Creating a stronger, more resilient electrical grid

Nova Scotia is experiencing more and more severe weather and storms these days. With more severe weather comes the need to strengthen our infrastructure and make the electrical grid more resilient so our customers have the safe, reliable power they depend on. We’re taking an approach that pairs increased investment in more durable, robust equipment with new innovative technologies that help reduce the frequency and duration of power outages. Our five-year reliability plan outlines our investments and strategy to improve reliability for our customers. Learn more >

We’re building the grid of the future—one that uses real-time monitoring and automation to more quickly detect and address issues on the power grid. Our teams behind-the-scenes in engineering and at our Control Centre can then use these smart grid technologies to pinpoint the causes of power outages with greater precision and minimize the number of customers affected. This improves restoration times by reducing the time spent locating an issue and allowing us to get crews to the site even faster.

Here are a few types of smart grid technologies we’re deploying across the province:  

IntelliRupters  

IntelliRupters are equipment that quickly detect issues on the power line and automatically reroute power to another line to ensure as few customers as possible are affected. For most customers, this could mean experiencing just a flickering of lights and then for those directly affected by an outage, crews are able to quickly and safely locate and fix the issue. Learn more about IntelliRupters >

Remote Terminal Units  

We’re investing in the deployment of Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) across the province. RTUs remotely monitor, automate, and control equipment on the electrical grid. This allows for improved awareness of and response to outages, as well as enhanced data collection. RTUs also support the integration of renewable energy sources by gathering real time generation data, allowing us to ensure a steady supply of energy to the grid.

Reclosers 

A recloser is an automatic, high-voltage electric switch. Like a circuit breaker in your house, it shuts off electric power when trouble occurs, like a short circuit. Where a household circuit breaker remains shut off until it is manually reset, a recloser automatically tests the electrical line to determine whether the issue has been resolved. If the problem was only temporary, the recloser automatically resets itself and restores the power. An example of a recloser in action would be a tree blowing in the wind that briefly contacts a powerline. A recloser would automatically shut off power and then reset and attempt to restore power right away.

Grid-scale Batteries 

As we add more renewables to our grid, we need to ensure that your electricity stays reliable. Grid-scale batteries enable us to store renewable energy—like wind and solar generation—and bring it to the grid when we need it most. Think of the coldest winter days when we collectively turn up the heat, or the days when the wind isn’t blowing, and the sun isn’t shining. In partnership with Wskijinu’k Mtmo’taqnuow Agency (WMA), an economic development agency that represents all 13 Mi’kmaq communities in Nova Scotia, we are building three 50 MW grid-scale battery storage facilities in Bridgewater, White Rock, and Waverley. The first of the three sites will be operational in 2025.

As weather patterns become more severe and communities continue to electrify, we know that our customers depend on safe and reliable power every day. An interconnected, communicative electrical system will reduce power outages for customers and enable faster restoration when there is an issue. That’s why we have a plan that invests in innovative technologies to strengthen our grid and improve reliability for our customers.