Ohio Company Begins Operation of Fully Digital Substation

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 15, 2023

One Energy Enterprises said it has begun operation of the first fully digital, plug-and-play, transmission-voltage substation in the United States.

The substation, at One Energy’s Findlay, Ohio, headquarters, is intended to power a Megawatt Hub and was built as proof of concept for the company’s new, fully digital station architecture.

The digital substation uses Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories’ TiDL system that connects it to the grid entirely by fiber optics, which simplifies the field wiring of the facility.

The substation’s 30-megavolt amp transformer was built by Hitachi Energy and includes a real-time dissolved gas analyzer and condition monitoring system that can detect an anomaly in the transformer and automatically send alerts via text to system operators.

The system performs a full dissolved gas analysis on the transformer every 10 minutes, compared with most substation transformers that only test oil once a year, One Energy said.

To enhance safety and resilience, One Energy said the substation is surrounded by permanent walls that are modular and made of solid concrete. To eliminate risks related to animal interference and blowing debris, the design has no exposed live parts on the medium voltage buswork, and the design also incorporates environmentally friendly oils and passive and automatic fire suppression systems, the company said.

One Power builds, owns, and operates behind-the-meter power systems and microgrids for industrial energy users. The company described its Megawatt Hubs as transmission-voltage-interconnected 30-megawatt to 150-MW sites that are ready for the energy-intensive industries of the future such as mobile data centers and commercial electric vehicle fleets.

In August, One Energy Enterprises said it intends to go public via a merger with TortoiseEcofin Acquisition Corp. III, a special purpose acquisition company. The public company will be called One Power.