DTE is installing 'smart' devices to detect power line damage, pinpoint outages

Detroit — A DTE Energy crew on Detroit's west side installed a device Monday that will use sensory technology to monitor and detect damage to power lines, part of the utility's efforts to reduce the length of power outages.

The devices are a part of DTE's plan to modernize its electric system. The "recloser" — which costs up to $100,000 — communicates with DTE's smart grid, aiding in rerouting power faster and alerting workers when there are circuit faults like power line disruptions.

Last fall, DTE released a $9 billion roadmap to improve reliability, reduce power outages by 30% and cut outage duration down by 50% by 2029 — two metrics that have bedeviled DTE and its customers. The utility last month requested approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission for a $456 million rate increase starting in January 2025, saying the extra revenue would help it reduce outages. Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a request to intervene in the case, calling the proposed rate hike "exploitation."

The energy company installed 210 reclosers last year and plans to install 280 this year and 10,000 by 2028. Shannen Hartwick, the company's director of distribution operations, said the utility will be "significantly ramping up installation over the next few years and starting with locations with the worst performance."

"We built a state-of-the-art control center and implemented some advance technology systems, which is kind of the foundation, so now we can go add all these smart devices on the grid, they can talk, they can communicate, and they can be remotely controlled and operated," she said.

They communicate via a control box near the recloser, which sends data to DTE's control center. The smart devices can sense if a tree falls on power lines and when it is safe to restore power or deenergize a damaged line.

"Without smart devices, when there's an outage our crews will patrol an area and look for the location of the damage. With these smart devices, we'll be able to pinpoint where that damage is and send crews directly to that location, speeding up the restoration process," Hartwick said. The devices, she added, should reduce outage duration by up to 50%.

The devices will help DTE workers by deenergizing damaged wires and customers by rerouting power and restoring it, according to the utility.

Monday morning, crews were in an alley between Oakman Boulevard and Pasadena Street in Detroit where crews lifted the 700-pound recloser and hung it onto a new power pole.

"When we pick where we're going to install these devices, we're looking at circuits that have the most outages and the most trouble on the system, and that's where starting to install these devices," she said.

Door hangers will be placed on customers' doors prior to smart device installation to notify them of the 3- to-5-day installation process.

mjohnson@detroitnews.com

@_myeshajohnson