copper – Copper Theft and Substation Safety – Cresatech

Copper Supply Shock Hits India

Mark Cowan — Tue, 29 May 2018 08:31:46 +0000

Copper Supply Shock Hits India

India faces a copper supply shock after a state government ordered billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd. to shut down a plant permanently following deadly protests in a move that will slash nationwide output and stoke demand for imports. The company’s shares fell.

The Tamil Nadu government directed the southern state’s pollution control board to seal the 400,000 metric-ton-per-year smelter in Tuticorin in the interests of the people, it said on Monday 28th May.

About 13 people died at the site last week after police opened fire as locals protested against alleged pollution.

The order to shut the smelter will reduce India’s production by about half, spurring imports as industrialization and increased consumption of cars and appliances fan demand. Copper is used to make pipes and wires, and the Australian government forecast last year that India will require vastly more of the metal to feed its economy by 2035. Prices on the London Metal Exchange have rallied 22 percent over the past year, and were last at $6,882 a ton after paring an early drop.

India’s annual copper consumption is expected to almost triple to 2 million tons in the next decade, according to a projection from Hindalco Industries Ltd. Vedanta produced about 48 percent of the country’s total copper output of 842,961 tons in 2017-18, according to government data.

Content by bloomberg.com

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Copper Theft Continues To Be A Problem Across Alberta

Mark Cowan — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 12:52:30 +0000

Copper Theft continues to be a problem across Alberta

by Mark Cowan

Copper theft continues to be a problem around the area and across Alberta. Infrastructure authorities are urging residents to call police if they spot something suspicious near electrical substations

“In fact part of it is related to just the increase of the price of copper, which has grown by over 200 per cent in the last 10 years,” said Scott Schreiner, vice president of communications with infrastructure provider AltaLink.

“Thieves are taking unnecessary risks when they break into substations to take copper wire as they are not only endangering themselves, but hydro workers and first responders”.

Copper theft across Alberta

Copper helps to insulate and ground a power substation, so when the wire is stripped by thieves it makes for a potential dangerous if not hazardous situation. When that copper is removed we are sometimes required to de-energize the substation.

That can mean a power outage for people or something significantly worse as far as injuries.

Substations are particularly attractive to thieves as most of them are in remote areas, far away from populated areas.”

Schreiner asked people who live near substations to keep an eye on roads leading to the facilities and to report what they think are unusual movements to police or Crimestoppers.

Most substations are equipped with security measures such as cameras and fences with razor but it often isn’t enough to deter thieves. Those who steal copper wire often take them to scrap metal dealers. Utility and telecom partners are working together to try and convince the province to bring in a law which would make it tougher for thieves to sell copper wire.“We’re seeking a provincial law requiring ID to be shown when selling scrap metal. Some municipalities have that law but it is not a province-wide requirement,” Schreiner said. “This could go a long way to deter thieves from stealing copper wire.”

Risk to life
The main worry for utility and infrastructure utility companies is not theft of the copper wire itself, but the danger it poses, not only to the thieves, but for first responders such as police, firefighters and utility workers. We want everybody to go home safe, We need to ensure that our system is safe and that the lights stay on.”

Two substations were recently preyed on in the last couple of months, both of them southwest of Edson. Both power stations had to be de-energized so that the necessary repairs could be made, Schreiner said the provincial economy has been at a low ebb and that people who steal copper wire are putting themselves at great risk of injury or death. He urges the public to report any suspicious activities near substations. “If you see something – say something.”

For a copper theft crime in progress, call 911. There are three ways to report a suspected copper theft crime to Crimestoppers. Call 1-800-222-8477 or go online to crimestoppers.ab.ca or text tttTIPS and send your tip to CRIMES (274637).

Tags: Alberta, Altalink, copper, copper theft, Substation Safety

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Rocky Mountain Power Copper Theft $5,000 Reward to Catch San Juan Thieves

Mark Cowan — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 01:13:22 +0000

Rocky Mountain Power Copper Theft $5,000 Reward to Catch San Juan Thieves

by Mark Cowan

SALT LAKE CITY — Rocky Mountain Power is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons who stole copper at a substation in La Sal, Utah.

The theft on December 28 caused 988 residents in the La Sal and Moab area to lose power for more than 4 hours.

