Understanding Energy Distribution and GIS Technology
In tonight’s episode of Bringing Energy to Life, we look at energy distribution and the importance of geographic information systems and how B.E.L. is able to employ the latest technology to improve its services across the country. Here’s News Five’s Isani Cayetano.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
The ultimate phase in the delivery of electricity is power distribution, as it is carried from the transmission system to individual consumers. A substation receives high-voltage power from the transmission system and, using transformers, reduces the electrical energy.
[How Does the Distribution System Work?]
Ashton Webster
Ashton Webster, Manager, Distribution Operations
“We would normally convert it to a lower, usable voltage that we can distribute safely within the communities. Those taller poles require bigger spaces, larger infrastructure. So when we convert it to that usable energy, we’re able to traverse it through different communities.”
Primary distribution lines then convey the medium voltage power to service transformers fixed atop electrical poles in residential and commercial locations.
[How Does Power Get Transported to Homes Via Cables?]
Ashton Webster
“That energy, though, is then converted using, I call it a thin can, those metal cans that you would see on the pole, that is converting the energy from the higher voltage or the higher power lines to usable voltage that you would see in the residence. So it would traverse through those black wires that you would see connected to your household and that’s basically how energy is distributed.”
[Understanding GIS Technology and Power Distribution]
There are as many as thirty-seven thousand, twenty-five streetlights across the country. It’s an ever-increasing figure as utility poles are being installed in various communities regularly. To keep track of them all, BEL uses a system that creates, manages, analyzes, and maps all types of data. Geographic information systems, GIS, help users to understand patterns, relationships, and geographic context.
Andrew Link
Andrew Link, Supervisor, Distribution Services
“What we are looking at is an operations dashboard. This basically shows you the aggregate of streetlights throughout the country. It shows forms that have been utilized by our technicians out in the field. So supervisors that are in charge of groups of technicians can see how many forms have been submitted through the week, through the month, and look at that through a pattern.”
Ashton Webster manages distribution operations at Belize Electricity Ltd.
Ashton Webster
“We are the department responsible for the maintenance and expansion of the distribution infrastructure. So the poles that you would see in communities. The taller ones and the smaller ones, the thirty-foot poles and the forty-foot poles that feed all the residents, those are the poles that we’re responsible for. We are responsible to ensure that we replace them, timely.”
A planned power interruption in South Stann Creek allows a team of power line technicians to carry out maintenance work between the communities of San Juan and Maya King. It’s a minor inconvenience, but one that has become necessary for the company to conduct repairs along this stretch.
David Martinez
David Martinez, Line Supervisor, South Zone
“Presently, we have a switch that isolates the source that guys were working [on]. The light man is awaiting my response so he could close the switch. That switch, if you notice, the blades are open, so what happens [is that] he has to close it to supply the source from San Juan to Maya King.”
As a line supervisor, David Martinez is responsible for relaying instructions to his team. Those directions are used to address whatever is necessary to be repaired on the poles.
[What is the Role of a Power Line Technician?]
Ashton Webster
“Our power line technicians, I call them a craftsman, They are very educated and highly skilled workers that carry out the replacement of these infrastructure safely. They are trained in a program that we have in-house and they are able to construct these lines. They are able to replace poles while lines are energized. They do basically all the maintenance work. So if you call, as a customer, and you’re looking for power, they would be the ones to construct the lines, build it and connect your household.”
The importance of GIS technology in being able to visually locate homes and businesses relative to utility poles is invaluable. It has allowed BEL to modernize its services, transition to physical maps on paper to a digital dashboard that illustrates in real time, the location of the company’s assets.
[How GIS has Modernized BEL’s Services]
Andrew Link
“Visually seeing where these locations are gives us more faster response, time, fixing assets, replacing them and so forth, keeping our assets up to date. We can also reference service order calls, meaning customers that have observed street lights that are not working, are blinking on and off, staying on through the days, have reported that. So using this map, we no longer have to look for directions, going up and down streets, but actually see the location of where that streetlight is and it makes it more efficient locating that streetlight.”
Isani Cayetano for News Five.
