24 Con Edison Employees Win Awards For Energy Industry Breakthroughs

NEW YORK, March 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Twenty-four Con Edison employees have received industry awards for findings that will improve electrical service, enhance worker and public safety and help energy companies fend off cyberattacks.

The employees each earned a Technology Transfer Award from the Electric Power Research Institute, an organization that supports the safe, reliable and efficient delivery of electricity to customers.

“Seeing so many of our people recognized with this coveted award for such a wide range of projects is gratifying,” said Tim Cawley, the president of Con Edison. “It’s a tribute to the devotion our women and men have to providing safe, reliable service to our customers. They apply their talents and intellect every day to serve the residents and businesses in New York City and Westchester County that depend on us.”

The Con Edison winners completed six projects. 

• A team found radio frequency emission levels from electric smart meters were well within the safety standards set by the Federal Communications Commission and a European regulatory agency. This project filled a need for information on smart meters in a dense urban environment. Con Edison is providing smart meters to its 3.5 million electric and 1.1 million gas customers. The meters let customers get more information about their usage and notify the company when a customer is out of service.
  
  
• Three engineers found that cell sites on electric transmission towers can lead to corrosion on underground wiring. Corrosion can increase the resistance to ground if lightning strikes the tower and result in a larger surge toward the substation. That can cause equipment failure and customer outages. Con Edison is working on a solution to mitigate the impact of the corrosion.
   
• A pair of Con Edison safety experts helped the company establish ergonomic strategies that reduced injuries among workers.
   
• In a pilot project, an engineer applied new technology to substation transformers that helped the transformers stay dry. That extends the life of a transformer and reduces the chances of a failure during time of high demand for power. A failure can lead to customer outages.
   
• A Con Edison cyber expert applied security protections that were designed for specific Con Edison equipment and systems. This will improve security in the design of Con Edison’s critical infrastructure. In the past, utility security methods were not specific to industrial control systems and operational technology.