Top Innovators
Kevin Bryant, Eric Easton, and Ryan Marietta represent the Resilient Digital Substation team at CenterPoint Energy.
PUF's Lori Burkhart: Eric, describe the innovation that led to the Edith Clarke Top Innovator Award for Reliability, how it works, and what its benefits are to CenterPoint Energy.
Eric Easton: The innovation is focused on our substation protection and control. Our goal was to make our practices more agile and resilient. To sum it up, we switched over to a digital platform for substation protection and control, compared to the hundreds or thousands of copper cables that we would have used in the past.
Our new solution enables us to complete construction more efficiently. For example, we can deploy this type of technology and construct a substation control house in a matter of months instead of years.
PUF: Ryan, what was your role in the innovation's development?
Ryan Marietta: I am the Manager of Distribution Planning Computer Support at CenterPoint Energy. In this capacity, I assessed how the technology could benefit us in terms of capital and cost efficiencies. I also worked with colleagues to develop a program through which CenterPoint will deploy the technology.
PUF: Kevin, talk about your role in the development of innovation.