A branch touching a power line can create a dangerous fault without immediately putting the lights out. Nyquis, a San Francisco startup that monitors electricity networks, has raised $6.3 million to expand technology designed to catch those early warning signs. Its device connects at substations, where electricity is routed through the network, and analyzes small changes in electrical signals. The company says installation requires no shutdown or rewiring.
In an initial New Mexico deployment, the system identified more than 50 fault events linked to branches hitting lines during a windstorm. It flagged locations for investigation; after repairs, the corresponding signals disappeared at the repaired sites but continued at an unrepaired location. That is a useful distinction for a utility: detecting an unusual signal is only the beginning of finding and fixing its cause.
