T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F

YOUR POWER DELIVERY MEDIA SOURCE

10 DistribuTECH 2016 Wrap-up

18 The Utility’s Role in IoT

2016 OF THE YEAR

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OF THE YEAR PROJECTS

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26

14 Don’t Derail Your ADMS With Bad Data Advanced distribution management systems, which include outage management and distribution management, are keys to automating utility processes and integrating systems. By Ross Shaich, Utility Integration Solutions LLC

18 The Utility’s Role in IoT Simply moving data around will not address the challenges before us or capitalize on new opportunities.By Tom Wolf, Itron

28 Real-time Data Analytics How can a utility build a 21st century grid while meeting and exceeding customer expectations? By Bill Kenworthy, Direct Energy

30 DER Inclusiveness The ability of distributed energy resourcesto impact grid reliability, outages, revenue and even business health can be positive or negative depending on how utilitiesintegrate them. By Bradley Williams, Oracle Utilities

34 Products

35 Calendar/Ad Index

36 Parting Thoughts

From the Editor 3

Notes 4

DistribuTECH 2016 10 Three days in Orlando brought forth tons of cutting-edge industry content and dealmaking opportunities to more

than 11,000 attendees. Here’s some of the highlights. By Rod Walton, Senior Editor

2016 Projects of the YearThe name of the game in electricity T&D is to

deliver. These winning projects did just that.

By Rod Walton, Senior Editor

MARCH 2016 VOLUME 21.03

22

1603pg_2 2 3/3/16 3:54 PM

FROM THE EDITOR

March 2016 | 3 www.power-grid.com

EDITOR IN CHIEF TERESA HANSEN

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, NORTH AMERICAN POWER GENERATION GROUP

Richard Baker

EDITOR IN CHIEF Teresa Hansen

918.831.9504 teresah@pennwell.com

SENIOR EDITOR Rod Walton

918.831.9177 rwalton@pennwell.com

ONLINE/ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jeff Postelwait

918.831.9114 jeffp@pennwell.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR TransmissionHub Senior Analyst Corina Rivera-Linares

DESIGNER II Heather Skeith

918.831.9176 heathers@pennwell.com

VICE PRESIDENT-AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING

June Griffin

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POWERGRID International is the official publication of

Having just returned from DistribuTECH 2016 in Orlando, I had a hard time

narrowing down a topic for my letter this month. As you’ll see when you read

Senior Editor Rod Walton’s DistribuTECH Wrap-up article beginning on page

10, the event covered a lot of noteworthy topics and technologies. The sophis-

tication of the booths, as well as the technologies on display, in the exhibit hall

were incredible. As the chairwoman of the Conference Advisory Committee and

a member of the DistribuTECH management team, I was thrilled to see not only

so many companies in the exhibit hall, but so many companies that invested a

lot to showcase their technologies and solutions to those who attended the event.

The exhibit hall was not the only area of the event that was buzzing; the con-

ference sessions also were top-notch this year and attracted big audiences. As the

wrap-up article title indicates, much of the content and conversation at this year’s

event centered on disruptive technologies and what strategies can be developed to

turn these disruptions into opportunities and increased revenue. I heard several

speakers say that utilities must adapt to survive. It was not unusual for the sessions

to be standing room only. This was especially true in the room that housed a brand

new track titled “Energy Storage, Microgrids and Emerging DER.”

Three of the five sessions with the highest attendance came from that track—a

track that didn’t even exist at DistribuTECH 2015. Attendees were interested in

utility-owned microgrids, microgrids and distributed energy resource integra-

tion, and energy storage and the grid. Peaked interest in these areas should be

no surprise to those of you who keep up with grid innovations and the changes

occurring in generation resources and customers’ expectations. In one of its

latest Energy Storage Tracker reports, Navigant Research, which has conducted

several research projects on energy storage, revealed that nearly 700 MW of

energy storage were announced in 2014 and 2015. In a similar report, Microgrid

Deployment Tracker (ninth edition), Navigant revealed that at the end of 2015,

some 1,437 global microgrid projects existed. They represent 13,400 MW of

operating, under development and proposed microgrid capacity.

DistribuTECH attendees’ interest in energy storage and microgrids certainly

supports what Navigant’s reports reveal: these topics and related technologies

will play a big role in the future of electricity supply and delivery.

I’m anxious to see how these topics trend in the future. In addition, I’m

anxious to work with the DistribuTECH Conference Advisory Committee to

determine what new topics should be added for 2017. Smart cities, perhaps?

Microgrids and Energy Storage: Trending Topics at DistribuTECH

1603pg_3 3 3/3/16 3:59 PM

4 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

NOTES

More than 20,000 utility executives,

managers and engineers reveal that a

growing mosaic of grid modernization

work is driving smarter networks, more

engaged customers and better integration

of distributed energy resources across

North America, according to a survey by

BRIDGE Energy Group.

The annual utility survey provides insight

into the grid modernization activities

and priorities of North American util-

ities. Utilities still rate reliability as a

primary objective, although its relative

importance has declined for the second

consecutive year, with only 66 percent of

respondents rating reliability as priority

No. 1 or 2. Forty-one percent of utilities

are focused on improving operations

through work and asset management,

and 34 percent consider customer

empowerment a priority. Other industry

questions addressed include:

• How many utilities are planning to deploy

a distribution management system (DMS)?

• How many utilities rate

improved grid flexibility

and efficiency as a top

objective?

• Who has smart meters

deployed within their

service territories?

• Are SCADA and smart

meters really playing a

noticeable role in outage

notifications?

BRIDGE ENERGY SURVEY SHOWS GRID MODERNIZATION GAINING TRACTION

services for AEP. “These applications

are also the foundation of managing

the grid of the future—a grid that will

be smarter, more resilient and able to

adapt to needs of a rapidly changing

distribution system incorporating dis-

tributed generation and storage devices

throughout the grid. Our customers

will benefit from the improved efficien-

cy of operation, more effective outage

restoration and improved customer

communications”

GE and AEP share a history in the

area of transmission and distribution

solutions, specifically software solu-

tions. In 2008, AEP formed an alliance

with GE to support its gridSMART ini-

tiatives around electric grid efficiency

and grid reliability improvements. Since

then, GE has continued to deliver soft-

ware solutions to AEP.

GE and American Electric Power

(AEP) recently launched their Integrated

Distribution Operating Platform (IDOP),

a software integration of GE’s asset man-

agement and asset control systems. The

IDOP is a joint program between GE and

AEP that integrates key business areas of

operations, maintenance and construc-

tion in a significant step toward smart

grid interoperability. The IDOP program

connects GE’s primary utility software

solution offerings—geospatial informa-

tion system (GIS), outage management

system (OMS) and advanced distribution

management system (ADMS)—to bring

enhanced stability, security and efficien-

cies to AEP’s operations.

Historically, the functionality deliv-

ered by IDOP was provided by multiple

vendors and required utility operators

to manage multiple applications from

multiple workstations. The IDOP plat-

form eliminates this complexity for AEP

by deploying three integrated software

products the utility can control from

a single work station. The new pro-

gram also can provide real-time network

information to standardize data pre-

sentation and visualization, simplified

alarm management, streamlined work-

flow and knowledge sharing.

Deployment of the three applications

throughout AEP will be completed in May

2016. IDOP is the first deployment of GE’s

PowerOn Advantage ADMS in the U.S.

“The IDOP applications are criti-

cal to distribution operations as they

impact the key areas of asset manage-

ment, distribution SCADA manage-

ment and outage restoration,” said Tom

Kirkpatrick, vice president customer

services, marketing and distribution

GE AND AEP DEBUT INTEGRATED DISTRIBUTION OPERATING PLATFORM

PHOTO COURTESY BIG STOCK

1603pg_4 4 3/3/16 3:59 PM

March 2016 | 5 www.power-grid.com

NOTES

Body copy

BRIDGE Energy Group executives

appeared in two presentations during

the 2016 DistribuTECH Conference

and Exposition Feb. 9-11 at the Orange

County Convention Center in Orlando.

The full Utility Industry Survey on

Grid Modernization with Outage &

Restoration Management Survey Results

Summary report can be requested by con-

tacting Research@BridgeEnergyGroup.

com or downloaded by visiting http://bit.

ly/1UOWdA1.

The survey also confirmed that mod-

ernizing the grid is having a positive effect

on customer service. Sixty-three percent

surveyed indicated that SCADA systems

and smart meters are now their primary

source of outage alerts on blue-sky days—

up from 42 percent in 2014. In addition,

57 percent of those surveyed indicated that

SCADA systems and smart meters are now

their primary source of outage alerts during

storms—up from 46 percent in 2014.

“Survey results emphasize that

utilities remain focused on grid reli-

ability and improving operations in the

face of a changing energy landscape,”

said Forrest Small, BRIDGE Energy

Group’s vice president of grid opti-

mization strategy. “Over the last two

years, BRIDGE has worked with util-

ities on grid modernization activities

in California, Massachusetts and New

York, and we find that these states

are driving real change that is gaining

momentum across the United States.”

Tripwire Inc., a global provider of advanced

threat, security and compliance solutions,

announced the results of a study on

the cybersecurity challenges faced by

organizations in the energy sector. The

study was conducted for Tripwire by

Dimensional Research in November

2015, and respondents included more

than 150 IT professionals in the energy,

utilities and oil and gas industries.

According to Tripwire’s study, 82 per-

cent of the respondents said a cyber-

attack on the operational technology

(OT) in their organization could cause

physical damage. When asked if their

organization has the ability to accurately

track all the threats targeting their OT

networks, however, 65 percent said “no.”

Additional findings from the study include:

• More than three out of four respon-

dents (76 percent) believe their orga-

nizations are targets for cyberattacks

that could cause physical damage.

• Seventy-eight percent of respondents

said their organizations are potential

targets for nation-state cyberattacks.

• One-hundred percent of energy exec-

utive respondents believe a kinetic

cyberattack on operational technology

would cause physical damage.

“The incredibly high percentages of

these responses underscore the need for

these industries to take material steps to

improve cyber security,” said Tim Erlin,

director of IT security and risk strategy

for Tripwire. “These threats are not going

away. They are getting worse.”

According to the Department of

Homeland Security, the energy sector

faces more cyberattacks than any other

industry, and attacks on industrial control

system networks are on the rise. If suc-

cessful, these energy sector cyberattacks

could have a dramatic physical impact.

In December 2015, BlackEnergy malware

was used in an attack against a power

plant in the Ukraine and left more than

700,000 customers without electricity.

“We’ve already seen the reality of these

responses in the Ukraine mere months

after this survey was completed. There can

be no doubt that there is a physical safety

risk from cyberattacks targeting the energy

industry today,” Erlin said.” While the sit-

uation may seem dire, in many cases there

are well understood best practices that can

be deployed to materially reduce the risk

of successful cyberattacks.”

Another report, released in September

2015 by cybersecurity ratings BitSight,

indicates that the energy industry only

ranks fair to middling when it comes to

cybersecurity efforts. The energy-utility

sector was ranked fourth among sectors,

slightly above health care and behind

finance, government and retail. Education

was categorized, far and away, as the most

vulnerable to cyberattack by BitSight.

BitSight researchers noted a dip in the

energy-utility sector, finding it most vul-

nerable to malevolent bugs such as Poodle

and Freak. The report indicated a growing

concern about the cybersecurity posture

of these companies even as more control

systems are being brought online.

A USA Today report earlier in 2015

indicated that the U.S. Department of

Energy was under constant siege in recent

years, with 1,131 attempted cyberattacks

from 2010-2014. The hackers were suc-

cessful about 14 percent of the time, or

in 159 of the attempts, according to the

article.

TRIPWIRE STUDY: ONLY 35 PERCENT OF ENERGY IT PROS TRACK THREATS

PHOTO COURTESY BIG STOCK

1603pg_5 5 3/3/16 3:59 PM

6 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

NOTES

Overall, the Obama administration

proposed a DOE budget of $32.5 billion,

a gain of $2.9 billion from the enacted

FY16 level of $29.6 billion.

