Traditionally SaskPower’s substations were not connected to a centralized grid control center, but that was rapidly changing with SmartGrid. The goal of the project was to develop a scalable configuration template for hundreds of substations. If successful, the benefits to SaskPower would be immense:

• Faster SmartGrid deployment
• Reduced costs for both initial deployment and subsequent operations & maintenance (O&M)
• Increased reliability by using swappable components, reducing the need for specialized knowledge maintaining unique deployments

The team collaboratively designed, lab-tested, and refined the template. We modified both the protective devices and the template itself, and we also upgraded the recloser design to include a fiber optic connection directly from the manufacturer.

Joey was integral in his work on the distribution automation template for substations among other projects we worked on together. When Joey commissioned something I had no doubt it was working as designed.

Tyson Maier – Sr. P&C Engineer

As part of my role in this special project, I authored a training manual for field staff, guiding them through the D400 configuration and the first wave of firmware updates. After successfully commissioning the first D400 at Carrot River, I returned to my regular role and handed over all documentation to the operational team.