The industrial sector is changing rapidly: Autonomous robots are filling manufacturing floors, Internet of Things connectivity is increasingly pervasive and artificial intelligence is driving the rise of the smart factory. In 2018, industrial organizations have more motivation than ever to ensure facility functionality and uptime. Across a broad swath of industries, the cost of downtime can be significant—from $30,000 to more than $12 million an hour by some estimates.

This needed reliability hinges on healthy, modern electrical systems. Ensuring aging electrical equipment can keep up with modern demands can be an intimidating process, but it needn’t be.

There are new innovations that can provide a more reliable experience, increase energy efficiency and meet modern infrastructure needs—all while keeping costs and complexity in check.

Turn Knowledge into Power

Connected technology platforms, which gather real-time data on infrastructure performance and share it via the cloud, can act like a heart monitor for your electrical system. Similar to a human body, there are many potential and unforeseen issues that could affect an electrical system’s holistic health and performance. Similar to a heart monitor, a platform can provide a level of reassurance that things are running as intended.

Through smart sensors, cloud-enablement and artificial intelligence, connected platforms for electrical infrastructure can collect and analyze performance data across multiple systems, bringing peace of mind to management by providing early failure notification and actionable insights for intelligent operations.

With a full view of what’s going on with power systems “behind the wall,” managers and engineers can reap numerous benefits, including the following.

• Operational Performance: Connected technology platforms can significantly improve operational performance by reducing unscheduled downtime, increasing asset life and offering a more consistent experience with an optimized maintenance plan.
• Financial Efficiency: A connected technology platform offers insights into the parts of the system that are at risk of failing. By receiving a warning from the platform, managers can avoid downtime and make repairs ahead of time. In turn, this reduces failure risk, cost of ownership and maintenance.
• Safety: Employees will experience reduced personal risk. A connected technology platform will provide alerts to early equipment failure warnings, as well as provide expertise from the data gleaned.

Spend Less Time on Maintenance and More on Business

Traditional, older medium voltage switchgear has an average maintenance lifecycle of one to three years, and frequent maintenance of electrical systems means frequent downtime for critical equipment. New metal-enclosed medium voltage switchgear technologies feature sealed-for-life compartments, meaning the internal components will be unaffected by the environment. As a result, maintenance lifecycle can be dramatically reduced to between 10 and 30 years, lowering the total cost of ownership and increasing system reliability. Importantly, this significantly reduces exposure for electrical workers.

Increase Safety to Reduce Downtime

Another option to consider—one that is fairly new to the U.S. market—is shielded solid insulated switchgear technology. Shielded Solid Insulated Switchgear (2SIS) uses solid insulation made from silicon, resin or elastomer and is coated by a grounded conductive layer that wraps around the switchgear’s live parts to eliminate the risk of arcing.

Since each bus bar is separated by the insulation, 2SIS inherently prevents them from interacting. The Shielded Solid material in updated medium voltage switchgear solutions reduces the likelihood of the conductors faulting due to a poor environment, eliminating arc flash risk and limiting system outages.

Electrical Times are Changing

It’s no secret the electrical industry is transforming quickly, and adapting to modern infrastructure needs is becoming a necessity. There are many different options on the market today that can reduce costs, simplify maintenance and increase lifespan.

It’s time for industry professionals to adjust—aging systems were not built to handle this bandwidth. Without changes, repairs and failure will continue. Whether a contractor is considering a connected technology platform or an upgrade in electrical equipment to address maintenance and safety, the time has come to take steps toward the future of the electrical industry.