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October 1, 2009
Smart Grid Success Relies on Smart Data Management, Public Power Magazine, October 2009
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Tim Blodgett
Hometown Connections
tblodgett@hometownconnections.com
303-526-4515
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Transform Stranded Data into Actionable Intelligence
Leading public power utilities are taking strategic actions toward a smart grid model for tomorrow that immediately helps them better manage costs, drive efficiency, and improve reliability today.
A first, important step for utilities to take toward the smart grid is to transform "stranded" data into actionable intelligence. Today, data for decision making for most utilities is "stranded" because it resides in disparate systems from different vendors, is not formatted properly, is difficult to get to the decision makers, and is not real-time to enable optimal operating decisions. Often, capabilities for system-to-system data exchange are complex and problematic without a centralized integration platform.
Meter Data Management Systems (MDMS) and Loss Analysis and Reporting Systems (LARS) are two examples of incremental steps toward a smart grid technology model.
MDMS enables a utility to collect, track and analyze meter data from all available data sources (such as self-reads, hand-held devices, fixed network, etc.) into a single data repository. The data repository combines this with in-the-field endpoint data from supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and with enterprise data from billing and other operational systems. The utility benefits include a comprehensive "dashboard" view for internal management reporting as well as external citizen/customer data presentation. This enables the utility to increase operations and energy efficiency, improve reliability, provide better, enhanced customer service and, better manage costs.
Reducing distribution line loss is an ongoing goal for all public power utilities. Reducing losses by 1 percent at a 25,000-meter utility can translate to more than $500,000 of annual revenue recovery and the deferral of rate increases. However, due to stranded data challenges, some electric utilities are forced to "bury" all line losses in their power cost recovery factor or pass them along to customers through rate increases because they cannot correctly identify or correct the line losses.
LARS is a incremental smart grid step that provides an accurate "before and after" analysis of distribution system losses down to the substation and feeder by providing a platform that:
Integrates meter data streams with substation interval data to reconcile and report losses and revenue "leakage;"
Reconciles end-customer electricity sales back to each feeder and substation;
Reconciles substation interval data back to the wholesale invoicing data; and
Tracks distribution system performance to maintain low loss margins over time.
The result is a complete picture of system losses that incorporates all available data sources within a utility. With LARS, utilities are better quantifying and confirming where line losses occur. In addition, utilities are identifying where to implement specific cross-functional tasks to recover the lost revenue. Just one LARS "find"-whether the losses stem from meter errors, billing errors, or theft-can potentially pay for the entire system investment.
Written by William Rambo, Vice President Marketing & Business Development, Survalent Technology.
Affiliated with Hometown Connections, Survalent Technology is the leading supplier for automation & technology for the Smart Grid in North America and has an installed base of more than 275 mission critical systems worldwide.
See these web sites for more information.
• Hometown Connections
• Survalent Technology
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