Schneider-Electric - Telvent: GIS-Based Design for Effective Smart Grid Strategies
GIS-Based Design for Effective Smart Grid Strategies
The industry’s experience and knowledge of smart grid capabilities and benefits are growing rapidly, and utilities’ smart grid plans are becoming more sophisticated every day. While AMI once was considered the ‘golden child’ of the smart grid, utilities now see the Distribution Management System (DMS) as one of the most important components of an effective smart grid strategy. Perhaps not as readily acknowledged is the vital role an enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS) plays in driving the accurate network model needed for DMS implementations.
In this paper, we highlight the value of an enterprise GIS-based graphic work design (GWD) system in maintaining an accurate distribution network model – the heart of an effective smart grid strategy. Inefficient GWD processes do not keep up with the network changes continuously being planned and executed in the dynamic electric distribution network. The resulting out-of-date or inaccurate network model can not drive mission-critical smart grid applications such as OMS, DMS, DSDR and VVR and, consequently, compromises potential smart grid efficiency enhancements and operational improvements. An efficient, GIS-based GWD solution is key to building a robust smart grid foundation.
Utilize existing asset and network data at the start of your GIS-based design,
perform advanced structural analyses, sag, tension and
clearance investigations ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements
It’s all about the network
DMS a key technology. In a survey conducted by Microsoft in 2010, approximately 70 percent of the utilities responding rated DMS as a very important technology in implementing tomorrow’s smart grid 1). Indeed, the Department of Energy identified 2) five fundamental technologies that will drive the smart grid; in addition to communications, response capability and storage, two DMS-related technologies make this list:
- Advanced control methods, to monitor essential components, enabling rapid diagnosis and precise solutions appropriate to any event
- Improved interfaces and decision support, to amplify human decision-making, transforming grid operators and managers quite literally into visionaries when it comes to seeing into their systems
DMS needs accurate data. The DMS is based on a network model that must accurately reflect:Network asset information- Real time data
- Time series data
- Transactional data
DMS functionality is all about the network: accurate up-to-date network data yields an accurate model driving advanced DMS functions that deliver the network improvements expected. Conversely, inaccurate or stale data results in a poor network model yielding unexpected and often ineffective results.
GIS key in network data integrity. It is the utility’s enterprise GIS database that not only stores and maintains network asset data but also manages the workflow for updating this vital information. GIS data is the key to maintaining the accurate and up-to-date network model that is fed to all smart grid information systems, including SCADA, DMS, OMS, MDM and others.
1) - Microsoft, March 2010. Worldwide Utilities Industry Survey
2) - Department of Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, 2008. The Smart Grid: An Introduction.