In a fact sheet, DOE said that other high-

lights of the FY17 budget include:

• $6.1 billion for environmental manage-

ment to address the obligation to clean

up the nuclear legacy of the Cold War,

including $271 million to maintain crit-

ical progress toward returning the Waste

Isolation Pilot Plant to normal opera-

tions, with the goal of restarting limited

operations in 2016.

• $5.67 billion for Science to continue

to lead basic research in the physical

sciences and develop and operate cut-

ting-edge scientific user facilities while

strengthening the connection between

advances in fundamental science and

technology innovation.

• $2.89 billion, an increase of 40 percent,

for Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Energy to continue a diverse suite of

sustained investment in development

of renewable generation technologies,

sustainable transportation technologies

and manufacturing technologies; and in

efforts to enhance energy efficiency in

our homes, buildings and industries.

• $1.3 billion for 21st Century Clean

Transportation to expand investment

in transportation technologies of the

future, establish regional fueling infra-

structure to support the deployment

of low-carbon fuels and accelerate the

transition to a cleaner vehicle fleet.

• $994 million for Nuclear Energy to

support vital ongoing R&D in advanced

reactor technology as part of a low-car-

bon future.

• $600 million for DOE’s Fossil Energy

program to advance carbon capture and

storage and natural gas technologies, and

$257 million for the strategic petroleum

reserve to increase the system’s durability

and reliability and begin addressing the

backlog of deferred maintenance.

• $8.4 million for the Office of Technology

Transitions to help get technologies out of

national laboratories and to the market.

The Obama administration proposed

its Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) budget for

the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

last month, which includes an increase

for DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery

and Energy Reliability compared with

the enacted FY16 budget.

That office contains programs for

smart grid technologies, transmission

and distribution reliability and resilien-

cy, distributed energy resources, energy

storage, cybersecurity efforts and other

research and development programs.

The FY17 request, which was sent to

Congress and is subject to changes through

the appropriations process, has $262.3 mil-

lion proposed for the Office of Electricity

Delivery and Energy Reliability, a 27.3 per-

cent increase from the $206 million in the

enacted FY16 budget, DOE said in a Feb. 9

statement. The office aids grid moderniza-

tion activities “to support a smart, resilient

electric grid for the 21st century and fund

critical emergency response and grid secu-

rity capabilities,” DOE said.

Transmission spending efforts are lit-

tered throughout the DOE FY17 budget

document, with some projects slated for

increased funding from the enacted FY16

budget and others proposed to receive

less funding compared with FY16.

For instance, the Clean Energy

Transmission and Reliability program

is proposed to receive $30.3 million

in FY17 compared with $39 million

enacted in FY16, while the Transformer

Resilience and Advanced Components

(TRAC) program is proposed to receive

$15 million in FY17, a $10 million jump

from the $5 million enacted in FY16.

The TRAC program is designed to mitigate

power system vulnerabilities to geomagnetic

disturbances and other challenges to fill

a gap identified in the 2015 Quadrennial

Technology Review (QTR) and build on

efforts identified in the 2015 Quadrennial

Energy Review (QER), DOE said.

The Clean Energy Transmission and

Reliability program is focused on “ensur-

ing the reliability and resiliency of the

U.S. electric grid through research and

development on measurement and con-

trol of the electricity system and risk

assessment to address challenges across

integrated energy systems,” according to

the FY17 budget document.

The request for that program “supports

competitive awards to academia, national

laboratories and industry, and leverages

resources of the DOE Office of Science

and the National Science Foundation

to advance scientific discovery,” while

reducing funding for cost-shared indus-

try demonstration projects and synchro-

phasor applications, DOE said.

The FY17 budget request supports

ongoing implementation of President

Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan and

builds on the recommendations in the

QER and QTR to enhance energy infra-

structure, improve grid reliability and

address increased integration of renew-

able resources in the nation’s generation

portfolio, DOE said.

Elsewhere in the proposed DOE

budget for FY17, the Office of Energy

Efficiency and Renewable Energy is slat-

ed to receive $2.89 billion, a 40.1 per-

cent increase from the $2.06 billion in

the enacted FY16 budget.

Energy storage in the FY17 request

was proposed to receive $44.5 million,

more than double the $20.5 million from

the enacted FY16 budget.

BY TOM TIERNAN- SENIOR ANALYST, TRANSMISSION HUB

DOE DRAFT REPORT RECOMMENDS SPENDING ON TRANSMISSION, GRID TECHNOLOGIES

1603pg_6 6 3/3/16 3:59 PM

March 2016 | 7 www.power-grid.com

NOTES

Body copysustained,” U.S. Solicitor General Donald

Verrilli said in legal filings.

Environmentalists were stunned by

the court’s action, which they stressed

did not reflect a decision on the relative

strength of the administration’s case.

“The Clean Power Plan has a firm

anchor in our nation’s clean air laws and

a strong scientific record, and we look

forward to presenting our case on the

merits in the courts,” said Vickie Patton,

a lawyer for Environmental Defense

Fund, which is a party to the case.

To convince the high court to tem-

porarily halt the plan, opponents had

to convince the justices that there was

a “fair prospect” the court might strike

down the rule. The court also had to

consider whether denying a stay would

cause irreparable harm to the states and

utility companies affected.

The unsigned, one-page order blocks

the rules from taking effect while the

legal fight plays out in the appeals court

and during any further appeal to the

Supreme Court, a process that easily

could extend into 2017.

The administration of President

Obama is vowing to press ahead with

efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emis-

sions after a divided Supreme Court put

his signature plan to address climate

change on hold until after legal chal-

lenges are resolved.

The surprising move by the court Feb.

9 is a blow to Obama and a victory for

the coalition of 27 mostly Republican-led

states and industry opponents, who call

the power plant regulations “an unprece-

dented power grab.”

By issuing the temporary freeze, a 5-4

majority of the justices (Editor’s note:

The Court voted a few days before the

death of Justice Antonin Scalia.) signaled

that opponents made strong arguments

against the rules. The high court’s four

liberal justices said they would have

denied the request for delay.

The administration’s plan aims to stave

off the worst predicted impacts of cli-

mate change by reducing carbon dioxide

emissions at existing power plants by

about one-third by 2030.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest

said the administration’s plan is based on

a strong legal and technical foundation,

and gives the states time to develop

cost-effective plans to reduce emissions.

He also said the administration will “take

aggressive steps to make forward prog-

ress to reduce carbon emissions.”

A federal appeals court in Washington

in January refused to put the plan on

hold. That lower court is not likely to

issue a ruling on the legality of the plan

until months after it hears oral argu-

ments beginning on June 2.

Any decision will likely be appealed to

the Supreme Court, meaning resolution

of the legal fight is not likely to happen

until after Obama leaves office.

Compliance with the new rules isn’t

required until 2022, but states must

submit their plans to the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) by September

or seek an extension.

Many states opposing the plan depend

on economic activity tied to such fossil

fuels as coal, oil and gas. They argued

that the plan oversteps federal authority

to restrict carbon emissions, and that

electricity providers would have to spend

billions of dollars to begin complying

with a rule that might end up being

overturned.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey of

West Virginia, whose coal-dependent

state is helping lead the legal fight, hailed

the court’s decision.

“We are thrilled that the Supreme

Court realized the rule’s immediate

impact and froze its implementation,

protecting workers and saving countless

dollars as our fight against its legality

continues,” Morrisey said.

Implementation of the rules is con-

sidered essential to the United States

meeting emissions-reduction targets in a

global climate agreement signed in Paris

last month. The Obama administration

and environmental groups also say the

plan will spur new clean-energy jobs.

In opposing the request for delay, the

EPA argued that states had plenty of time

to comply with the requirements as the

rule is rolled out over the next six years.

“A stay that delays all of the rule’s

deadlines would postpone reductions

in greenhouse gas emissions and thus

contribute to the problem of global cli-

mate change even if the rule is ultimately

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION VOWS TO PRESS AHEAD ON CPP DESPITE COURT STAY

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

1603pg_7 7 3/3/16 3:59 PM

8 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

EYE ON THE WORLD

ABB has won an order from SP PowerGrid to supply four 66

kV gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) substations for the city-state

of Singapore.

The project is part of SP PowerGrid’s continuous efforts to

strengthen the efficiency and reliability of its transmission and

distribution networks and to meet the growing demand for

power in Singapore’s industrial, commercial and residential sectors.

As part of the turnkey contract, ABB will design, engineer,

supply and install the GIS substations, which include control and

protection systems as well as ancillary equipment. The scope

also includes replacement of aging equipment at two existing

facilities to strengthen the national grid by increasing capacity

and enhancing power reliability. The contract is scheduled to be

completed in 2018.

The GIS technology will benefit SP PowerGrid by reducing

its substations’ footprint, as compared to that of conventional

air-insulated switchgear (AIS). This technology will also increase

the substations’ power capacity, allowing SP PowerGrid to cater

for future demand.

Singapore Power (SP) Group is one of the largest corporations

in Singapore and a leading energy utility group in the Asia Pacific

region. As an owner and operator, the group provides electricity

and gas transmission and distribution services in Singapore and

Australia, and district cooling in Singapore and China. Singapore

Power’s electricity grid is rated among the world’s best perform-

ing networks based on international benchmarks.

ABB to Supply 66-kV Switchgear Substations in Singapore

INTERNATIONAL

NOTES

Power management company Eaton and The AES Corp.,

through its unit, AES Energy Storage, signed an agreement under

which Eaton will offer AES’ Advancion energy storage platform

as the core of its grid-scale, integrated energy storage systems

to help manage grid stability and peak demand infrastructure.

The agreement is part of an AES initiative with select com-

panies to ensure the global availability of the Advancion energy

storage platform.

Eaton will supply the energy storage systems, provide support

and ensure long-term operation directly to utilities, industrial

and commercial customers, independent power producers and

power system operators across Europe, the Middle East and

Africa (EMEA).

The ambitious goals set by many countries, especially within

the European Union, and confirmed during the 2015 Paris

Climate Conference (COP21), call for an ever larger role for

renewables in the power supply mix, and European countries

are leading this change.

Energy storage has become a key factor in helping countries

manage both grid stability, as renewable energy sources con-

tinue to be integrated into the grid, as well as peak demand,

limiting the need to build dedicated peaking power plants and

minimizing carbon dioxide emissions. The energy storage market

is entering a new growth phase. Navigant Research projects that

more than 11 GW of energy storage capacity will be installed

annually by 2020 in 22 countries.

“Together, Eaton and AES will be able to greatly impact the

energy landscape in EMEA,” said Cyrille Brisson, vice president of

marketing for Eaton’s electrical business in EMEA. “By providing

market-leading, innovative energy storage systems to commercial,

industrial and utility customers, we will be able to mitigate the

investment needed for, and the charges and emissions resulting

from peak demand infrastructure. The widespread deployment

of systems enabling peak capacity, flexible generation and grid

services, coupled with the easy consumption of renewables, will

help a smarter grid meet environmental targets.”

“We see energy storage as key to a clean, unbreakable grid

equipped to deliver power from the most efficient and cost-ef-

fective sources,” said John Zahurancik, president of AES Energy

Storage. “Working with leading companies, like Eaton, provides

a path for the rapid adoption of energy storage in important

global markets.”

AES provides energy solutions through its portfolio of distri-

bution businesses and generation facilities. AES has integrated

energy storage into eight different power markets and AES’

energy storage solutions represent the world’s largest advanced

energy storage fleet, with 116 MW in operation and three

million megawatt-hours of delivered service. Advancion is also

now powering the largest fleet of advanced energy storage in

Europe, with the recent completion of two Advancion arrays in

the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.

Eaton, AES Unit Selling Energy Storage in Europe, Africa, Middle East

1603pg_8 8 3/3/16 3:59 PM

March 2016 | 9 www.power-grid.com

Body copyEnergy and telecom cabling firm Prysmian Group, won a

contract worth around $278 million for a high-voltage direct

current (HVDC) submarine interconnector that will link Denmark

and the Netherlands, by TenneT TSO B.V. and Energinet.dk SOV,

the operators of the Dutch and Danish power transmission grids,

respectively.

The COBRAcable (“COpenhagen BRussels Amsterdam”

cable) will provide benefit to the electricity grids of both coun-

tries involved, as it will make Dutch power capacity structurally

available to Denmark and vice versa, increasing security of

supply and enabling the further integration of renewable energy

into the electricity grids.

