Case Study: Chattanooga Electric Power Board achieves faster outage restoration with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) automation

Chattanooga Electric Power Board restores power across 600 square miles with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories

The Chattanooga Electric Power Board (EPB) serves a large territory and needed to engineer a more dependable subtransmission system to restore power more quickly after outages. Their challenge was to automate this system while incorporating their existing electromechanical relays, which required a creative solution. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) provided the technical expertise and products needed for this modernization.

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories implemented a system-wide automation solution that included installing SEL-700GT relays, SEL-2411 controllers, SEL-351S systems, and SEL-3530 RTACs configured as distribution automation controllers. A key innovation was designing a remote terminal unit to interface with the legacy relays, integrating them into the new system. This solution allowed EPB to automatically isolate faults and restore power faster than ever, bringing the majority of customers back online quickly after a major event while also providing system-wide visibility.

Chattanooga Electric Power Board (EPB)