“People who try to steal copper from high voltage equipment put themselves and others in danger,” said Joseph Krempasky, Rocky Mountain Power Substations Manager. “The damage is expensive to repair and it is extremely problematic for those who lose their power in the middle of the winter.”

Someone cut through a fence and removed approximately 100 feet of copper wiring at the substation. Crews had to shut down the substation to prevent more damage, repair equipment and to avoid the risk of being injured.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that rising copper prices are leading to more substation copper theft across the country. The consequences for stealing copper are steep. Here are a few examples:

November 21, 2016, a man received significant, life threatening injuries while trying to steal copper while climbing a power pole near a Pacific Power substation in Sweetwater, Oregon.

September 2, 2016, a suspected copper thief drowned in a river while trying to elude law enforcement authorities in Jasper County, Georgia.

November 25, 2015, a man was electrocuted while trying to steal copper wire from the tops of power poles in Jefferson County, Georgia.

April 12, 2015, a man was killed after being electrocuted while attempting to steal copper wiring from an unfinished subdivision.

Damaging the electric system can cause outages and puts crews at risk as they go about their work on the local power grid. The repairs also put additional cost pressures on Rocky Mountain Power as it works to minimize any future rate increases. Working with law enforcement officials, Rocky Mountain Power asks the public to report any information related to these crimes.

If residents see any suspicious activity around power lines or electric equipment, do not confront these individuals, but dial 9-1-1. If anyone has knowledge of the La Sal incident, please contact the San Juan Sheriff’s Office at 435-587-2237.

Source: rockymountainpower.net

Tags: copper, copper theft, La Sal, Rocky Mountain, substation, substation copper theft, usa copper theft

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Thieves Steal £90,000 Of Copper Wire From Railway In Staffordshire UK

Mark Cowan — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 12:06:04 +0000

Thieves Steal £90,000 Of Copper Wire From Railway In Staffordshire UK

by Mark Cowan

Thieves have stolen more than £90,000 worth of copper wire from the railway over the past six weeks in Staffordshire, Network Rail has today reported.

Cable Copper Theft: Around 3,650 metres of copper cable was removed by criminals, and police believe that the power, signalling and communications wire was stolen to order before being sold abroad as part of an international crime ring

The cost to taxpayers of replacing the copper wire stolen in the past three weeks is approaching £300,000,” said Karl Weller, Network Rail section manager based at Stafford. “When signalling cables are removed the signalling and telecommunication systems of the railway do not work and trains can’t run. The impact on customers will get worse if these thieves are not caught.”

Network Rail said it is working closely with the British Transport Police (BTP) to put a stop to the activity, and has urged passengers who see anything suspicious on the West Coast Main Line between Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford to immediately tell the police. “If you see anything suspicious – gates left open, non-railway staff on the tracks, suspicious vehicles, fences removed and the like – while travelling on the West Coast Main Line and branch lines in the area, particularly between Crewe, Stoke and Stafford, please call the British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016, alternatively call Network Rail on 03457 114141.”

Chief inspector Andrea Graham from the BTP said the police were doing everything in their power to track down the criminals who are causing the travelling public delays during the very busy summer holiday season. “Not only is this kind of crime disruptive it is extremely dangerous for those responsible,” she warned. “Thousands of volts of electricity run through those cables and interfering with them can be fatal. Officers are working round the clock to investigate all avenue of enquiry to identify those responsible.”

Source: railtechnologymagazine.com

Tags: copper, copper theft, Network Rail, Staffordshire, uk copper theft, West Coast Main line

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Cresatech CuTS® Copper Theft Detection Delivers First Look at the European Utility Week Innovation Hub

Mark Cowan — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:59:55 +0000

Amsterdam, NE Next week kicks off one the biggest events in energy and utilities-European Utility Week http://www.european-utility-week.com/visit.

