration. This new technology will also reduce customer outage times for customers served by unfaulted sections, from a few minutes to a few seconds, allowing for an overall decrease in the inconveniences that power outages cause.

According to ENWIN President and CEO Garry Rossi, “ENWIN’s goal is to provide the community with safe, reliable electricity, especially in times of need. With this project, we are confident that this is one of the first steps in the development of solutions to further strengthen our system and prepare it for the future, including further electrification, all for the benefit of the City of Windsor and its residents.” W.E.