The COBRAcable interconnector will therefore contribute to

the realization of a sustainable international energy landscape,

a key aim of the European Union, which is to support the project

through the European Energy Program for Recovery.

The connection will be constructed using HVDC technology,

which minimizes transmission losses over the long distances

involved.

The contract awarded to Prysmian involves the turn-key sup-

ply and installation of an HVDC bipole—using single core cables

with extruded insulation technology—that will operate at a

voltage level of ±320 kV with a rating of about 700 MW, equiv-

alent to the annual electricity consumption of all households in

the cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam combined.

It will run along a total route of around 200 miles, from

Eemshaven, The Netherlands, to Endrup, Denmark via the

German sector of the North Sea, and will include two onshore

lengths of 1,000 yards on the Dutch side and 15 miles on the

Danish side to link to the onshore converter stations, which are

to be provided by Siemens under separate contract.

All cables will be produced in Arco Felice (near Naples, Italy)

and Pikkala (near Helsinki, Finland), the Group’s centres of tech-

nological and manufacturing excellence for submarine cables.

Prysmian is currently building on about $11 million worth of

recent investments made in its Pikkala factory to increase its

manufacturing capacity of extruded HV submarine cables by

upgrading its existing production lines.

The marine cable laying activities, which will be performed by

the Group’s own cable-laying vessels, the Cable Enterprise and

the Giulio Verne, will also see the use of their newly acquired

barge.

Prysmian to Connect Netherlands, Denmark With Submarine Power Line

1603pg_9 9 3/3/16 3:59 PM

10 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

One of DistribuTECH’s 77 conference sessions earns the rapt attention of another full crowd.

BY ROD WALTON, SENIOR EDITOR

Orlando

Show Covers Strategies and Technologies for Adaptation and Survival

fantastic contacts and conversations,” said

Red Lion Controls product marketing

manager Colin Geis, whose company, like

many others, introduced new products at

the show. “The companies in the market

and at the show are established and will

be here for the long run, providing robust

solutions for next-generation applications.”

It all got off to a rousing start Tuesday

morning, Feb. 9, in the Valencia Ballroom

For three days, DistribuTECH

Conference and Exhibition 2016 elec-

trified the City Beautiful.

The massive power grid T&D

show in Orlando attracted more than

11,000 attendees from 78 countries.

They absorbed the intricate knowledge

of 435 speakers and authors fortify-

ing 77 conference sessions or visited

the booths of any of the record 504

exhibitors displaying on the approxi-

mately 144,000-square-foot exhibition

floor of the Orange County Convention

Center’s West Hall.

Numbers alone cannot define the

show, but the sheer volume of expertise,

networking opportunities and, yes, good

times seemed to make it a must-see for

those who came to central Florida.

“DistribuTECH was a great show with

PENNWELL PHOTO/CHARLES THOMAS

1603pg_10 10 3/3/16 3:59 PM

March 2016 | 11 www.power-grid.com

Michael Liebreich, founder and advisory board chairman for Bloomberg New Energy Finance, detailed global spending trends on renewable technologies during the keynote address kicking off DistribuTECH 2016.

Orlando

The former Broadway conductor fin-

ished his keynote with a musical tribute

about this technological revolution set to

the tune of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.”

The 14 conference tracks, which covered

vast informational ground from advanced

metering to substation integration and

automation, featured sessions from

Tuesday, Feb. 9, through Thursday, Feb.

11. The sessions in each track were heavily

attended by visitors from all over the globe.

During one Renewables Integration

session, “Utility Experiences with PV

(photovoltaic) Integration,” Pacific Gas

& Electric’s Masaru Natsu shared expe-

rienced insight on how his company is

dealing with intense rooftop solar pen-

etration in California. Natsu, PG&E’s

emerging technology engineer, noted that

PG&E has a new solar customer about

every 11 minutes, which equates to 4,200

new PV installations every month.

of the convention center. The keynote

featured local leaders in Mayor Buddy

Dyer and Linda Ferrone, board president

of the Orlando Utilities Commission,

who talked about their city’s commit-

ment to clean energy and progressive

upgrades of grid infrastructure. Itron

CEO Philip Mezey noted that the indus-

try is doing a pretty good job moderniz-

ing a grid that senses and communicates.

“Our real opportunity is to build on

that solid foundation,” Mezey said to

kick off the keynote.

Michael Liebreich, founder and advi-

sory board chairman for Bloomberg New

Energy Finance, detailed global spending

trends on renewable technologies. The

final speaker, NOVA Science Now host

and Yahoo Tech columnist David Pogue,

kept the keynote crowd laughing and

thinking at the same time with his rap-

id-fire rundown of how many “disruptive”

new companies are changing the way

consumers travel, read and even charge

their batteries. The generation which is in

college now is the first to never know life

without the Internet, he noted, and this

rising multitude of consumer options is

not going away.

“The only thing I can tell you for sure

is that it’s going to be a wild ride,” Pogue

said.

Rank Conference Track Sessions

1. Energy Storage, Microgrids

and Emerging DER

Utility-owned Microgrid Best

Practices

2. Energy Storage, Microgrids

and Emerging DER

Microgrid and DER Integration 3

C’s: Cost, Control and Community

3. Big Data and Analytics Analytics that Drive Utility Strate-

gy and Effective Operations

4. Energy Storage, Microgrids

and Emerging DER

Energy Storage on the T&D Grid

5. Distribution Automation Sensible Use of Sensors

*does not include attendance from seven Mega Sessions

DistribuTECH 2016’s Top Attended Sessions*

PENNWELL PHOTO/CHARLES THOMAS

1603pg_11 11 3/3/16 3:59 PM

12 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

DistribuTECH attendee looks at smart grid networks display in the exhibit hall at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center.

Orlando

“All of this new integration of renew-

ables has to integrate on an old system,”

he said. “The challenge: Is our grid

ready?”

DistribuTECH’s sessions sought to

help answer those questions and prepare

power grid professionals for the progres-

sive energy future. In another session,

“Managing Customer Expectations in

the Dark,” representatives from ComEd

and several municipal utilities detailed

how they got social media interactions

both wrong and right. Seattle City Light’s

Chief Information Officer Dirk Mahling

revealed the way his utility is using

proactive analytics and search efforts to

understand and engage customers online

even if they are not getting on the utility

website. “There’s a ton of conversations

where they talk about you and don’t

hashtag you…We wanted to identify

what people are saying about us when

they are not using our name.”

Others during that session admitted

mistakes they had made by being late

adopters to social media. For a long time,

Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative’s Lee

Ayers said, his utility was in denial of

how people had changed their ways of

communication. A 2014 ice storm and

lack of expected outage restoration times

really drove home the need to adapt.

“Worse than a bad decision is no

decision,” Ayers said. “Some information

is better than none even if you have to

adjust it.”

All work and no play could make

for a hard time, despite the vibrant

content. So DistribuTECH 2016 offered

plenty of fun. Companies such as ABB

Wireless and Schneider Electric played

host to dinners and breakfasts, respec-

tively, that updated projects, made new

announcements or simply made a few

PENNWELL PHOTO/CHARLES THOMAS

1603pg_12 12 3/3/16 3:59 PM

March 2016 | 13 www.power-grid.com

Orlando

National Grid’s Mona Chandra noted

that they are trying to make 21st century

adjustments to a 20th century grid. But

one thing they cannot do is give up.

“We’ve got 100 years investment in a

centralized grid,” Duke Energy’s Melisa

Johns said at the Mega Session. “We’re

not going to just throw that away.”

The exhibition hall was like a state fair

midway of industry attractions. Whether

it was GE Grid Solutions’ massive

enclave or Doble Engineering’s display

of its transformer monitoring screen, the

companies that showed off their wares

had plenty to show. An alphabet soup

of companies, from Advanced Control

Systems to Xtensible Solutions or Itron to

Zenner Performance, was there to supply

professional nourishment.

But all good things come to an end,

so by Thursday afternoon it was time

to give away a brand-new Chevrolet

Camaro and begin tearing down the

exhibits. It was time to say goodbye.

Until next year.

DistribuTECH 2017 will be Jan.

31-Feb. 2, 2017, in San Diego. The tag-

line for that event is “Harboring Energy

Innovation.”

The DistribuTECH 2016 “Gemstone”

sponsors included Itron, Oracle Utilities,

SUS, Honeywell Elster, Landis + Gyr,

Schneider Electric, Leidos Engineering,

OSI and Siemens. Body copy

new friends. The “Fun In The Sun” net-

working reception Wednesday, Feb. 10,

remade the Valencia Ballroom from a chair-

stuffed keynote hall into a wide open Party

Central with entertainers on stilts and a

band beckoning celebrants to the dance

floor.

Some events mixed good food and

choice information to consider. Schneider

Electric’s executive breakfast briefing, held

in the Lake Mizell Room of the Hilton

Orlando, detailed the company’s new

plans to install a microgrid at its Boston

One headquarters while also sharing the

latest details on microgrid innovation

from both Schneider and Duke Energy.

“There is unparalleled capital pouring

into the industry to support microgrids,”

Andy Bennett,

Schneider’s senior

vice president of

U.S. energy busi-

ness, said. “Some

see it unsettling

working with

microgrids. We don’t

have those apprehensions.”

The willingness to change is import-

ant, perhaps ultimately life-saving, to

the utility industry these days. Most of

the 77 sessions dealt with adaptation to

survive in some form or another. One of

the seven Mega Sessions on Wednesday

focused on “New Revenue Streams for

Electric Utilities.” The all-female panel

of executives from National Grid, Duke,

Kansas City Power & Light and PG&E

posed provocative challenges for utili-

ties that must deal with rising customer

expectations and choices on how to get

their electricity.

Many talked about how their utility

is embracing solar or wind or both

and certainly demand-response options.

The Fun in the Sun networking party brought DistribuTECH

attendees together with brightly costumed entertainers traversing

the ballroom floor on stilts.

PENNWELL PHOTO/CHARLES THOMAS

1603pg_13 13 3/3/16 3:59 PM

14 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

BY ROSS SHAICH, UTILITY INTEGRATION SOLUTIONS LLC

Don’t Derail Your ADMS Implementation With Bad Data

factors that weren’t important in the GIS

are important in the ADMS. If extra,

missing or incompletely defined con-

nections or mismatched phasing exist

in the ADMS, deenergization or looping

appears in feeders and customers may

not be properly restored in the ADMS.

These kinds of problems potentially go

unnoticed when isolated in a GIS.

Advanced distribution management

systems (ADMS), which include outage

management and distribution manage-

ment, are keys to automating utility

processes and integrating systems. These

are mission critical and the systems with

which they interface give results only as

good as the data that goes in.

While perfection is unattainable, it is

possible to be useful with values like 60

percent data quality, but the aim should

be much higher. In addition, the need to

review data never ends.

An ADMS is the center point of data

flowing between multiple systems

(Figure 1), including geographic infor-

mation systems (GIS), customer infor-

mation systems (CIS), SCADA, interac-

tive voice response (IVR) and advanced

metering infrastructure (AMI). The GIS

data, which is this article’s focus, is par-

ticularly critical because it inputs data

on which ADMS depends for its mis-

sion critical function. Inaccuracies in the

ADMS can propagate to the other inte-

grated systems, multiplying the impact

of poor data quality.

Some small amount of

inaccuracy is unavoidable,

but it must be minimal.

Ramifications of bad data

can include wrong out-

age predictions to over-

loads to even crew safe-

ty. Dispatchers who see

significant errors in the

system will likely block

the system from going

live until data improves.

If it is already live, they

will feel crew safety is

too important to use an

untrusted system and will

rely instead on what they trust (like paper

maps) and not the system.

