Case Study: Manitoba Hydro achieves real-time substation visibility with Sentient Energy line sensors

Utilizing Line Sensors for Accurate and Efficient Substation Monitoring

Manitoba Hydro, a Canadian Crown Corporation serving over 560,000 customers, faced a challenge in modernizing its aging electrical infrastructure across a vast territory. With over 400 substations lacking real-time monitoring, the utility was blind to peak loads and potential overloads, relying on inefficient manual readings. They needed a faster way to gather accurate data to prioritize capital upgrades and turned to Sentient Energy for a solution using its line sensors.

Sentient Energy implemented its line sensors, which provided accurate, real-time load data and were far quicker to deploy than traditional RTUs. The solution delivered immediate results, revealing that previous manual methods were only 50% accurate. Manitoba Hydro gained a reliable basis for investment decisions and experienced numerous unexpected benefits, including the ability to detect outages, diagnose problems, and plan for future grid automation, all while ensuring no capital would be stranded as their modernization continues.

Manitoba Hydro

Graham Eason

Certified Engineering Technologist for Distribution Performance Engineering