Cresatech CuTS® www.cresatech.com has been rolling out with new to market copper theft detection technology in the U.K. and U.S. with favorable results. There is a strong outlook for CuTS® proprietary sensing device. Metal theft is a worldwide problem. CuTS® is an innovative system designed to protect and monitor service environments where safety and continuity are paramount.
The solution provides immediate notification of the disconnection, removal or disturbance of site grounding or other power infrastructure. As a result, it is a highly effective tool in the battle against copper theft – minimising the operational, service and safety impact of theft on critical service networks.
The CuTS® product family encompasses a number of applications and variants to enable monitoring of metallic infrastructure at risk from removal. The most popular product is CuTS® ZM, which is a completely scalable solution, capable of monitoring large sites such as electrical substations, where the grounding infrastructure is extensive both in area and complexity.

he implementation of CuTS® ground infrastructure monitoring technology divides the site into a number of individual monitoring zones. This allows the detection of the removal of grounding material from all areas of such sites and provides more accurate location details of the alarm event.
With mounting interest in CuTS® ZM, Cresatech Advisor and industry expert Brian Shewan and Product Manager Iain Warner will be available at European Utility Week to answer both industry and engineering questions from the marketplace. Find Cresatech in the Innovation Hub.
European Utility Week Attendees Contact

Iain Warner
iwarner@cresatech.com
Brian Shewan
bshewan@cresatech.com
Corporate Media Interview Sales
Catherine Fulton
Cresatech Business Development
cfulton@cresatech.com

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Western United Electric Contracts Cresatech CuTS® Copper Theft Detection

Mark Cowan — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 19:53:22 +0000

Publicly owned energy distributor Western United Electric now offers new to market technology that detects substation copper theft as is happens. CuTS® from Cresatech, Inc. is proprietary sensing technology that detects changes in substation grounding infrastructure as the theft occurs.

October 29, 2014
Denver, Colorado

Western United Electric Supply Corporation (WUE) is a member-owned not-for-profit electric utility wholesale supplier. Their members and customers are rural electric cooperatives, municipal electric utilities, investor owned electric utilities and electric utility contractors located in a seven state Rocky Mountain region.

Cresatech specializes in technology and service solutions that address high cost, high impact operational issues within power transmission & distribution, mobile telecoms, transport and other critical service markets. Our innovative products monitor exposed service sites and infrastructure in a variety of complex operational environments, providing real time monitoring for service interruption and disruption due to removal of copper grounding and other power delivery infrastructure.

Prime targets for copper theft are rural substations that often have little security or safety measures installed. WUE customers are rural energy providers and likely to benefit from CuTS® technology. The new partnership compliments the extensive WUE Line Card.

Sales Inquiries and Technology
Western United Electric
www.wue.coop
303-598-7104
customerservice@wue.coop

Media and Interviews
Catherine Fulton
720-441-9936
cfulton@cresatech.com

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Application of Cresatech CuTS® ZM for Substations

Mark Cowan — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 12:46:24 +0000

Application of the Cresatech CuTS® system to tackle the safety and service risks caused by removal/theft of grounding material on substation sites.

The worldwide metal theft epidemic has significant impact in many service environments. This impact on safety and service provision is particularly acute in the Electrical Transmission and Distribution industry. While theft of valuable metals causes inconvenience and financial loss in most environments, we are regularly reminded of the consequential damage, power losses, fires, death and injury to both public and power company employees associated with metal theft from electrical networks.

The attraction of substations for theft is well known; the presence of large quantities of high-value copper used to ground infrastructure, which is seen as an easy, low risk target. While this is often the case, the grounding network is not always so benign, as is too often demonstrated through severe injury or worse. To combat this activity, network operators have deployed many types of security solutions. Such solutions either aim to stop access to site (e.g. fences, locks), detect a perpetrator on site (e.g. movement sensors, cameras) or identify the perpetrator after the event (e.g. DNA dyes, cable etching).

These solutions are applied on substation sites commensurate with the size and criticality of the site, with large core transmission sites often having comprehensive camera and movement sensor systems. Due to their numbers, small distribution sites are often limited to fences and locks to prevent access. All these approaches are complementary and can be effective in their specific purpose, though the more costly technologies can have limited deployment due to cost. Substations are physically complex environments and often provide a challenging environment for the more active of these solutions.While the majority of these solutions serve a specific and useful purpose, they do not detect whether the most regularly recurring event has actually happened: removal of material from the grounding infrastructure. Since this event makes a substation inherently unsafe, detection is imperative. The CuTS® system was developed at the request of electrical network operators that, having researched available technologies, could not find a practical and cost effective solution. The design brief for CuTS® that resulted can be summarised as follows:

Real time detection and notification of removal of grounding materials
Practical deployment methodology that does not disrupt service delivery
Suitable for deployment on old and new sites alike
Suitable for deployment on small and large substations
Minimal false alarms
Does not compromise site grounding grid/safety
Cost effective asset: both capital cost and lifetime costs
Difficult to circumvent

Working from this design brief, the CuTS® system was funded by and developed in collaboration with the industry, both in the UK and the USA. The resulting system is now being deployed in both markets.