An ADMS often has data requirements

stricter than the source GIS system it

came from because the data is used dif-

ferently. If inaccurate data doesn’t impact

GIS usage, issues likely will remain until

another system reveals them. For exam-

ple, certain topology and energization

DS0 DS1

Size of Dataset Small dataset containing at least one of every class Small representative data model of four to six substations with feeders

Verifies That • Each class builds successfully

• Correct attributes are mapped to them

• They build to appropriate sizes

• Naming conventions are properly applied

• Good topology

• Model data appears properly in tools

• Provides an initial feeling of overall model quality

Data Types Every data type, including electrical devices, conductors, annotation and landbase Every data type, including electrical devices, conductors, annotation and landbase

Fictional vs. Real Data • Small amounts of data can be fictionalized

• Objects can be placed where logically they don’t belong so that every object class is represented (i.e.: a device on a feeder that would not normally have that device; substation devices outside the substation; devices planned for the near future but do not exist in today’s model)

• Must be 100 percent real data

• Topological rules are followed

• Future devices are removed

• Actual feeder and substation data only

Table 1: Start With Small Data Samples Using DS0 and DS1

Figure 1: Data Flowing To/From the ADMS

1603pg_14 14 3/3/16 3:59 PM

March 2016 | 15 www.power-grid.com

VERIFY DATA FLOW STEPS

Each step in the model builds process

needs verification through an extract-trans-

form-load process. Issues can exist with

source data, GIS data extraction, format-

ting and processing the data for building

into the ADMS, as well as the actual build.

Figure 2 represents a model-build process

flow. Some ADMS flows may combine

some of these steps into one.

PERFORM DATA REVIEWS ACROSS

MULTIPLE STAGES

Data reviews done in multiple stag-

es enable users to notice more subtle

defects because the systemic, easy-to-

spot issues were resolved early. If too

many simple issues remain until the later

project phases, it is hard to focus on

finding the subtle ones, and there will be

too much to be fixed at crunch time. The

biggest risks here are:

1. Insufficient time to retest the fixes

2. Uncertain stability due to fixing complex issues too close to the go live date

3. Damaged user confidence

4. Fixable issues reaching production with work arounds

START WITH SMALL

REPRESENTATIVE DATASETS

Small but representative datasets

enable multiple quick iterations through

the “identify, fix, rebuild and test” cycle.

Some defects can be found only with a

Following is a short list of problems that

can be caused by bad or missing data in

an ADMS:

• Incorrect or lack of energization

• Incorrect reports and indices

• Outages not predicting correctly

• SCADA devices with wrong measure-ments or lack of control

• Sluggish performance

• Missing or incorrect device details

• Overloaded circuits

• Incorrect switching plans

• Proliferation of incorrect information out from the ADMS

• Crew members injuries

REVIEW AND CORRECT EARLY

Best practice is to correct data issues

as early as possible because considerable

effort and duration is needed. Some issues

are like an onion, in that removing one

layer reveals more. Rewards are reaped

in later project phases, especially during

testing, when data issues are resolved

early. Data model fixes made late in the

project often result in time-consuming

ramifications, like the need for extensive

rework to already created test cases or

training materials. When significant data

model fixes are implemented during

testing, testing progress may pause while

changes are made to large numbers of

test cases. Data changes can even result

in invalidating test results, requiring

re-execution of previously passed tests.

Another reason to review and fix the

data model early is to maintain the users’

positive opinion of the system.

Fixes should be made before function-

al testing or training occurs, otherwise,

a negative opinion can form early and

be hard to change. Users with negative

feelings about the new system can under-

mine user confidence in the system and

impact motivation, as well as morale.

Complete functional configuration is

not necessary to begin data reviews.

Following are some things that should be

checked early:

• Object naming conventions

• Device attribute mapping

• Each object class builds successfully

• Customer to device mapping

• Object symbolic representation, rotation, sizing

• Text and object scaling (proportionally good)

• Coded model processing/build rules work as expected

• Incremental model changes succeed in applying

• Connectivity

Team members must take time to

review data and identify necessary

changes. In addition to their impact on

data quality, these reviews build buy-

in. Technical team members can do

some reviewing, but the business users

know requirements a non-user can’t.

Because users might have responsibilities

to the live environment, too, their time

should be used wisely. A good strategy

for including users is to enable their

participation by providing team member

backups, have someone dedicated to

the project, or have a pool of multiple

users available who are able to share the

responsibilities.

If a dispatcher must prioritize between

his or her normal dispatching tasks vs. data

reviews, the higher priority always goes to

dispatching. If dispatcher participation isn’t

enabled, data reviews will progress slowly.

Figure 2: Model Build ETL Process Flow

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16 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

to load a single search result, a definite

data quantity problem was revealed. It

took several weeks to fix the problem

because more than one fix attempt was

required. A lot of time was therefore used

just waiting for builds to finish. This was

only one of several data issues found in

the full model.

CODING FIXES AND WORKAROUNDS

Temporary workarounds for bad data,

while not ideal, are used “to get by” until

a permanent fix is made. Sometimes there

is insufficient time to make the permanent

fix before the go-live date. Other times,

the fix is complex, touches many aspects

and adds too much risk right before the

go-live date. There is the risk that even

if it’s believed the problem is solved, a

new showstopper problem results from

implementing the fix. Fixing one layer of

problems can reveal additional problems

in the next layer. If continual attention

was not given to the model from early

on, the consequence is increased pres-

sure to resolve all problems immediately,

compact the schedule, and bare the risk

of unresolved issues on the go-live date.

Fixing too much, too quickly, too radically

can impact stability, user confidence, per-

formance or go-live dates.

When deciding whether to fix or work

around, ask:

• Is the workaround reasonable?

• Would fixing require altering a go-live date?

• Is the sponsor’s go-live deadline flexible?

• What is the level of risk involved in the fix (include testing time available)?

• Can the permanent fix be made in a timely manner?

EXAMPLE OF CONNECTIVITY ISSUES

Source data issues at one utility caused

its ADMS model to have many connec-

tivity problems near circuit breakers.

large model, but it’s important to fix what

can be fixed in the small model first. As

issues are fixed, the model gets rebuilt

to verify not only the fix but also that

it 1) provided the desired effect, 2) did

not break something else, and 3) did not

expose additional issues. The larger the

model, the longer each full cycle (iden-

tify, fix, rebuild and test) will take due

to longer rebuild and review durations.

For this reason, it is best to start with

small but representative datasets some

call Data Set 0 (DS0) and Data Set 1

(DS1). This is a methodology developed

by Configured Energy Systems in the

early 1990s. DS0 is a model containing

at least one of every class of object. DS1

is a small, representative model of four

to six substation feeders (if modeling

substations, them too) used for testing.

It is important to remember that resolv-

ing a systemic problem for one object of

a particular class resolves all objects of

that class.

The company’s composition must be

considered when selecting data sets. As

utilities merge territories, they might

have multiple GIS systems. It is import-

ant to get data from each of those GIS

systems and operating companies.

Different GIS systems might have differ-

ent GIS vendors, extract differently, have

different object classes and have different

levels of data quality.

DATA QUALITY IN LATER STAGES

Once the system is configured, testing

reveals whether data fields in tools, such

as the display of current outages, are

correctly populating. This review best

begins with the small DS1 model. Unlike

the earlier DS0 object review, it is neces-

sary to wait until the system is reason-

ably configured to see how data appears

in the as configured tools. Defects can be

a matter of data requirements that were

not identified, data that isn’t mapped as

needed, the chosen data not fulfilling the

need as hoped, or a failure in the build

process causing inaccessible data.

After the DS0 review and some review

in DS1, it’s time to build the full model

in addition to DS1 and test it. A full

model reveals issues that a small model

cannot. Performance, data quantity, one

offs and de-energization or connection

problems now are noticeable. The full

model with full system configuration

and full integration is mandatory for a

valid performance test. Since DS0 and

DS1 iterations can be done quicker than

with a full model, DS1 iterations should

be made first, but don’t wait too long to

work with the full model. Several con-

nectivity or performance issues would

be undetected in DS1 but would show

up in a full model. Just like with DS0

and DS1, it takes multiple iterations of

lengthy full-model builds before testing

is complete.

EXAMPLE OF LARGE MODEL

PROBLEM

A problem was detected when one

utility’s background objects were being

duplicated multiple times. Since back-

ground objects do not affect connectivity,

it wasn’t impactful enough to be noticed

until the full model was built. Once

the utility began using the full model,

the quantity of background objects con-

sumed too much system memory, so the

maps could not be displayed. Prior to

the full model, the viewer tool loaded

slower than expected, but the data still

displayed. With the full model, failure

to load messages appeared. Ordinarily,

the amount of data loading would be

well within the limits, but because this

limit was hit immediately upon trying

1603pg_16 16 3/3/16 3:59 PM

March 2016 | 17 www.power-grid.com

appropriate data model type and size.

If you do this, you significantly increase

your likelihood of a successful ADMS

project implementation.

While best practice would have been to

cleanse the data in the source system, in

this case a difficult and complex update

process made that impractical if the utili-

ty was to make the planned go-live date.

Instead, a work-around was implement-

ed involving jumpers placed to bypass

problem areas. While the workaround

still took time to implement and delayed

the go-live, it was completed in a more

acceptable time and the delay to produc-

tion was minimized. Once it went live,

the utility planned the permanent fix and

implemented the fix at a later time on

their live system.

CONCLUSION

Perfect data is unattainable, but the

higher the data quality, the greater the

system’s value. It is important to aim

high, but as Voltaire might say; “Don’t let

the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

If you wait for perfect data, you will

never go live. Go live when the data is

sufficient to create business value, but

don’t stop working to improve. Data

quality improvement and maintenance

is a never-ending process. Begin data

reviews early, make wise use of limited

business user’s time, improve data where

necessary and justified, and choose the

Ross Shaich has more than 18 years’

experience in ADMS implementation and

support of large-scale enterprise projects.

He has served as subject matter expert, test

lead, functional lead, test designer and proj-

ect manager. He holds a master’s degree in

project management and is a certified PMP.

Reach him at rshaich@uisol.com

GO TO WW.PGI.HOTIMS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION

1603pg_17 17 3/3/16 3:59 PM

18 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

Energy and water utilities have been

connecting millions of networked

devices for decades. One could say that

the utility industry is a pioneer and

first mover in the Internet of Things

(IoT). This industry knows how to con-

nect devices and collect field and sensor

data reliably and securely with stan-

dards-based networks.

But, simply moving data around will

not address the challenges before us or

capitalize on new opportunities. Utilities

must do more than just collect reams of

data for billing and back office analysis.

They must be able to make decisions and

take action at every level of their distribu-

tion system; optimizing analytics where

it makes sense and enabling multiple

applications to run edge devices to solve

problems in new ways. Moving from just

connecting devices to leveraging their

processing power to analyze data and

take action at the edge of the network,

the utility industry can realize the IoT’s

potential and transform the smart grid

into the active grid.

CREATING THE ACTIVE GRID

The active grid introduces intelligent,

connected devices that not only measure

and communicate, but make decisions

and take action in real time. Four capa-

bilities make this possible: computing

power at the edge, adaptive communi-

cations, support for multiple commu-

nication and application protocols, and

locational awareness of devices.

No. 1: Computing Power at the Edge

According to Moore’s Law, computing

power doubles every 18 months while

the price drops by half. Thanks to com-

puting power’s greater affordability, util-

ities now can embed the computing

equivalent of a smart phone or desktop

Leveraging the Power of the Active Grid

BY TIM WOLF, ITRON

The Utility’s Role in IoT:

PHOTO COURTESY ITRON

1603pg_18 18 3/3/16 3:59 PM

March 2016 | 19 www.power-grid.com

significantly improve the return-on-in-

vestment for smart metering technology.

Diversion Detection in Real-Time

Electricity theft has a material financial

impact on utilities and their customers

throughout the world. While worldwide

electricity theft is estimated to be in

the range of 8 percent of revenues, in

some regions, non-technical loss result-

ing from diversion (theft) represents 20

to 30 percent of revenue. That’s a huge

number, but it also represents a signif-

icant opportunity to improve a utility’s

financial performance.

Even with current generation smart

metering technology, detecting energy

theft can be an inefficient and laborious

exercise of analyzing historical data from

disparate systems and drawing infer-

ences about where diversion might be

taking place. With the active grid’s dis-

tributed intelligence, diversion detection

can be based on real-time, continuous

and localized analysis of changes in elec-

tricity current flows and voltage levels

in the distribution network. This can

quickly distinguish legitimate metered

loads vs. those from theft.

