If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a pixel worth to a substation? Electrical substations are everywhere — generation substations, transmission substations, distribution substations, privately owned substations and the list goes on. Not as obvious is the fact that a very large percentage of them were built 50 to 70 years ago, which brings up an interesting dilemma: At some point in time, it is a good bet that these substations will be expanded or refurbished.

Although they may have outlived their design life, these substations are still necessary. This is especially true considering all the new substations utilities need to add to their fleet. Several polling groups have estimated the cost of revitalizing older substations and adding new ones to be more than $1 trillion in the United States alone. That is a lot of engineering hours and construction time, in addition to money required for materials. How can resource-strapped utilities do it all? Read More