The theft

A typical substation theft usually starts with the easy to remove copper connections between the grounded grid under the substation and the equipment and supporting physical infrastructure above ground. Whether steel or reinforced concrete is used for physical support of bus bars, insulators and other site elements, the tapes or cables to the underground grid provide the grounding connection. Some thefts stop at the removal of much of these easy-to-harvest connections on a site. This renders large parts of the site ungrounded. While these are not expensive to replace, their removal renders the site unsafe.

However, many theft events are more comprehensive and the perpetrators move on to more difficult to reach or more challenging infrastructure, which takes time to steal and can cause significant damage. Thieves are often very knowledgeable and know the areas of danger to avoid. Less informed perpetrators will try to harvest cable right up to insulators that support HV bus-bars, often resulting in severe burns or fatalities. Another trend is that of removal of the grounding grid approximately 18 inches/450mm under the surface. After digging down to the grid, hooks are attached to the grounding, the other end of the cable to a vehicle, and as much of the material is hauled out of the ground as they can manage. While this has varying degrees of success in terms of material removed, it does cause significant damage.

At larger substations where there are more security resources deployed, removal of material presents more of a challenge due to movement sensors and thermal cameras, though the more effective of these systems can only be deployed at large sites due to cost. Again, some perpetrators seem remarkably well informed and manage to harvest areas of the site where detection is less likely. A large transmission site that had a significant number of up-to-date cameras and other security resources had more than 40% of its grounding connections removed over a period of time, prior to detection through chance sighting of the damage by security staff (will take two years to re-instate). While the appropriate layers of security for a site can make the theft more difficult to carry out, organised groups continue to carry out damaging raids.

The resulting safety and damage risk

The primary concern raised by copper grounding theft is safety implications. An unsafe site is a danger to the network operators’ personnel, the public and customers at the power delivery points. There are regular reports of substation grounding theft causing power related damage and sometimes fires at customer sites, not just at the substation.

The grounding infrastructure is designed to manage and dissipate faults, both minor and major, and high energy events such as lightning strikes to both lines and the substation itself. When all exposed metal work and equipment is grounded correctly and the grounding grid in place as designed for that specific substation, touch potentials are at safe levels and fault routes operate correctly and have the capacity to manage extreme events. Grounding design and analysis is a complex science and removal of even a part of the grounding infrastructure can have unexpected results.

Most operators have had multiple theft incidents of varying seriousness. Unfortunately a lot of substation engineers have been injured or worse over the years by walking onto sites that have had grounding removed. While awareness is high now and walk round inspections prior to entry common, the more organised perpetrators are careful to steal where visual detection is unlikely so that the maximum material can be harvested from a site over time. While visual inspection does detect the more obvious theft, monitoring of the grounded infrastructure itself is necessary to reduce the risk further. Whether the equipment whose grounding is compromised is a transformer, an automatic or manual switch or other typical site plant, the risks to personnel are clear.

The safety risk to the perpetrators is a less popular discussion, but a liability risk nonetheless, dependent on the country in which the crime is committed. In most countries it is accepted that the operator should do all it reasonably can to protect the criminals from themselves, though this can be difficult to achieve in reality. A fast response once the issue is detected is a significant step forward. While risk to personnel safety is well understood, there are many examples where theft at the substation has caused unstable or faulty power delivery. In rare circumstances this can be dangerous for customers, due to high voltages and/or currents and the possible fires that result (e.g. domestic appliances). While these occurrences are not common, they are a real risk which requires swift action upon detection of the grounding theft at the substation. When they do occur, these events can be quite widespread and the damage and resulting compensation quite costly.

