In the just-released 2018 Navigant Research report on microgrid controller vendor performance, SEL led a field of 15 prominent companies with a composite score of 84.3 on a 0–100 scale. The report states that “SEL’s key competitive advantage over other controllers is a faster response time than traditional programmable logic controllers, inertia-compensated load shedding, and digital relays that are adaptable to changing fault conditions. To address the needs of simpler microgrids with fewer [distributed energy resources], SEL relays are commonly used as microgrid controllers.”
The report scores the companies on two primary dimensions: strategy and execution. In the execution category, SEL attained perfect scores in the subcategories of product performance (islanding), pricing, and staying power. In the strategy category, SEL also had perfect scores in the subcategories of vision and controls philosophy.
In preparing this report, Navigant Research performed primary researchvia phone and in-person interviews with industry leaders including executives, engineers, and marketing professionals. Additional analysis included secondary research conducted by Navigant Research’s analysts and its staff of research assistants.
SEL manufactures all the components of a microgrid control system in-house: protective relays, automation controllers, communications equipment, cybersecurity solutions, and software. SEL Marketing Manager Murali Kosgi states, “Producing everything in-house, combined with our extensive power systems analysis expertise, allows us to deliver the highest-performing microgrid controllers in the industry.”
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