Balls, orbs or neurons: The pioneering tech helping Great River Energy manage transmission lines

Steady gusts of wind swept across a field in Maple Grove last week as Warren Grange of Heimdall Power flew a drone to attach what looks like a high-tech cantaloupe onto a power line.

The small sphere, which the Norway-based company officially calls a "neuron," has drawn nicknames like "magic ball" or "orb." Whatever the name, electric cooperative Great River Energy plans to install 52 of these round devices as a way to ease one of the toughest problems facing the modern energy sector: Electric utilities are running out of space on transmission lines to transport a growing amount of wind power and other energy. While more power lines are in the works, those infrastructure upgrades are often expensive.

The Heimdall technology aims to let more power flow along existing wires, which Great River believes could delay major infrastructure work and save its customers money. The nonprofit provides electricity for roughly 1.7 million people through 27 mostly rural cooperatives, ranging from northeast Minnesota to the Iowa border.

Priti Patel, vice president of transmission for Great River, said the orbs "can unlock untapped capacity," and no utility in the country has made a bigger bet on the product.

Pilot project promotion

Great River tested the neurons first, trying out four of them last year in the Morris area. That pilot project found information the sensors provided could allow 42.8% more electricity to flow down a power line.

"If you can increase capacity, ability for these lines to transmit electricity, which is going to be increasingly and predominantly clean electricity, 40 percent is a big deal," said Allen Gleckner, executive lead of policy and programs for the St. Paul-based nonprofit Fresh Energy.

Jørgen Festervoll, CEO of Heimdall, said most utilities have to operate their grids conservatively, restricting them typically 20% to 40% below actual capacity limits.

The Heimdall neurons monitor the temperature of the line, whether it is sagging and other data such as weather conditions.

"Without software and sensors like this showing the actual temperature on the line, it's like driving without a speedometer," Festervoll said. "And when you're driving critical infrastructure, you do not want to speed, you want to be on the safe side."

That was fine in the past, he said. But power grids are facing the challenge of handling an influx of renewable energy — far from where consumers use the electricity — and rising demand for electricity due in part to electric vehicles and data centers.

Heimdall has 40 customers in 17 countries, including its biggest agreement for more than 200 neurons in a country in central Europe. But Great River has the largest U.S. project.

Boosting capacity

Great River's orbs will be on a handful of transmission lines spaced through about 150 miles, mainly in north-central Minnesota. Patel said a study revealing some of the most congested areas of the state that are limiting wind power and other energy sources helped determine the location.

Patel declined to say how much the 52 orbs would cost but said the technology will help avoid spending on other projects. Exactly what kind of savings Great River can expect is still up in the air, too. It won't end the need for any new transmission lines, but it could allow Great River to skip line upgrades or other work and use that money on meeting Minnesota's carbon-free standard or other projects, Patel said.

More wind power can save customers money, too, because it's cheaper to produce.

"We are confident that after early next year when we get the results in that it will help us potentially delay some projects, and a delay of even a few years is monumental to a cooperative," she said.

The Heimdall technology is only one way to boost power line capacity, a topic that has drawn growing interest in Minnesota.

A group of power line operators that includes Great River, Xcel Energy, Minnesota Power and Otter Tail Power is working on 19 congestion-relief projects worth $130 million.

Xcel has used "dynamic line ratings," which are in the same family of technology as the Heimdall orbs, to boost transmission capacity.

Democrats who control the Minnesota House last week voted to approve policies aimed at better understanding and evaluating congestion and the potential for "grid-enhancing technology" to ease that crunch.

Gleckner said Minnesota still needs transmission projects. Recently, the regional grid operator announced a gargantuan new plan to build more than a dozen new transmission lines across the Midwest with a price tag that could top $20 billion.

But Gleckner said the relatively new Heimdall orbs and technology like it could gain steam, and utilities could adopt them more widely if they can replicate promising results.

"If that is true, this is a no-brainer: We should be doing it," Gleckner said.