While the safety of people is primary, the resulting potential for damage to operational equipment on and off site is also of concern. While damage usually does not occur upon removal of grounding from a transformer or switch, a voltage imbalance or other fault can stress equipment and cause a fault immediately or over a period of time. Equally a high energy event such as a lightning strike can cause significant widespread damage if the substation equipment is not grounded.

When assessing the costs of a theft event, often only the cost of the copper and its replacement costs are taken into account. The real and potential safety and damage risks and hence costs are variable, but occasionally far higher. Upon assessment of these safety risks and service related costs, the return on investment on roll out is generally between two to four years.

Utilising the CuTS® system to detect and alert upon substation grounding theft as it happens

The CuTS® system, models ZM and ZS were specifically developed in collaboration with the industry for the task of detecting and alerting to grounding theft activity on small and large substations. The primary purpose of the CuTS® system is to help mitigate the safety and operational risks that result from this activity. While it does provide a real time alarm upon such theft activity, its security function is secondary to its capability of notifying an operator when a sites’ safety has been compromised.

The CuTS® system detects removal of material by monitoring for slight but steady changes in inductance of the site grounding infrastructure. This technique is used for its environmental stability and for its minimal cabling required on the site for installation. Since substations have complex grounding infrastructures, the CuTS® methodology breaks a substation into detection zones. This is required so that the slight inductance changes that occur upon grounding removal do not get diluted beyond detectability through looking at too much infrastructure with one sensor.

Very small substations can be monitored with a CuTS®ZS single zone unit. This comprises a single zone card, identical to a ZM zone card. Usually one, maximum two sense wires are distributed to each zone, depending on the topology of the site, ensuring minimal installation work.In conclusion, the ubiquitous safety and service continuity issues generated by site grounding theft have driven power network operators requirements for a cost effective method of detecting such theft activity as it happens. Any approach considered has to be suitable for wide network deployment at both large and small substation sites, since existing protection systems do not alert to theft unless virtually all grounding from site is removed, which is rarely the case. The aim is to alert as theft events occur, so safety and service risks can be mitigated in the most suitable and effective manner. Occurrences of undetected theft at transmission sites through to pole transformers have been responsible for some of the worst safety scenarios for operators and public alike, and have been the cause some of the most damaging and public service interruption events. The scale and cost of undetected theft has led to the development of the CuTS® Solution.

Cresatech U.S.A. Office: 1 303 221 9033

cfulton@cresatech.com

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The hazards of undetected copper theft on a substation.

Mark Cowan — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 01:22:22 +0000

At Cresatech, our business is copper theft detection. This story from San Francisco last year illustrates the hazards of undetected copper theft on a substation.

It can be expensive to do, but the cost of doing nothing is worse than the cost of doing this.

Investigators noted “experienced thieves” (look for a discussion on the types of copper thieves in a later article) only stole $100 worth of copper.

It would be considered pretty-theft and relatively simple to repair. In this case, however, the actual copper theft wasn’t the major problem. What happened when the theft went undetected could have been tragic. After some U.C. Berkley buildings lost power and explosion erupted. Onlookers could see flames two stories high. Fortunately, only minor injuries were reported.

It is noted that energy companies are frustrated with the ongoing copper theft, and until recently there has been little strategy and no investment to solve the problem. When the founders of Cresatech CuTS® began beta testing, the goal was to develop technology that would meet many ideals. CuTS® suite has many talking points- minimal false positives, low cost, easily deployed- but the most important may be real time alerting.

As substation copper theft struggles in the marketplace are ongoing, demand for CuTS® products are growing to protect assets but more often now, as a security investment and capital improvement.

Case Study
San Francisco, CA
Obtober 2013

CBS News

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Cresatech FierceEnergy Award, Judges Panel Announced

Mark Cowan — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:31:13 +0000

Cresatech recognized for leadership innovation in Outage Management Services

Denver, CO – Cresatech announced today that it has been recognized by this year’s Fierce Innovation Awards: Energy Edition, a unique industry awards program powered by the publishers of FierceEnergy and FierceSmartGrid. Cresatech received top honors in the “Outage Management Services” category.

Cresatech recognized for leadership innovation in Outage Management Services
October 2, 2014

Judges evaluated submissions based on technology innovation, financial impact, market validation, ability to integrate into existing network environments, and end-user customer experience.