The meter’s ability to communicate

directly with other meters at different

network levels, and knowing the exact

location of these meters on the distri-

bution system allows systems to iden-

tify when current did not go through a

meter and is drawn on a transformer’s

secondary. This ability greatly increases

the accuracy and timeliness of diver-

sion detection.

computer into smart meters and grid

devices at a price point competitive to

current single-use smart meter technol-

ogies. This enables advanced communi-

cations, high-resolution data processing

and analysis in the edge device—at sev-

eral hundred times the data resolution

compared with five-minute interval data.

No 2: Adaptive Communications Capabilities

Robust processing power in the endpoint

combined with advancements in soft-

ware-defined communications also are

helping solve critical connectivity and

communication performance challenges

that have long frustrated utilities deploy-

ing single-communications networks.

Communication modules now combine

radio frequency, powerline carrier and

Wi-Fi communications on the same chip

set. This enables dynamic and continuous

selection of the optimal communications

path and the most appropriate frequency

modulation based on network operating

conditions, data attributes and application

requirements. This new platform also

provides peer-to-peer and local broadcast

communications capabilities, allowing

grid edge devices to talk to each other

individually or communicate with select

groups of devices simultaneously to sup-

port new distributed analytics use cases.

No. 3: Multilingual Abilities

Robust processing power and mem-

ory also allow smart meters and grid

sensors to provide a unified software

and computing platform that simulta-

neously supports multiple communi-

cation and application protocols. Smart

meters or grid devices can “speak the

language” of not only smart metering,

but also, for example, distribution auto-

mation (DNP3 or IEC 61850), load con-

trol/demand response (OpenADR) and

home area network (SEP 1.X and 2.0,

Homeplug). This communication fluen-

cy enables localized communication and

coordinated action among diverse grid

devices to respond to changing condi-

tions at the edge of the network.

No. 4: Locational Awareness of Devices

Historically, the inability of smart meters

to know exactly where they are on the

distribution network has been the great-

est obstacle to leveraging smart meter

data and communication capabilities for

real-time grid operations. Now, for the

first time, smart meters are intuitively

and continuously aware of where they

are in relation to other grid assets (e.g.

feeders, circuits, phases, transformers,

distributed generation, other meters).

This awareness is enabled by continuous

monitoring and algorithmic interpreta-

tion of electrical characteristics relative to

various grid devices within the network.

This continuous self-awareness opens up

an entirely new approach to smart grid

applications that were simply beyond

reach before without a reliable, continu-

ally-updated connectivity model.

PUTTING THE ACTIVE GRID TO WORK

With these capabilities in place, utili-

ties can use this distributed intelligence

to solve specific business challenges that,

until now, were neither practical nor

affordable to solve. Core applications,

including real-time diversion detection,

detection of unsafe grid conditions, out-

age detection and analysis and transform

load management, have the potential to

According to Moore’s Law, computing power doubles every 18 months while the price

drops by half.

1603pg_19 19 3/3/16 3:59 PM

20 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

efforts. Like energy theft detection, the

current state of outage detection and anal-

ysis via the smart metering network is still

an inferential exercise based on how many

affected meters can successfully transmit

“last gasp” outage messages over the net-

work and how many of those messages

reach the utility. The filtering and analysis

continues from there. This process often

is still hampered by lack of an accurate

connectivity model that associates meters

and distribution system assets.

With the active grid, by combin-

ing locational awareness on the grid

with peer-to-peer communications at

the edge of the network, meters sys-

tematically and continuously evaluate

the status of nearby meters and devices

to quickly model and localize outage

events and report reliable and action-

able information back to the utility in

near real time. The utility receives accu-

rate and actionable information, includ-

ing the scale and location of the outage

and affected meters and transformers, in

a compressed timeframe.

Detection of Unsafe Grid Conditions

High impedance connections (HIC) or

“hot spots” on the low-voltage distribu-

tion system represent a safety risk, while

also causing customer voltage problems

and utility energy losses. A high imped-

ance connection is simply a poor electri-

cal connection that can be created when

splicing, tapping or connecting wires,

when foliage touches a line, or when a

cable or connection fails.

When current is drawn through the

high impedance connection, heating

occurs and voltage drop across the con-

nection occurs. As heating continues, the

connection is further degraded, causing

the HIC to worsen over time. Symptoms

begin as voltage problems and can ulti-

mately deteriorate to power outages or

fires or both.

Until now, there has been no practical

way to identify and resolve these issues

until they lead to significant voltage

problems, failure or fire.

The active grid’s distributed intelligence

changes the game in HIC detection and

provides a practical and cost-effective

solution for utilities to identify these loss-

es, voltage anomalies and potential safety

issues before they become a safety hazard

or a costly liability. This enables continu-

ous impedance monitoring at each meter

and notification of the presence and loca-

tion of impedance outside of programmed

thresholds or parameters.

In the event of a sudden change in

impedance, as caused by failing connec-

tions or cables, this solution can send

a priority message over the network to

utility personnel informing them of the

event and providing them with relevant

data and the location of the suspected

fault. Field services resources can then

be dispatched quickly and precisely to

correct the problem.

Outage Detection and Analysis

While current-generation smart meter-

ing technology has added a valuable data

stream to the outage management equa-

tion, it is not a panacea for improving

outage detection, analysis and restoration

PHOTO COURTESY ITRON

1603pg_20 20 3/3/16 3:59 PM

March 2016 | 21 www.power-grid.com

Nexus ® 1500+

Next Generation Power Quality Meter

1-800-718-1974www.electroind.com

Critical Substation MeteringPrecision Energy metering using Constant Calibration™

technology - meter self-calibrates every ten seconds

Advanced Power Quality analysis with

sampling rates up to 50 MHz per channel

Compliance with international standards IEC 61000-4-30

Class A and fully customizable EN 50160 reporting

Advanced utility protocols including Modbus, DNP 3.0,

IEC 61850, GOOSE, HTTP, FTP, SNTP, SMTP, IEEE 1588

Highly secure Port Control to

insure safe substation communication

PQDIF and COMTRADE Compliant

Designed for Grid Automation,

Power Quality, and Fault Analysis applications

cities and IoT markets is accelerating the

trend toward a more distributed model

and creation of the active grid. The result

will be both a stronger business case for

smart metering and new, highly-innova-

tive solutions to longstanding grid oper-

ations challenges. Utilities can and will

play an integral role in enabling IoT and

addressing the challenges facing the utility

industry and beyond.

Body copy

Transformer Load Management

Distribution transformer overloading is

an increasingly common problem caused

by growing loads and the emergence of

distributed generation on the customer

side of the meter, which can overload

transformers in the reverse direction.

Putting intelligence at the grid’s edge

allows the load on individual distribu-

tion transformers to be analyzed contin-

uously and managed locally in real time.

Distributed intelligence allows the load

on individual distribution transformers to

be analyzed continuously and managed

locally in real time. Meters communicate

with each other locally and continually

calculate the total load on the transform-

er. They know when the transformer

is approaching overload conditions and

whether the overload is coming from the

line side or customer side. When this

occurs, distributed analytics running on

the meters determines whether to shut off

controlled loads behind the transformer,

turn on or increase local distributed gen-

eration behind the transformer or take

other actions to reduce loading below

allowed levels.

LOOKING AHEAD

Globally, many utilities are in a position

to leverage these recent and significant

advancements in distributed intelligence

and analytics as they implement their

grid modernization strategies. The conver-

gence of smart grid with emerging smart

Author Tim Wolf is the director for marketing

at Itron, where he is responsible for marketing

and communications for Itron’s global electric-

ity and smart grid businesses. He is a regular

presenter at industry conferences and writer in

the industry trade press. He can be contacted

at tim.wolf@itron.com.

GO TO WW.PGI.HOTIMS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION

1603pg_21 21 3/3/16 3:59 PM

22 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

Photo courtesy of PPL Electric Utilities.

BY ROD WALTON, SENIOR EDITOR

Projects of the Year

The name of the game in electricity

transmission and distribution, like any

industry, is to deliver, whatever the chal-

lenge. The annual Projects of the Year award

winners, as well as their runners-up, were

honored for their efforts to try new things in

delivering both information and power to

customers under any and all circumstances.

The editors of POWERGRID

International magazine, the official pub-

lication of the DistribuTECH Conference

& Exhibition held last month in Orlando,

and its parent company PennWell Corp.

recently announced four winners for the

annual electric utility Projects of the Year.

Editor in Chief Teresa Hansen revealed

those winners live Monday evening, Feb.

8, during the DistribuTECH Awards

Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Orlando.

The winners in four categories–Grid

Optimization, Renewable Grid Integration,

Demand Response/Energy Efficiency and

Customer Engagement—spanned from

Hawaii to the Atlantic Coast, from the hearty

Midwest U.S. to the heart of Texas. They

were joined by runners-up from Canada,

California, New York and New England.

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

PPL Electric Utilities won the 2016

Customer Engagement Project of the Year

award for its Universal Outage Alerts. This

project was built on a smaller previous

effort, but this time included all of its 1.1

million residential customers.

PPL’s assets and customers endure all

that a Pennsylvania winter and summer

can bring down. PPL’s Universal Outage

Alerts was built to let customers know

immediately that PPL is aware of a par-

ticular outage affecting them. Customers

know when the power was out even if

they are away from home.

Universal Outage Alerts filled a gap

in the company’s customer communica-

tions. PPL successfully launched alerts for

all residential customers in April 2015.

“Our proactive outage alerts have

received a strong positive response from

customers, and we appreciate this indus-

try recognition as well,” said Christopher

Cardenas, PPL’s customer services vice

president. “We continue to look for ways

to improve our service, keep customers

informed and make doing business with

PPL as convenient as possible.”

PPL’s Universal Outage Alerts also

works to significantly improve the accu-

racy of estimated restoration times.

When outages happen, customers want

to know that PPL Electric Utilities is

1603pg_22 22 3/3/16 4:00 PM

March 2016 | 23 www.power-grid.com

Gregg Knight, chief customer officer for CenterPoint Energy,

speaks after accepting that utility’s award for Grid Optimization

Project of the Year.

This photo shows CenterPoint Energy’s tabletop outage demonstration model. Photo courtesy of CenterPoint Energy.

Projects of the Year

GRID OPTIMIZATION

In April 2015, CenterPoint Energy

joined the U.S. Department of Energy and

vendor ABB to complete the Advanced

Metering and Intelligent Grid Initiative,

which dramatically improved the reliability

and efficiency of the Houston power grid.

The DistribuTECH awards ceremo-

ny honored CenterPoint with its Grid

Optimization Project of the Year last

month, but this mission actually started

five years earlier. CenterPoint then was

awarded a $200 million Smart Grid

Investments Grant to benefit custom-

ers and the environment through the

advanced metering system and intelli-

gent grid initiatives.

“CenterPoint Energy continues to lead

the nation in economically implement-

ing smart grid technology,” said Kenny

Mercado, senior vice president of elec-

tric operations for CenterPoint Energy.

“The future of delivering energy presents

opportunities and challenges on many

fronts, and CenterPoint Energy has con-

tinued to identify and implement sus-

tainable solutions while delivering safe,

reliable and environmentally responsible

energy to meet the needs of our custom-

ers today and in the future.”

The Intelligent Grid has at its heart an

advanced distribution management sys-

tem developed by ABB. The goal was to

improve service to the utility’s 2.3 million

metered customers.

Altogether, the initiatives involved a

lot of groundwork—installing 31 substa-

tions and 859 intelligent grid switching

devices on more than 200 distribution

circuits. This multi-faceted deployment

made it what ABB called one of world’s

largest advanced distribution manage-

ment systems (ADMS) in operation.

Since 2011, the ADMS has reportedly

helped the utility’s customers avoid more

aware of it, what caused it, how bad it is

and when it will be fixed. PPL’s goal was

to give that information to them quickly,

when they needed it the most, and it

Universal Outage Alerts does that.

Nuance was PPL’s principal partner on

the project.

RUNNER-UP: National Grid’s

WeatherBug was ranked a solid second

in the crowded Customer Engagement

category. The utility, which serves near-

ly 7 million customers in New York,

Massachusetts and Rhode Island, teamed

up with Earth Networks, operator of

a large weather monitoring network

and parent company of WeatherBug, to

develop the joint severe weather forecast

data modeling project.

