Electric Power Research Institute recognizes two projects that will help energy companies improve reliability, five total projects from Exelon received awards

PHILADELPHIA (February 8, 2018) – The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) recently honored four PECO employees with the Technology Transfer Award, an annual award given to utility employees who have explored and implemented innovative technologies on behalf of their company and the industry. 

"We are working every day to advance smart energy initiatives for our customers and for our employees," said Craig Adams, PECO president and CEO. "These awards demonstrate our continued commitment to new and innovative technologies across all areas of our company."

George Sey, Jr., principal Distributed Energy Resources (DER) engineer, and Eric Stein, manager, New Technology Projects, collaborated with EPRI to test tools for future microgrids.  Glenn Pritchard, manager of Advanced Grid Operations and Alexandra Ryder, general Advanced Meter Infrastructure engineer were part of a team of employees from fellow Exelon utilities BGE and ComEd who researched how deploying low-cost sensors on electric distribution poles could assist utilities in responding to outages faster and more efficiently.

Sey and Stein worked on testing the Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM) Software from a utility perspective, rather than a customer perspective. The study provided an improved understanding of how the tool works for future microgrid projects and the value of a microgrid designed for resiliency. Moreover, the results provided an in-depth analysis of the microgrid customer load profile and a better grasp of gathering and closing gaps in smart meter data.

Pritchard, Ryder and the Exelon team used two types of sensors, including sensors developed by EPRI which use three-axis accelerometer technology to communicate over a cellular network to detect a downed utility pole. Using sensors on utility poles can speed up the recovery time and allow utilities to know exactly where the downed pole is to quickly deploy resources. Nearly 200 sensors in total were installed as part of this project.

The awards were presented during EPRI's Power Delivery and Utilization (PDU) awards dinner in Coronado, CA on February 6.

"The 2017 Technology Transfer Award winners have taken EPRI R&D to new levels to shape and improve an integrated energy network," said Arshad Mansoor, senior vice president of R&D at EPRI. "The commitment and collaboration demonstrated by these individuals and teams not only benefits their companies, but the entire industry as we all have a stake in transforming and integrating the power system."

Ten employees from Exelon's utilities and generation fleet received a total of five awards.

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PECO, founded in 1881, is Pennsylvania's largest electric and natural gas utility.  Headquartered in Philadelphia, PECO delivers energy to more than 1.6 million electric customers and more than 516,000 natural gas customers in southeastern, Pennsylvania.  The company's 2,500 employees are dedicated to the safe and reliable delivery of electricity and natural gas as well as enhanced energy management conservation, environmental stewardship and community assistance.  PECO was named 2017 Best Mid-size Employer in Philadelphia by Forbes Magazine. The company also has an estimated annual economic impact of $4.3 billion in Pennsylvania, supporting more than 8,700 local jobs and producing $732 million in labor income.  PECO is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation's only Fortune 100 utility and leading competitive energy provider. For more information visit PECO.com, and connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter.

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