Success Story: Smart Technology Restores 2,800 Customers in Under Three Minutes

 

 

Restoration a strong example of reliability investment benefiting CMP customers.

 

Augusta, ME — February 28, 2025 – Central Maine Power (CMP), a subsidiary of Avangrid Inc., is highlighting how smart technology on its grid is benefiting thousands of the utility’s customers across its service area by reducing outages and improving response times.

 

On Wednesday, February 19 a third-party woodcutter, not working for CMP, cut down a tree that fell into the company’s transmission line right-of-way. The line serves 2,800 CMP customers in the Norway and Woodstock areas, and all customers lost power.

 

Because of automated technology, CMP staff in the company’s Energy Control Center (ECC) were able to identify that the outage had taken place and reroute power around the affected section of line. They were then able to remotely activate a “smart device” to restore power to these 2,800 customers in just two and a half minutes. The device also isolated the impacted line from the CMP grid while repairs were made.

 

“Success stories like this are happening more and more at CMP each day,” said Eric Sutton, Vice President of Electric Operations for CMP. “21st Century grid technology on our transmission system, the backbone of our grid, means customers and repair teams save time and resources with outages reduced to mere minutes.”
Prior to the installation of this technology in the Trap Corner area of West Paris, customers would have had to wait for CMP crews to access this remote location and perform the same work manually. That process would likely have taken one hour or more.

 

Having smart technology improve response times in this way is crucial as Maine faces stronger, more frequent storms. As Mainers saw in 2024, extreme storms can bring wind speeds greater than 60mph and very heavy snow. CMP’s goal is to make the grid stronger, increasing reliability so that Maine, as the most forested state in the country, can reduce outages and improve response times.

 

CMP is installing this smart technology across Maine. Communities like Bath, Brunswick Wiscasset, Yarmouth, Lisbon, Freeport, Buxton, Biddeford and Windham are all expected to have these devices come online in the first half of 2025.

 

In addition, CMP is focused on every-day reliability improvements across the regions we serve, including:

 

  • Replacing wooden transmission poles with ones made of steel
  • Using covered “tree wire” on projects to minimize contact from branches and limbs
  • Installing fiberglass crossarms to utility poles that are less susceptible to moisture
  • Utilizing enhanced tree trimming techniques to better protect the grid from tree damage
Node: liferay-1:8080