The joint venture has been honored by

numerous organizations for its planning,

implementation and results. National

Grid installed 55 WeatherBug stations

at schools, public safety and community

buildings throughout its service territo-

ry. These data points help by providing

real-time alerts, forecasts and sharpen

response and outage restoration efforts.

“At National Grid we are focused on

leveraging technology and innovation

to create better outcomes for custom-

ers every day,” said Terry Sobolewski,

National Grid’s chief customer officer. “We

are excited about this joint project and the

potential jump in preparedness it will give

our customers during the Northeast’s very

tricky and unpredictable storm seasons.”

Overall, Maryland-based Earth

Networks has thousands of sensors oper-

ating at schools, parks and other sites

throughout the country.

Bashar Jarrah, distribution standards manager for PPL Electric

Utilities, accepts the award for Customer Engagement Project

of the Year during the DistribuTECH Awards Dinner on Feb. 8

in Orlando.

PENNWELL PHOTO/CHARLES THOMAS PENNWELL PHOTO/CHARLES THOMAS

1603pg_23 23 3/3/16 4:00 PM

24 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

Christopher Gillman, Duke Energy’s director of demand response

operations, speaks after Duke Energy Ohio won the Demand

Response/Energy Efficiency Project of the Year award for its HōM

Energy Manager.

Projects of the Year

HVAC control with suggested reset pro-

grams and customized energy savings

tips. When demand for electricity peaks,

a wireless signal can turn the compressor

of the air conditioner on and off.

“Consumers expect more from their

service providers and that includes their

utilities,” said Sasha Weintraub, Duke

Energy’s senior vice president of cus-

tomer solutions. “Today, our business is

about more than an obligation to keep

the lights on. It’s also about giving our

customers more control, convenience

and options for managing their energy

usage and spend, and that’s the value

our customers get with our HōM Energy

Manager program.”

than 100 million outage minutes.

CenterPoint Energy estimated that, as

a result of the Intelligent Grid, the utili-

ty’s power reliability improved by more

than 28 percent over the past year.

RUNNER-UP: The editors select-

ed BC Hydro’s unique Downtown

Vancouver Automated Open Loop as the

Grid Optimization runner up project.

This massively detailed project is only

getting started in downtown Vancouver,

which has 472 primary vault customers

with a total of 90,000 customers.

The aging downtown electrical distribu-

tion system is under redevelopment, con-

verting existing underground dual radial

circuits to an open loop system. The first

installed loop, which consists of 10 vista

switches with corresponding controlgear,

initiates a plan eventually involving 200-

plus automated, submersible, vista switch

and controlgear installations.

BC Hydro’s loop features gas-insulated

switchgear, feeder protection relays and a

high-speed directional comparison block-

ing (DCB) protection scheme using IEC

61850 GOOSE (Generic Object-Oriented

Substation Event) messages, according to

the utility’s nomination presentation.

Cheong Siew, BC Hydro’s manager, dis-

tribution automation and strategic plan-

ning in the transmission, distribution

and customer services’ asset investment

management business group, predicted

that the project will “forever improve”

electricity delivery to customers and safe-

ty to workers on the system.

“We have already begun to utilize the

building blocks of this project in other

parts of the underground system—when

manual livefront switchgear are at end-

of-life and when expanding to serve new

load—to add protection along the feeder

trunk and to provide fast tripping for arc

flash and blast hazards,” Siew said. “We

also hope that the collaboration we have

built with our partners S&C, SEL, Subnet

and Powertech will continue to provide

benefit to other utilities that have the

same safety and reliability objectives as BC

Hydro.”

DEMAND RESPONSE/

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The winner was Duke

Energy Ohio’s HōM Energy

Manager. The utility hailed

this as one of the indus-

try’s first integrated demand

response and energy effi-

ciency programs. Based on

two-way communication

between customers and the

utility, HōM Energy Manager

offers up two free Wi-Fi-connected smart

thermostats for each participating house-

hold, multiple tiers of interaction and

a mobile portal that could be accessed

from a smartphone, tablet or computer.

The goal is to provide relevant, person-

alized information to each customer, along

with tips on how to make smart, specific

decisions affecting heating and cooling

consumption and spending. Customers

can access personal home energy usage

data and trends relative to similar homes.

They also have at their fingertips remote

Teresa Hansen, POWERGRID International Editor in

Chief, left, gives the Renewable Grid Integration Project of the

Year Award to Dora Nakafuji, Hawaiian Electric Co.’s director of

renewable energy planning.

Photo courtesy of Duke Energy.

PENNWELL PHOTO/CHARLES THOMASPENNWELL PHOTO/CHARLES THOMAS

1603pg_24 24 3/3/16 4:00 PM

March 2016 | 25 www.power-grid.com

Projects of the Year

As a HōM Energy Manager user, cus-

tomers also can select a level of participa-

tion in an automated electricity conser-

vation program that can occur on up to

10 hot summer days, allowing Duke to

create a capacity resource for both peak

and base load reduction.

Duke Energy Ohio maintains an active

role in this two-way communication.

On selected days from May through

September, the utility automatically cycles

off and on the compressors of participat-

ing customers’ central air conditioners

and heat pumps, helping balance the

region’s electricity demand. These events

are known as “conservation periods.”

The utility’s primary vendor and imple-

menter on this project was Comverge.

RUNNER-UP: Pacific Gas & Electric’s

(PG&E’s) Supply-Side Pilot took sec-

ond place in the Demand Response/

Energy Efficiency category. Olivine, pilot

administrator for PG&E on this project,

noted that it encourages participation

of demand-response resources on the

California Independent System Operators

(CAISO) wholesale market. Those eligible

include individual customers or aggre-

gators within PG&E’s service territory.

Non-residential participation began April

2015, while residential started in August.

The intention is to test certain aspects

of integrating demand response with the

wholesale market. Those registered into

the wholesale market as a proxy demand

resource must include customers served

by a single load-serving entity that can

achieve a minimum load shed of 10kW

for at least four hours.

“Pacific Gas and Electric’s Supply-

Side Pilot (SSP) represents an innova-

tion in the evolving market for demand

response,” said Olivine CEO Beth Reid.

Olivine operates the utility pilot project

on behalf of PG&E. “The success of the

Photo courtesy of Hawaiian Electric Co.

1603pg_25 25 3/3/16 4:00 PM

26 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

Projects of the Year

goal progresses, its IPRs could play a

vital role to keeping the delivery system

reliable and safe.

RUNNER-UP: The editors selected

San Diego Gas & Electric’s Advanced

Distribution Management System as the

runner up in this category. This project,

working with primary partner Oracle

Utilities Network Management System,

integrates distributed energy resources

safely and reliably into the grid using

look-ahead power flow forecasts, feeder

load management and other tools.

“The adoption of solar by SDG&E

customers over the last few years has

been monumental in San Diego and,

until now, the impacts of these have been

unknown in real-time electric opera-

tions,” SDG&E’s Chris Hirsch, the ADMS

Phase III project manager, said. “This

project provided incredible visibility on

the impact of all of San Diego’s renew-

able generation on real-time distribu-

tion management and allows SDG&E to

manage the grid more efficiently.”

SDG&E had more than 60,000 rooftop-so-

lar customers as of last year. It also achieved a

new company record of 1,042 MW of utility

renewable generation in August.

2017 AWARDS

THE 2017 POWERGRID INTERNATIONAL

PROJECTS OF THE YEAR AWARDS WILL BE

ANNOUNCED LIVE ON TUESDAY, JAN. 31,

DURING DISTRIBUTECH’S KEYNOTE IN SAN

DIEGO. MORE INFORMATION ON THE AWARDS

AND INSTRUCTIONS ON NOMINATING A PROJ-

ECT FOR THE 2017 PROJECTS OF THE YEAR

AWARDS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON POWERGRID

INTERNATIONAL’S WEBSITE WWW.POWER-GRID.

COM BEGINNING IN JUNE 2016. THE DEADLINE

FOR NOMINATIONS IS SEPT. 1, 2016.

SSP demonstrates the ability for demand

side resources to act as supply and pro-

vide market-based grid services. This

outcome offers increased grid reliability

and tremendous added value to utilities

and their customers.”

Like the ISO markets, the pilot is oper-

ational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

By August 2015, the pilot already had

1,150 successful bids and more than 270

awarded hours dispatched.

RENEWABLE GRID INTEGRATION

Hawaiian Electric Co. took first place

with its massive rollout of in-line power

regulators (IPRs) to deal with the equally

fast-growing integration of rooftop solar in

that state. The rollout helps circuits deal

safely with all that solar PV coming online.

Primary partner Gridco Systems’

pole-mounted IPRs used advanced elec-

tronics, refined distribution controls and

progressive system analytics to regulate

voltage, manage voltage-ampere reactive

(VAR) controls and compensate for har-

monics on circuits high in PV penetration.

For example, since rooftop PV systems

provide little or no information to sys-

tem operators, maintaining the steady

60 Hz frequency needed for reliable

power delivery is increasingly difficult,

according to a story about the rollout on

Hawaiian Electric’s website. A circuit that

is saturated with PV also strains the grid

as it adds electricity when demand isn’t

there. This causes voltage on the affect-

ed circuits to be higher than intended,

sometimes sending power flowing back

through transformers to substations not

designed to support it.

“We work in concert with our plan-

ning groups within Hawaiian Electric to

investigate new technologies and prod-

ucts, such as the Gridco Systems In-line

Power Regulator, to better see and man-

age what’s happening on the grid,” said

Dr. Dora Nakafuji, director of renewable

energy planning for Hawaiian Electric, in

a statement.

In February 2015, crews installed

pole-mounted IPRs on an overhead line

identified by Gridco’s modeling team,

in collaboration with Hawaiian Electric

engineers, as having voltage issues due to

high rooftop PV penetration.

“With high-penetration PV on our

lines, we see high voltage or back-feed

conditions on some circuits,” Nakafuji

said. “The Gridco IPR allows us to see

what is actually happening right at the

pole that serves a cluster of customers.

At the same time, it allows us to regulate

voltage at that location as needed, based

on how much power the PV systems are

producing and power consumption by

customers at the time of day.”

The IPR bucks or boosts voltage at

a particular site, depending on what

is needed at the time. It also allows

the utility to continue integrating more

renewable generation onto the distribu-

tion circuits. This can be done without

costly re-conducting or trenching work

to upgrade line equipment.

Hawaiian hopes to achieve 100 per-

cent renewable energy by 2045. As this

Hawaiian Electric Co. took first place with its massive rollout of in-line power regulators (IPRs) to deal with the equally fast-growing

integration of rooftop solar in that state.

1603pg_26 26 3/3/16 4:00 PM

OWNED & PRODUCED BY:

SAVE THE DATE

PRESENTED BY: SUPPORTED BY: MEDIA SPONSOR:

December 13-15, 2016 | Orlando, Florida, USAOrange County Convention Center North / South Halls | REWW .com | #REWW

Go to pgi.hotims.com for more information.

1603pg_27 27 3/3/16 4:00 PM

28 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

It’s no secret that the U.S. electricity grid

is getting old. A recent survey conducted

by Utility Dive, found that more than one-

third of utility executives indicated that

aging infrastructure is the biggest challenge

facing the industry. That’s not surprising

given that the Electric Power Research

Institute (EPRI) estimates that modernizing

the U.S. electricity grid will cost upwards

of $476 billion over the next two decades.

While power infrastructure has slowly

deteriorated, customer expectations have

dramatically skyrocketed. Just as with

the telecommunications and banking

industries, technology has been the main

driver for customer expectations in the

energy industry. Nearly 80 percent of

U.S. customers now expect personalized

energy management insights and advice

directly from their energy company.

So, how can a utility build a 21st cen-

tury grid while meeting and exceeding

customer expectations?

Technology offers one simple and

straightforward solution. By harness-

ing the energy-saving insights provided

by real-time data analytics, utilities can

cost-effectively boost the U.S. electricity

grid’s efficiency, reliability and resilience

while simultaneously meeting height-

ened customer expectations.

But this they must first ask: What do

customers actually want from their ener-

gy provider?

