Distribution Automation and Management Systems

City Public Service of San Antonio, Texas, Distribution Automation and Telecommunications Using UCA Protocol, Study and Pilot
Omaha Public Power District, Automation Plan

Some of these projects are described below

City Public Service of San Antonio, Texas, Distribution Automation and Telecommunications Using UCA Protocol, Study and Pilot

Project Description

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

The first phase of this project is the Distribution Automation Pilot Project (DAPP). The 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).

After a cost-benefit study for distribution automation was completed, in conjunction with the development of a new EMS/SCADA system for CPS, Distribution Management System (DMS) applications were specified to manage the field devices, not only for the DAPP pilot project, but for the system-wide implementation of automated switches and other field devices. These automated switches are being installed up to a possible total of 1000 switches.

In addition to distribution automation, the DAPP also includes implementing Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) to residential and commercial customer sites within the pilot area. The UCA protocol will also be used for AMR. The AMR pilot will be used to demonstrate the cost-benefit of AMR.

Xanthus staff Services to CPS

Xanthus staff worked closely with the CPS project team in the following specific areas:

1. Telecommunications Configuration and Specifications

a. What role should CPS play as the provider of telecommunications infrastructure to the community? (Utilities do own the rights of way and are an acknowledged provider of infrastructure for other companies to utilize.)

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

c. 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?

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

e. Specifications:

· Fiber Optic Cable Specification

· Fiber Optic Transceiver Requirements (for H&L Instruments)

2. Distribution Automation Field Devices

a. Which Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED) should be included in the DAPP pilot project?

b. UCA Communication Protocol specifications and object models for each IED, (which eventually led to the development of UCA 2 documents: Communication Profiles (including ADLC), Common Application Services Model (CASM), and Generic Object Models for Substation and Feeder Equipment (GOMSFE).

c. Specifications:

· Substation RTU requirements (as part of EMS/SCADA/DMS specifications)

· Automated Switch RFP

· Voltage Regulator RFP

· LTC Controller RFP

· Capacitor Bank Switch RFP

· Recloser RFP

· UCA server specifications (within each IED specification)

3. 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

4. Distribution Management/Automation Study and Specifications

a. Which Distribution Management System (DMS) functions are most cost-beneficial, and should be included in a system-wide implementation of automation.

b. Real-time distribution operation modeling, entailing the following:

· Model of the distribution power system

· Connectivity analysis

· Distribution system power flow analysis

· Fault detection

· Fault location

· Fault isolation and service restoration

· Volt/var control

· Feeder reconfiguration.

c. Report:

· Cost Benefit Study for CPS

d. Specifications:

· DAPP master station (as Phase 1 of EMS/SCADA/DMS specifications)

· UCA specifications for client

· DMS applications (as part of EMS/SCADA/DMS specifications)

5. SCADA and EMS Functions

a. Monitoring and control of distribution equipment at substations

b. Monitoring and control of feeder equipment, including switches, reclosers, capacitor controllers, and voltage regulators

c. Use of the Utility Communications Architecture (UCA 2) between the master station and the RTUs, as well as between the substations and the feeder equipment.

d. SCADA/EMS/DMS Specifications (Transmission and Distribution Automation Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System)

6. Integration

a. SCADA

b. Geographical Information System

c. Trouble Call System

d. Customer Information System.

Development of UCA 2

EPRI provided Tailored Collaboration funding to CPS for hosting the development and implementation of the Utility Communication Architecture (UCA) in the SCADA, Distribution Automation, and Customer Site communications. Detailed specifications were written by Xanthus staff for the UCA protocol to ensure proper communication between the SCADA Master Station and the field devices. These detailed specifications were used by vendors to ensure that their Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) software, hardware, RTUs, telecommunications equipment, and SCADA equipment complied with the UCA requirements.

In parallel with the CPS project, Xanthus staff participated in an industry effort (strongly influenced by the CPS requirements) to finalize the UCA requirements. The results of this multi-year industry effort were the development of the UCA 2 Profiles, the UCA 2 Common Application Services Model (CASM), and the UCA 2 Generic Object Models for Substation and Feeder Equipment (GOMSFE).

Summary of Xanthus staff Activities

Xanthus staff has and is continuing to provide CPS with the full range of consulting services for this project, including:

1. Requirement studies

a. Feasibility study

b. Requirements definition

c. System design

d. UCA 2 communications protocol design (as part of an international team effort for standards development)

2. Specifications

a. Specifications for the SCADA system

b. Specifications for the EMS applications

c. Specifications for the DMS applications

d. Specifications for substation RTUs, automated switches, voltage regulators, LTC controllers, capacitor bank controllers, and reclosers

e. Specifications for fiber optic cables

f. Specifications for hybrid-fiber-coax system for customer site systems

g. Specifications for radio system for customer site systems

3.      Statement of work

4.      Contract negotiations

5.      Project implementation

6.      Final evaluation of DMS functionality and benefits

Omaha Public Power District, Automation Plan

Xanthus staff developed an Automation Plan for OPPD, covering SCADA/EMS requirements, Distribution Automation, Substation Automation, Automatic Meter Reading, Integration Standards, and Communication Protocols.

Xanthus staff worked with OPPD personnel in most operations, planning, and engineering departments. After analyzing OPPD’s existing automation systems, Xanthus staff determined the functional requirements and opportunities for each of OPPD operations and services departments. After reviewing these with OPPD, Xanthus staff developed alternatives and recommendations for automation.

Xanthus staff then developed specific recommendations for Transmission Operations, Distribution Operations, T&D Planning, Substations, Customer Service, and Power Marketing, covering the following automation issues:

1. Automation requirements for monitoring and controlling field equipment, by implementing an Operations System with a Data Acquisition and Control (DAC) front-end accessible by all control center systems and preferably supporting the UCA protocol

2. Transmission Network Analysis and Generation Control functions for supporting transmission and generation operations

3. Distribution Automation Benefit-Cost Study, to determine which distribution automation functions would be beneficial to OPPD. The study would cover: increased monitoring and control of the distribution system, modeling of the distribution system, Fault Location and Isolation, Service Restoration, Feeder Reconfiguration, Volt/Var Control, and Load Management

4. Interactive customer services, providing energy services to improve customer relations and to establish revenue-generating business opportunities.

5. Substation Automation to investigate the requirements and cost-benefits of substation automation. The primary reason for such a study would be to estimate what benefits OPPD could accrue from substation automation.

6. Power Marketing to develop separate Power Marketing applications geared toward these business and trading needs

7. Distributed Resources to actively pursue some involvement in DR projects, whether it is through R&D projects or with OPPD customers. In particular, actively seeking out customers who may be interested in DR installations, and helping them determine their requirements, and also determining what aspects of DR could impact or provide additional opportunities for OPPD’s distribution operations.

8. Automatic Meter Reading study for benefit cost analysis of AMR, combined with energy services

9. Communications Infrastructure and Standards recommendations to use object-oriented technologies whenever possible, to specify UCA for Substation Automation and the DAC, but provide a “bail-out” provision if vendors respond with too high prices or long schedule, and to specify “interest” in Corba, Enterprise Java Bean, and XML, but do not require them, since vendor implementations are too fluid and not always interoperable