.jpg?width=300&name=Featured%20Image%20(50).jpg)
| Company |
Randolph Electric Membership Corporation (Randolph EMC)
|
| Location |
North Carolina, United States
|
| Timeline | 2023 |
| Project Overview |
Randolph EMC partnered with Safegrid to improve grid visibility and proactively address hidden faults. By deploying Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System®, the utility gained the ability to detect and resolve issues before they caused outages—significantly improving reliability metrics such as SAIDI and SAIFI. |
| Products | Safegrid Intelligent Grid System® |
.jpg?width=795&height=464&name=Featured%20Image%20(49).jpg)
This is a Safegrid Case Study.
Background
Randolph EMC is a cooperative utility serving over 31,000 consumer-members across multiple counties in North Carolina, operating approximately 4,400 miles (7,081 km) of distribution lines.
The utility had long been aware of problem areas within its network but lacked the tools to accurately locate and address these issues proactively. As a result, hidden faults remained in the system, creating risks of unexpected outages and negatively impacting performance metrics.
Challenge
Randolph EMC faced several key challenges:
-
Limited visibility into hidden and developing faults
-
Inability to locate issues proactively
-
High impact on SAIDI and Customer Interruption Minutes (CIM)
-
Risk of unexpected outages affecting customers
-
Dependence on reactive maintenance
These “ticking timebombs” within the network could lead to outages without warning.
Solution
Safegrid deployed its Intelligent Grid System®, enabling real-time monitoring and detection of abnormal grid behavior.
Key capabilities:
-
Identification of partial discharge (PD) hotspots
-
Precise location of fault-prone areas
-
Continuous monitoring for early warning signals
Example incident:
-
A grid section showed high partial discharge activity
-
Field inspection with a thermal camera revealed a leaking surge arrester
-
The faulty component was replaced before failure occurred
This proactive approach prevented an outage that would have affected approximately 500 members.
Benefits
The Safegrid solution delivered significant advantages:
-
Proactive identification of hidden faults
-
Reduced reliance on reactive troubleshooting
-
Improved grid visibility and operational awareness
-
Enhanced ability to prevent outages before they occur
-
Strengthened maintenance efficiency and planning
Results
With Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System®, Randolph EMC achieved:
-
Prevention of outages affecting hundreds of customers
-
90,000 Customer Interruption Minutes (CIM) saved across two cases
-
SAIDI reduced by 3 minutes in one month in a small grid area
-
Improved SAIFI performance
-
Faster fault detection and preventive maintenance actions
“Safegrid provides visibility for problems we have known to be out there, but haven’t been able to locate proactively. Now we can find and correct these ticking timebombs before they cause an outage.”
— Jacob Barlow, Project Manager, Randolph EMC
Conclusion
Randolph EMC’s experience highlights the value of transitioning from reactive to proactive grid management. By leveraging Safegrid’s Intelligent Grid System®, the utility gained unprecedented visibility into hidden faults and the ability to resolve them before they impacted customers.
This approach not only improved reliability metrics but also reduced operational costs and customer disruptions—demonstrating the powerful role of predictive monitoring in modern power distribution.