Increasingly, customers across all sec-

tors—residential, commercial and indus-

trial—are looking for the same thing:

empowerment. A recent Accenture report

found that nearly two-thirds of energy

consumers want to gain greater control

over and insights into their own energy

use. And with an ever-increasing number

of connected energy devices, including

smart meters, smart thermostats, smart

phone applications and wireless, cir-

cuit-level sensors, more energy data than

ever before exists.

For residential and small busi-

ness customers, the Nest Learning

Thermostat has been one of the early,

popular and successful examples of

how real-time energy data analytics can

help customers use energy more effi-

ciently. Multiple independent studies

have shown that, on average, Nest has

helped residential customers save 10 to

12 percent on heating bills and about

BY BILL KENWORTHY, DIRECT ENERGY

Building a Smarter Grid and Meeting Customer Expectations Real-time Data Analytics

PHOTO COURTESY BIG STOCK

1603pg_28 28 3/3/16 4:00 PM

March 2016 | 29 www.power-grid.com

an interface problem. As more and more

things continue to integrate with sensors

and become connected, there will be a

struggle to determine the best central

application for managing information.

After all, who will want separate apps for

their refrigeration, HVAC, lighting and

other equipment?

The IoT is coming and is, in many

ways, already here. Today, the newest

HVAC equipment has sensors built-in.

Hundreds of thousands of pieces of

machinery still don’t have sensors, how-

ever. We’re essentially in IoT version 1.0

now, where it’s the “Internet on Things.”

In the future, machinery will be con-

structed with built-in sensors and we will

live in IoT version 2.0, where it will be

the “Internet in Things.”

Building a smarter electricity grid and

meeting customer expectations across

all sectors are major challenges facing

the industry today. With real-time data

analytics and the proliferation of data

technology, however, we can cost-effec-

tively help customers use energy more

efficiently and save more money—one

insight at a time. Body copy

energy waste? By using real-time data

analytics. Now more than ever, large

end-users have access to cutting-edge

technology that helps them better

understand their operations while pin-

pointing energy waste.

Take Panoramic Power for example.

The company, which now analyzes 5 bil-

lion data points per month and count-

ing, offers wireless electricity monitor-

ing for business end users. The wireless

sensors that

clip directly

onto circuit wires capture device level

data in real-time and process the data in

an analytics platform. On a basic level,

the technology, which is projected to

save 12 percent for businesses on energy

and operational insights, allows opera-

tors to see how they can become more

energy efficient, how their equipment is

functioning and how they can improve

their overall operations.

This type of energy-saving technology

is part of the oft-mentioned and grow-

ing Internet of Things (IoT), which is a

powerful concept that will fundamen-

tally change business models as vari-

ous applications mix data for specific

purposes. With that said, there are still

two challenges facing data technology

providers today.

First, there’s an awareness gap. People

don’t yet understand all of the technolo-

gy that is available to them. The second is

15 percent on cooling. Such energy

savings directly translate into meaning-

ful value for customers.

The Nest Learning Thermostat isn’t the

only way residential and small business

customers can save. Innovative behav-

ioral demand response programs—those

programs that alert customers with real-

time personalized feedback on ways

to save energy during times of peak

demand—have proven they can help

reduce peak load, ensuring greater grid

reliability and saving customers money

on their energy bill. In fact, one recent

report covered in Greentech Media,

found that behavioral demand response

helped customers reduce peak load

between an impressive 3 and 5 percent

this past summer.

Even more critical are commercial

and industrial (C&I) end users, which

according to the U.S. Energy Information

Administration (EIA) use most of the

world’s total energy. These end users

have even more options to save energy,

improve their operations and boost their

bottom line.

Traditionally, C&I users have had

opportunities to maximize their energy

spend through locking in low natural

gas and electricity rates, improving their

business or plant’s energy efficiency and,

in some cases, participating in regional

demand response programs.

Those certainly are important ways

to save money and energy. A U.S.

Department of Energy (DOE) study

found, however, that C&I users still

have a lot of room for improvement. The

DOE reported that there are around 5.5

million commercial buildings in the U.S.

and, on average, each building is still

about 30 percent inefficient.

So, how can utilities help commer-

cial buildings systematically reduce

Bill Kenworthy is director of business

development for Direct Energy. Direct Energy

is a North American retailer of energy and

energy services.

For residential and small business customers, the Nest Learning Thermostat has been one

of the early, popular and successful examples of how real-time energy data analytics can help customers use energy more efficiently.

1603pg_29 29 3/3/16 4:00 PM

30 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

Utilities’ residential and business cus-

tomers alike are adopting distributed

energy resources (DER), especially roof-

top solar photovoltaic, at an historic

pace. Their ability to impact grid reli-

ability, outages, revenue and even overall

business health can be positive or nega-

tive, depending upon how utilities inte-

grate these DER and the large amounts of

data they continuously produce.

At the same time, the data produced

by these and other grid connected devic-

es—the Internet of Things (IoT)—is put-

ting new pressure on utilities. In combi-

nation, these challenges are causing util-

ities to transform their business models

to better manage evolving distribution

operations.

NEW APPROACHES TO

UTILITY PROCESSES

With so much distribution grid inno-

vation now being driven by consumers

and policy and regulatory changes, util-

ities must quickly understand how to

turn the grid edge into business oppor-

tunities, rather than a stumbling block.

They can do so by evolving their busi-

ness model, which can open up innova-

tive ways of gaining revenue, improving

asset performance and lowering operat-

ing cost, such as:

• Increasing customer choice to par-

ticipate in demand response (DR),

load shifting and the sale of excess

and stored DER generation into other

markets.

• Minimizing asset risk by identifying

and mitigating negative performance

DER Inclusiveness Turning Grid-Edge Challenges Into Opportunities

BY BRADLEY WILLIAMS, ORACLE UTILITIES

PHOTO COURTESY BIG STOCK

1603pg_30 30 3/3/16 4:00 PM

Bradley Williams is vice president of industry strategy, Oracle Utilities. Williams is responsible for Oracle’s smart grid strategy as well as utility

solutions for outage management, advance distribution management, mobile workforce management, work and asset management and OT analytics.

March 2016 | 31 www.power-grid.com

devices, but a more robust process is

needed for continued customer engage-

ment when a utility begins to deal with

DER at scale. In this instance, the con-

nect-and-energize process must allow

for process automation, with predefined

workflows to speed the associated work.

As DER levels increase, utilities need

automated DER asset registry processes

and systems that can scale to every utility

connected customer.

Operations and Control. Much like

sensor-based field devices and smart

meters, DER create high volumes of com-

plex data, often in real-time. Although

DER are decentralized, they are part of

the grid infrastructure. Extracting value

from that data—for DR, innovative pro-

grams, outage management, load shifting

and other benefits—begins when utilities

treat DER as assets and can expedite

their integration into the utility network

model, where they are visible. A DER-

specific asset registry is integral to this

process.

Service and Maintenance. In the cases

where DER is owned and maintained

by the utility—for example, where res-

idential rooftop solar is deployed and

operated by the utility on behalf of the

customer—service and maintenance is

fairly straightforward. For deregulated

utilities, such as distribution retailers in

Europe or utilities that have spun off sep-

arate businesses for the purposes of DER

installation, service and maintenance,

these on-premises, value-added services

represent a new, potential revenue chan-

nel. Utilities can monitor actual outputs

and compare them to forecasts to predict

maintenance needs.

For all utilities with DER integrated

into the grid model, this “service and

patterns via predictive modeling of

granular DERs and their connections

to the grid. The models leverage real-

time, location-based weather fore-

casts, as well as related sensor data

to provide clear DER visibility at the

edge of the grid.

• Alleviating utility grid, as well as sup-

ply-side, constraint via DR by leverag-

ing both utility and consumer assets

to dynamically shift output among

other generation sources. DR is a great

resource to help mitigate grid impacts

from the intermittency of renewable

DERs.

The systems required to deliver this

innovation must support new approach-

es to utility processes, such as automating

DER and other device connections. In

addition, utility and other sensor devices

must be able to communicate with these

resources. And, depending upon the

utility’s business model, third-party ser-

vice providers might also be part of the

processes. Complex programs, billing

and load shifting also must be recon-

ciled with customers to ensure revenue.

An entire connection-through-custom-

er-service process lifecycle for DER, DR

and other connected devices exists. It

is decidedly more complicated than the

traditional customer or asset lifecycle

process employed by utilities in the past.

DEFINING THE DER LIFECYCLE

MANAGEMENT PROCESS

The traditional distribution process

has its own defined lifecycle, and so does

DER management. Sometimes, when

dealing with grid-edge devices and tech-

nologies, it’s a matter of managing a dis-

tributed device on its own. When deal-

ing with a higher proliferation of DER

within a specific territory, the process

also involves bringing perhaps millions

of granular DER devices into the utili-

ty’s network model and understanding

how they impact the utility’s traditional

distribution model. Beyond initial pilot

projects, utilities must leverage automat-

ed information management processes to

capture and keep these models current.

The DER lifecycle management pro-

cess, much like many other utility pro-

cesses, begins and ends with the cus-

tomer.

Following are six distinct steps seen in

this process, beginning with connecting

the customer’s DER: • Connect and energize

• Operations and control

• Service and maintenance

• Risk analysis and planning

• Outage management

• Customer interaction

Connect and Energize. Regulated utili-

ties are obligated to serve their customers

as part of their regulatory mandate. Many

see the connection of customers’ rooftop

solar PV as an assumed extension of that

mandate. The “connect and energize”

step from a DER perspective means try-

ing to get valuable generation or storage

or both connected and into the grid

model as quickly as possible so that those

resources also are available to the utility,

which can use them for reliability and

revenue purposes.

Every utility has established a process

for dealing with new building or custom-

er connections, and this process is similar

from one utility to the next. When it

comes to connections for DER or other

smart devices, however, utilities have

taken many different initial approaches.

Some began as pilot projects, others have

been managed through GIS, and so on.

These approaches may have worked for

a few hundred or even a few thousand

1603pg_31 31 3/3/16 4:00 PM

32 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

maintenance” process also extends well

beyond the health of the DER asset itself.

By integrating DER into the network

model, utilities can not only automate

sensor maintenance and upgrades and

ensure real-time asset performance man-

agement (APM) health scores of DER

assets are reflected, but also account for

DER impact on distribution assets.

Risk Analysis and Planning. This is one

of the most important—and potentially

most lucrative—areas of DER lifecycle

management. It involves the utility hav-

ing the ability to make dynamic grid

adjustments to ward off unstable con-

ditions and improve resource planning.

Currently, in many cases, no grid adjust-

ments are being made to account for

DER risk factors because of a lack of vis-

ibility or control over customer-owned

DER assets. Further, DER data might not

be incorporated into the network model,

and DER growth might not be factored

into future planning, leading to increased

customer costs to provide duplicate util-

ity capacity.

Under this DER lifecycle management

model, the utility would gain visibility to

all distributed generation on existing cir-

cuits; identify and model patterns of DER

growth; and potentially defer the need

for additional generation and traditional

grid capacity by incentivizing customers

in specific areas to update DER so the

utility has additional, customer-supplied

generation in places where it is need-

ed. As utilities move to real-time, this

becomes a transactive energy market

model.

Outage Management. Traditionally, DER

are poorly leveraged for outage use. DER

is tripped out in an outage event to keep

the crews working on the outage safe.

DER, therefore, will not be available on

the line being restored during the outage

restoration process. When tripped off,

DER can extend the duration of an out-

age because additional switching steps

are required to pick up the load when

circuits are re-energized.

Optimally, within this DER lifecycle

management model, the utility would

know if a DER is appropriately sized

and equipped for islanding operations

and be able to model each resource’s

capabilities for outage management. This

would allow the utility to aggregate load

and restore power faster to areas after a

service disruption. In addition, it would

accurately model and account for DER in

cold load pickup.

DR can be used to temporarily free up

capacity during the switching steps, then

once restoration is complete the DER

will re-energize and the DR event can be

completed with minimal impact to the

customer.

