A More Resilient Grid

Every day, we rely on a strong, resilient electric grid to deliver energy instantaneously from the plants that generate it to our homes and businesses whenever we need it. A more resilient grid makes Michigan homes, businesses, and families more secure in countless ways.

Keeping Michigan’s grid as strong and resilient as possible requires continuous maintenance and improvement—not only so it transmits electricity safely and reliably, but so it can withstand Mother Nature and other external demands.

That’s why Michigan’s local energy providers are taking a number of steps—from incorporating innovative new technologies to taking preventative measures—to make our grid more resilient and smarter than ever before.

Smart Meters and Sensors

The rapid evolution and adoption of smart technology has revolutionized the way we use energy in our homes and businesses. Today, nearly everything in our homes and businesses has a “brain,” from our phones to our refrigerators, heating and cooling systems, office and industrial tools.

Smart meters provide a much-needed technological update to Michigan’s aging energy infrastructure. Through two-way communication between energy providers and a home or business:

Local energy companies can more easily and effectively monitor the grid for power disruptions in real time, so they can address problems quickly
Consumers can better track and manage their energy use, so they can reduce their overall consumption and keep their energy costs lower

Local energy providers are installing other smart technologies like smart sensors throughout the grid. Smart sensors help local providers monitor and assess the overall health of the entire system to identify potential problems or improve response times when issues arise.

Tree Trimming

From one kind of cutting edge to another: tree trimming can seem invasive but plays a critically important role in keeping our energy system working.

High winds, lightning strikes, ice storms, construction accidents, even squirrels can bring down tree limbs—and occasionally entire trees—onto nearby powerlines, leading to widespread outages. Much of the time consumers spend without power is due to fallen trees.

Local energy providers work with communities, businesses, and residents to proactively identify and trim trees that could pose a risk during high winds—an effort that is especially important during Michigan’s storm season. Keeping trees trimmed helps prevent power outages before they occur. Tree-trimming efforts have been known to improve energy reliability by more than 70 percent.

Maintaining our electric infrastructure with commonsense services like tree trimming—while continuing to incorporate smarter technologies as they come online—will help make our entire grid more resilient, secure, and efficient, now and for generations to come.

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