Automated Metering Infrastructure, Automated Meter Reading, and Load Control

 

  1. OpenAMI

  2. Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), AMR Benefit-Cost Study

  3. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, AMR and Load Control Benefit Cost Analysis

  4. City Public Service of San Antonio, AMR and Load Control

These projects are described below:

OpenAMI

OpenAMI was started as part of an effort by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to develop state-wide demand response programs. The OpenAMI group is associated with the UCA International Users Group and has the aim of developing the design principles for an Automated Metering Infrastructure and Demand Response.

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), AMR Benefit-Cost Study

Xanthus staff performed an Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) Benefit-Cost Analysis for OPPD, comparing the costs between current meter reading methods and a variety of automatic meter reading methods. The basic AMR functions that the study addressed included the following:

1.      Monthly electric meter reading

2.      On-demand electric meter reading

3.      Interval energy and demand meter reading

4.      Outage detection

5.      Monitoring of voltage, harmonics, and other power quality characteristics

6.      Tamper detection

7.      Customer “connect” and “disconnect” (via meter reads)

8.      Customer disconnect (via hardware switch)

9.      Load control and emergency load shed

10.   Time of use metering

11.   Monthly and on-demand gas and water meter reading

12.   Electric, gas, and water usage profiling – whole house and by appliance

13.   Messaging to customers on real-time prices

Additional meter-related service capabilities, which are already technically feasible with Internet access, were also included. With password security to ensure privacy, customers could access their own accounts to:

1.      Review and analyze their historical energy usage and bills

2.      Review their current billing information

3.      Request deferred payments and other billing changes

4.      Request connects and disconnects

5.      Receive information on utility services

6.      Provide electronic payment for energy and other services

As future considerations, the list of AMR capabilities was also expanded to additional energy services, such as:

1.      Customer site monitoring:

a.      Home security

b.      Smoke and fire detection

c.      Broken pipe detection

d.      Personal safety devices

2.      Customer site monitoring and control:

a.      DR device monitoring and control

b.      Commercial vending equipment

c.      Remote monitoring and control of intelligent appliances

3.      Related energy services:

a.      Assist in evaluating, selecting, and installing DR devices

b.      Provide billing services for other utilities as a Meter Data Management Agent.

For the benefit-cost analysis, the OPPD customers were separated into three types of AMR systems:

1.      C&I AMR systems, which are focused on providing enhanced meter management services to the larger C&I customers.

2.      Metro Area AMR systems, which are designed for wide-scale implementation in densely populated urban areas of smaller commercial and residential customers.

3.      Rural Area AMR systems, which are designed for residential customers in thinly populated rural areas.

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, AMR and Load Control Benefit Cost Analysis

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) has the somewhat unique situation of having many very difficult-to-read meters and a higher than average amount of energy theft. PREPA therefore decided to investigate the benefits and costs of implementing an Automatic Meter Reading system to alleviate these problems.

Xanthus staff collected and analyzed quantitative data from PREPA related to meter reading, load surveying, theft, possibilities of deferring construction with load control, and other electrical and financial information. After performing a detailed analysis, we concluded that the TWACS system would have the shortest payback period. Most of the benefits were related to losses due to theft, inaccurately estimated meter readings, and on-demand meter readings. Because Puerto Rico is so mountainous and because many of the meters are not easily accessible by short-range radio systems, the radio-based systems were not as feasible as the power line carrier system.

PREPA is currently installing the recommended system. Over 150,000 meters had been installed by July 1999, with plans calling for the island to have all meters upgraded to AMR within 4 years.

City Public Service of San Antonio, AMR and Load Control

Project Description

City Public Service (CPS) of San Antonio, Texas, the second largest municipal in the United States, undertook a system-wide Distribution Automation and Customer Site communications project using state-of-the-art telecommunications networking and integration technology.

CPS’s Distribution Automation Pilot Project (DAPP) comprised the design, specification, and implementation of automated switches, voltage regulators, capacitor bank switches, reclosers, LTC controllers, and substation RTUs, which were either interfaced to a loop of fiber optic telecommunication cables strung along two distribution feeders or directly linked to CPS’s fiber optic backbone telecommunications network in the two pilot substations. The communication protocol for interacting with all of these intelligent electronic devices is the Utility Communications Architecture for substations and feeders (UCAÔ 2).

In addition to distribution automation, the DAPP also included Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) to residential and commercial customer sites within the pilot area. Initially, full high bandwidth telecommunications (hybrid of fiber optics and coaxial cable) were specified, but eventually the telecommunications system was converted to a radio-based system. After many attempts with different AMR vendors, this portion of the DAPP is basically on hold.

Xanthus staff Services to CPS for AMR

Xanthus staff worked closely with the CPS project team for the AMR portion of the project in the following specific areas:

1.      Telecommunications Configuration and Specifications

a.      Which telecommunications media should be used to access the customer sites? (The final decision was a hybrid of fiber and coaxial cable).

b.      What type of fiber cable (OPGW or ADSS), how many fibers (12, 24, or 48), and which route should be used over the distribution feeders?

c.      How best to network and integrate the various distinct computer-based systems at the utility (SCADA, Distribution Automation, Meter Reading, etc.)?

2.      Customer Site AMR Systems

a.      Functions:

·         Automatic meter reading for electric, gas, and water meters

·         Load control

·         Tamper detection

·         Automatic detection and reporting of power outages and restorations of service

·         Call-back of customers after restoration of power

·         Remote service connect and disconnect

·         End-use load surveys of electric, gas, and water usage.

b.      To what extent should the City of San Antonio implement more innovative functions made possible by new technology, such as:

·         Providing billing information to customers on-line or over the Internet

·         Real-time pricing

·         Retail wheeling

·         Infrastructure for use by other companies

c.      Specifications

·         Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) Customer Site Specifications

·         Radio System Customer Site Specifications

·         Fiber Optic Cable Specification