Customer Interaction. This is where

DER lifecycle management begins and

ends. The customer is central from the

beginning of the DER integration pro-

cess, and integral to program uptake and

additional revenue opportunities. New

utility revenue opportunities will require

regulatory and policy changes, and those

are beginning to take place. For example,

the New York REV (Reforming the Energy

Vision) initiative is working to transform

the utility into a value-based business

model, which includes the ability to sup-

port customers’ choices and provide them

with access to third-party service provid-

ers that those customers value. In juris-

dictions where end-use customers and

metering have been separated from the

grid operators (e.g., parts of Europe), this

vision is much more difficult, creating an

obligation to serve customers and connect

to DER without the information to effec-

tively plan and operate.

As the integration and evolution of the

DER-inclusive model continues, utilities

need the ability to create rate structures

for any level of program complexity,

enable more accurate segmentation of

their customers, integrate third-party

vendors where applicable and dynami-

cally communicate to the DER on their

grid network.

A DER INCLUSIVE FUTURE

Every utility must deal with grow-

ing grid-edge technologies in some way,

moving forward. Many already are deal-

ing with it, more quickly than they

ever anticipated. While regulatory policy

changes are moving forward in many

jurisdictions to assist in DER integration,

utilities also are exploring the technol-

ogy changes necessary to their systems

to manage the additional complexities

brought about by DER integration. A

new approach to lifecycle management

is an important first step.

Demand response can be used to temporarily free up capacity during the switching steps, then once restoration is

complete the DER will re-energize and the demand response event can be completed

with minimal impact to the customer.

1603pg_32 32 3/3/16 4:00 PM

Go to pgi.hotims.com for more information.

CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION

19-21 JULY 2016SANDTON CONVENTION CENTRE, JOHANNESBURG,

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Owned & Produced by: Host Utility:

KEY POWER HUB FOR PAN AFRICAN STAKEHOLDERS

CREATING POWER

FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

Join high-level decision-makers from government and the private sector at POWER-GEN & DistribuTECH Africa 2016

conference & exhibition. Supporting sustainability in the pan-African power sector, the event aims to serve as the continent’s premier knowledge sharing and networking hub for the power generation and distribution sectors across sub-Saharan Africa.

Hear from over 100 expert international speakers as they discuss the latest technical developments, benchmark case studies and important issues such as: Project Funding; Asset Management; Infrastructure Development; Integration of Renewables; Procurement Best Practice; Financing Models and Deal Structuring.

Running alongside the conference, the exhibition floor will showcase cutting-edge products and technologies by over 80 leading local and international companies including Eskom, Ansaldo Energia, Rosatom, Seimens, Steinmuller Africa and Turkish Renewable Pavilion.

To register or for further information, visit www.powergenafrica.com

Supporting Association:

1603pg_33 33 3/3/16 4:00 PM

PRODUCTS

34 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

Integrated Software Platform for BYOD Programs

Comverge Inc., a provider of cloud-based demand

response and energy efficiency solutions for electric

utilities, and Pro1, one of the largest heating and cooling

controls manufacturers in North America, announced

Comverge’s integration with Pro1’s new

T701i Wi-Fi thermostat. Comverge’s

IntelliCONNECT software platform will

enable utilities looking to deploy bring

your own device (BYOD) programs to

use the T701i Wi-Fi thermostat as a

demand response resource. The T701i Wi-Fi thermostat

is installed by Pro1’s extensive national channel of reseller

partners. Comverge and Pro1 offer the same capabilities

with IntelliCONNECT and the T855i Wi-Fi thermostat.

IntelliCONNECT is fully integrated with the Comverge

IntelliSOURCE customer engagement portal to give

the residential energy consumer a full set of tools, such

as a web and mobile engagement portal, customized

insights and tips engine as well as personalized ther-

mostat optimization, to conveniently reduce household

energy consumption.

Comverge Inc.

GO TO WWW.PGI.HOTIMS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION

Compact Energy and Power Quality Meters for Feeders

A highly accurate and reliable power and energy meter,

Schneider Electric’s PowerLogic ION7400 utility feeder

meter offers flexibility and usability. The meter combines

accurate three-phase energy and power

measurements with data logging, power

quality analysis, alarming and I/O capabili-

ties not typically available in such a compact

meter. It provides a high degree of visibil-

ity to data and assets that allows for cost

savings, rapid response time and better

decisions. Facility managers can improve

operations and profitability of their facilities with this

easy-to-install, easy-to-operate meter. Software integra-

tion provides user-friendly, remote access to energy data,

power quality disturbances, forecasting and more from

customizable Web pages.

Schneider Electric

GO TO WWW.PGI.HOTIMS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION

GIS Data Quality Software Solution

RAMTeCH Software Solutions Inc.,

a global spatial enterprise solutions

company, introduces its gReady data

quality analytics software solution to

help uncover, prioritize and correct

operational data quality errors in geo-

graphic information systems (GIS) by embedding routine

checks directly into daily business workflows and between

operational systems. gReady performs comprehensive

GIS network data quality validations and compiles in-

depth visual reports that identify specific data conditions

by feature class and error type. Generating configurable

and easy-to-understand scorecards and action plans,

gReady prioritizes data errors by importance, allowing a

business to more effectively and proactively deliver clean

data to downstream systems where it has the biggest

impact. In addition, with gReady’s routine checks embed-

ded directly into workflows, users receive ongoing intel-

ligence about which data quality measures will drive the

greatest operational improvement.

RAMTeCH Software Solutions Inc.

GO TO WWW.PGI.HOTIMS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION

Rugged Crimson-enabled E3 I/O Modules

Red Lion Controls, the global communication, moni-

toring and control company for industrial automation

and networking, introduced its new rugged E3 I/O™

module platform, a set of 17 high-density I/O modules

with hardened metal enclosures and powerful commu-

nication options. This platform marks Red Lion’s first

rugged I/O modules configurable using Crimson® 3.0

software. Designed to withstand the critical

demands of localized and distributed I/O

applications, Red Lion’s Crimson-enabled

E3 I/O modules feature robust networking

capabilities with redundant Ethernet ports

and built-in serial communication. With one

RS-485 terminal block and dual Ethernet

ports that include user-selectable Ethernet modes for ring,

pass through and two network, the E3 I/O modules can

eliminate the need for additional switching devices.

Red Lion Controls

GO TO WWW.PGI.HOTIMS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION

1603pg_34 34 3/3/16 4:00 PM

CALENDAR

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, NORTH AMERICAN POWER GENERATION GROUP

Richard Baker

PRODUCTION MANAGER Daniel Greene

918.831.9401 danielg@pennwell.com

ADVERTISING TRAFFIC MANAGER Glenda Van Duyne

918.831.9473 glendav@pennwell.com

1421 S. Sheridan Road, Tulsa, OK 74112 P.O. Box 1260 : Tulsa, OK 74101 918.835.3161, fax 918.831.9834

www.pennwell.com

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Tom Leibrandt

AK, AL, AR, CO, CT, DE, District of Columbia, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD,

TN, TX, VT, VA, WV, WI, Canada, International

918.831.9184 fax 918.831.9834 toml@pennwell.com

REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Joanna Shatwell

AZ, CA, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY

918. 831.9884 fax 918.831.9834 joannas@pennwell.com

CHINA & HONG KONG SALES MANAGER Adonis Mak

ACT International Unit B, 13/F, Por Yen Building

478 Castle Peak Road, Cheung Sha Wan Kowloon, Hong Kong

+86.138.252.678.23 fax +852.2.838.2766 adonism@actintl.com.hk

ISRAEL SALES MANAGER Daniel Aronovic

Margola Ltd. 1/1 Rashi Street, Raanana 43214 Israel

phone/fax +972.9.899 5813 aronovic@actcom.co.il

SENIOR DISTRIBUTECH EXHIBIT & SPONSORSHIP SALES MANAGER

Sandy Norris 918.831.9115 fax 918.831.9834

sandyn@pennwell.com

For assistance with marketing strategy or ad creation, please contact PennWell Marketing Solutions

VICE PRESIDENT Paul Andrews

240.595.2352 pandrews@pennwell.com

REPRINTS Rhonda Brown

219.878.6094 fax 219.561.2023 rhondab@fosterprinting.com

DistribuTECH 2017: The industry’s most comprehensive conference on automation, grid optimization, T&D engineering and customer engagement. Jan. 31-Feb. 2,

2017, San Diego. 918.832.9265 www.distributech.com

March 2016 | 35 www.power-grid.com

ADVERTISER. ............................. PG#

DISTRIBUTECH 2017 ....................... 1

DISTRIBUTECH/POWERGEN AFRICA .........................................................33

ELECTRO INDUSTRIES/GAUGETECH .........................................................21

LEIDOS ENGINEERING ............... C3

MEGGER INC. ................................ 17

POWER ENGINEERS .................... C4

RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD INDIA 2016 .......................27

SENSUS USA ................................. C2

21 24

International Battery Seminar & Exhibitwww.internationalbatteryseminar.comFort Lauderdale, Florida

29 31

Energy Thought Summitwww.ets16.comAustin, Texas

2 5

IEEE and PES Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exhibitionwww.ieeet-d.orgDallas

22 24

ACEEE Energy Efficiency Finance Forumwww.aceee.org/conferences/2016/eeffNewport, Rhode Island

3 8

International Conference of Doble Clientswww.doble.com/event/international-conference-of-doble-clientsBoston

12 13

Oracle Industry Connectwww.oracle.com/oracleindustryconnectOrlando

20 22

Advanced Energy Conferencewww.aertc.org/conference2016New York City

26 29

CS Week Conference 40www.csweek.org/web/conferencePhoenix

MA

RC

HA

PR

IL

MA

Y

1603pg_35 35 3/3/16 4:00 PM

36 | March 2016www.power-grid.com

PARTING THOUGHTS

TALK TRENDS

TWEETS

“Customer-owned generation is just one innovation that will likely affect all aspects of power and utility operations, especially generation, transmission and distribution,” — Deloitte, “Top Regulatory Trends for 2016 in Energy”

“The most salient long-term trend in installed U.S. PV prices for

residential-scale installations is their steady decline over the 14

years from 2000 to 2013. Annual average prices paid (in real

dollars per watt) declined nearly threefold over that period.” — Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, other partners, “Characteristics of Low-Priced Solar Photovoltaics in the U.S.”

“Emerging market countries can reap immediate benefits from smart grid

infrastructure investment. Many… suffer from rampant non-technical losses…

that cost in aggregate $63.1 billion each year in lost or unbilled revenue.”

— Northeast Group, “Emerging Markets Smart Grid: Outlook 2016”

Report predicts #EVs to make up 25 percent+ of global auto market by 2025, up from 3 percent today —@CEMSecretariat

Global energy efficiency investment will = $5.8 trillion by 2030

—@Onzohq

“Engineering is changing to meet the demands of

our rapidly evolving world." Trishia, senior consultant

at Leidos Engineers, during Engineers Week. http://

ow.ly/YCq4B — @LeidosEngineers

“Put customers front and

center. Stop calling

them ratepayers. Treat

them like you care.” — Suzanne Shelton, president and CEO of

Shelton Group, during the Electric Light & Power

Executive Conference

“It’s a delicate balance from being on the offense to

being offensive.” — Tucson Electric Power CEO David Hutchens at

Electric Light & Power Executive Conference

“There's still more than one million people without any access to energy (and) another billion without reliable

access. Those of us who have it are using it in ways that aren't

sustainable.” — Mark Feasel, vice president, smart grid for

Schneider Electric, at company’s Executive Breakfast

briefing during DistribuTECH week

“It’s very disruptive but, you know what, you can't put this genie back in the

bottle.” — Yahoo Tech founder David Pogue, keynote speaker

at DistribuTECH, talking about the rapid pace of the

technological revolution.

1603pg_36 36 3/3/16 4:00 PM

Tap into forward thinking.

Take on the connected world.

leidos.com/power-grid

Activate Tomorrow, Today.

Raymond Okeke

Project Engineer

Alexa Tereszczenko

Project Assistant

Jim Calder, Senior Manager,

Power Delivery Services

Leidos Engineering is helping utilities to become

the energy systems of the future. Our cross-cutting

expertise in grid engineering, system protection,

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cybersecurity transforms your utility with data-driven

intelligence so you can take on whatís next.

Go to pgi.hotims.com for more information.

1603pg_C3 3 3/3/16 4:00 PM

Go to pgi.hotims.com for more information.

1603pg_C4 4 3/3/16 4:00 PM