Cresatech is being recognized for its industry-leading and innovative product, CuTS®, which provides power network operators with realtime notification of the removal of substation grounding material.

“Cresatech’s suite of products and services greatly improve safety and efficiency in electrical distribution networks,” explained Paul Mumford, CEO of Cresatech. “We are working with power transmission and distribution companies in North America and Europe to address the safety and operational impacts of infrastructure theft and damage, both in substations and elsewhere within the delivery network. We have created solutions that are truly needed in distribution, are cost effective and provide valuable tools to allow energy companies, to deliver the most reliable and efficient energy available to their marketplace.”
Winners were selected by an exclusive panel of judges which included: Kevin Dasso, Director of Technology and Information Strategy, Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Lisa Davidson, Director of Customer Programs, San Diego Gas & Electric; Conrad Eustis, Director Retail Technology Strategy, Portland General Electric; Robert B. Frazier, Director of Electric Technology, CenterPoint Energy; Stuart Laval, Manager of Technology Development, Duke Energy; Bryan J. Olnick, Vice President of Distribution Operations in Power Delivery, Florida Power & Light; and Joseph E. Svachula, Vice President of Smart Grid and Technology, Commonwealth Edison.

Cresatech was thrilled with the award news. Paul continued, “This award is a testament to the innovation of our CuTS® technology. We are minimizing the vulnerabilities of energy distribution substations, and mitigating potentially disastrous risks for the operating company. It was an honor to receive the award amongst such a great group of peers. Energy technology is evolving and it’s exciting to be a part of this innovative industry.”

CRESATECH specializes in technology and service solutions that address high cost, high impact operational issues within power transmission & distribution, mobile telecoms, transport and other critical service markets. Our innovative products monitor exposed service sites and infrastructure in a variety of complex operational environments, providing real time monitoring for service interruption and disruption due to removal of copper grounding and other power delivery infrastructure. In combination with our Advantage services, our solutions provide meaningful network wide status and service delivery information, driving improved levels of customer service, reduced site safety risk and reduction of field engineering costs.

To learn more about Cresatech, visit www.cresatech.com
http://www.linkedin.com/company/cresatech-limited

About FierceMarkets
FierceMarkets, a wholly owned subsidiary of Questex Media Group, is a leader in B2B emedia, providing information and marketing services in the telecommunications, life sciences, healthcare, IT, energy, government, finance, and retail industries through its portfolio of email newsletters, websites, webinars and live events. Every business day, FierceMarkets’ wide array of publications reaches more than 1.3 million executives in more than 100 countries.

Current publications include: Energy: FierceEnergy; FierceSmartGrid; Smart Grid News Healthcare: FierceEMR; FierceHealthcare; FierceHealthFinance; FierceHealthIT; FierceHealthPayer; FierceHealthPayerAnti-Fraud; FierceMedicalImaging; FierceMobileHealthcare; FiercePracticeManagement; Hospital Impact Telecom: FierceWireless; FierceCable; FierceDeveloper; FierceOnlineVideo; FierceTelecom; FierceWirelessTech; FierceWireless:Europe / TelecomsEMEA, Telecom Asia; Life Sciences:FierceBiotech; FierceBiotechIT; FierceBiotech Research; FierceCRO; FierceDiagnostics, FierceDrugDelivery; FierceMedicalDevices; FiercePharma; FiercePharmaMarketing; FiercePharmaManufacturing; FierceVaccines; FierceAnimalHealth Enterprise IT: FierceBigData; FierceCIO; FierceCIO:TechWatch; FierceContentManagement; FierceMobileIT; FierceEnterpriseCommunications; Finance: FierceCFO; FierceFinanceIT; Government: FierceGovernment; FierceGovernmentIT; FierceHomelandSecurity; FierceMobileGovernment; Marketing & Retail: FierceCMO; FierceMobileRetail; FierceRetail; and FierceRetailIT.

About Cresatech
Established in London in 2011, Cresatech develops monitoring technologies and services for use in challenging operational environments such as electricity distribution, mobile telecoms and transportation. Our innovative products and services provide real time monitoring of such operational sites exposed to infrastructure removal and damage, and can be extended to deliver service delivery status intelligence within electrical distribution networks.

