Israeli company Prisma Photonics is deploying grid monitoring technology across Minnesota for utility Great River Energy.

Prisma Photonics’ technology leverages existing fibre-optic infrastructure to enable real-time grid monitoring for extreme weather threats such as icing and wildfires.

Great River Energy is a not-for-profit power cooperative serving 1.7 million people across Minnesota and Wisconsin. It has announced a partnership with Prisma Photonics to deploy its PrismaPower monitoring technology across approximately 145km of transmission lines in northern Minnesota. The partnership will enable real-time monitoring and notification of threats to Great River Energy’s power lines and to its member-owners and customers. These threats include wildfires, icing, wind and physical damage, such as downed lines.

The multi-year project will implement PrismaCircuit and PrismaClimate across five critical transmission lines connected to four substations through fibre-optic lines, strengthening grid resilience for Minnesota’s winter season. The monitored lines are in central and northern Minnesota.

“As we work to maintain reliable service for our member-owners throughout Minnesota’s distinct seasons, we’re leveraging innovative new technologies that maximise our existing infrastructure investments,” said Priti Patel, vice president and chief transmission officer at Great River Energy (greatriverenergy.com). “This allows us to utilise our current fibre-optic network in a new way to increase resilience in areas of northern and central Minnesota.”

Unlike traditional monitoring that requires installing physical sensors on power lines, Prisma Photonics’ technology transforms existing optical fibre infrastructure into a sensing system. This approach enables seamless and rapid deployment without service interruption or the need for specialised installation crews. The technology covers every section of the monitored lines in all weather conditions.

“As the world grapples with increasing extreme weather events, innovative power utilities like Great River Energy are working to adapt by hardening and modernising grid assets to ensure safe, continued service for customers,” said Eran Inbar, CEO of Prisma Photonics. “Our partnership with Great River Energy demonstrates how utilities can extract additional value from their existing infrastructure to enhance grid resilience while avoiding traditional sensor-based options’ complexity and maintenance requirements.”

The technology delivers real-time alerts for various grid events, including electrical faults, physical disturbances and severe weather conditions, with precise location information down to the specific tower. This enables maintenance crews to respond more efficiently, reducing downtime and improving overall grid reliability.

Prisma Photonics is changing infrastructure monitoring by using optical fibres to monitor critical large-scale infrastructure such as power grids and oil and gas pipelines for thousands of kilometres, eliminating the need for sensors. Combining its hyper-scan fibre-sensing technology with machine learning allows utilities to reach environmental and renewable energy goals while keeping operational excellence in their journey to net-zero emissions.

Founded in 2017, with offices in the USA, Europe and Israel, Prisma Photonics (www.prismaphotonics.com) is led by a team with a track record in building and scaling companies within the lasers and deep-tech sectors.