Cresatech now has two group companies covering Europe and North America, based in the UK and in Colorado respectively.
The executive team have a wealth of experience in the electricity and technology sectors and the group is supported by a non-exec and advisory board that brings experience from across the energy sector, including government advisory and regulatory as well as previous board roles in public energy companies.

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Doble Training Conference Gave Utility Pro’s First Look at CuTS Copper Theft Technology

Mark Cowan — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 18:29:06 +0000

Copper theft is still a mounting problem for utility companies. During Doble Conference Expo hours, we met with substations managers and technicians who shared some of their own experiences with copper theft.

From petty thieves cutting grounds for a $250 trade-in profit, to organized crime stripping an entire substation for a loss of $250,000 in copper alone. For the utility provider, such losses are devastating. With copper theft reports coming to us weekly from the U.S, Canada and U.K., the interest and demand for Cresatech CuTS technology continues to swell.

One important take-away from the conference was the response to our cost outlook. With some utility substation managers citing failed theft prevention costs already into +$100,000, our CuTS technology rollout cost of between $3,000-$20,000 was a real eye opener. CuTs technology is a low cost solution to copper theft.

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copper – Copper Theft and Substation Safety – Cresatech

Copper Supply Shock Hits India

Copper Supply Shock Hits India

India faces a copper supply shock after a state government ordered billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd. to shut down a plant permanently following deadly protests in a move that will slash nationwide output and stoke demand for imports. The company’s shares fell.

The Tamil Nadu government directed the southern state’s pollution control board to seal the 400,000 metric-ton-per-year smelter in Tuticorin in the interests of the people, it said on Monday 28th May.

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Copper Theft Continues To Be A Problem Across Alberta

Copper Theft continues to be a problem across Alberta

Copper theft continues to be a problem around the area and across Alberta. Infrastructure authorities are urging residents to call police if they spot something suspicious near electrical substations

“In fact part of it is related to just the increase of the price of copper, which has grown by over 200 per cent in the last 10 years,” said Scott Schreiner, vice president of communications with infrastructure provider AltaLink.

“Thieves are taking unnecessary risks when they break into substations to take copper wire as they are not only endangering themselves, but hydro workers and first responders”.

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Rocky Mountain Power Copper Theft $5,000 Reward to Catch San Juan Thieves

Rocky Mountain Power Copper Theft $5,000 Reward to Catch San Juan Thieves

SALT LAKE CITY — Rocky Mountain Power is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons who stole copper at a substation in La Sal, Utah.

The theft on December 28 caused 988 residents in the La Sal and Moab area to lose power for more than 4 hours.

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Thieves Steal £90,000 Of Copper Wire From Railway In Staffordshire UK

Thieves Steal £90,000 Of Copper Wire From Railway In Staffordshire UK

Thieves have stolen more than £90,000 worth of copper wire from the railway over the past six weeks in Staffordshire, Network Rail has today reported.

Cable Copper Theft: Around 3,650 metres of copper cable was removed by criminals, and police believe that the power, signalling and communications wire was stolen to order before being sold abroad as part of an international crime ring

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Cresatech CuTS® Copper Theft Detection Delivers First Look at the European Utility Week Innovation Hub

Amsterdam, NE Next week kicks off one the biggest events in energy and utilities-European Utility Week http://www.european-utility-week.com/visit.

Western United Electric Contracts Cresatech CuTS® Copper Theft Detection

Publicly owned energy distributor Western United Electric now offers new to market technology that detects substation copper theft as is happens. CuTS® from Cresatech, Inc. is proprietary sensing technology that detects changes in substation grounding infrastructure as the theft occurs.

Application of Cresatech CuTS® ZM for Substations

Application of the Cresatech CuTS® system to tackle the safety and service risks caused by removal/theft of grounding material on substation sites.

The hazards of undetected copper theft on a substation.

At Cresatech, our business is copper theft detection. This story from San Francisco last year illustrates the hazards of undetected copper theft on a substation.

Cresatech FierceEnergy Award, Judges Panel Announced

Cresatech recognized for leadership innovation in Outage Management Services

Doble Training Conference Gave Utility Pro’s First Look at CuTS Copper Theft Technology

Copper theft is still a mounting problem for utility companies. During Doble Conference Expo hours, we met with substations managers and technicians who shared some of their own experiences with copper theft.