Across the globe, utilities are working toward digitalization of their operations. By harmonizing disparate sources of data within different utility business units, grid operators can act more quickly and decisively. This session will highlight some of the lessons learned and some of the benefits of digitalization within the utility sector.

The trends of decentralization, decarbonization, digitalization and electrification of our power system mean that distribution substation operators are facing new challenges as they work to improve grid reliability and while reducing O&M costs with condition based maintenance. To address these challenges and unlock new business value, utilities are integrating distribution substation protection & control systems with a digital substation architecture.

In this webinar, EPRI’s Paul Mydra will share his insights into the trends and opportunities substation digitization can bring to distribution substation operators.

We will share our field experience, focusing on the digital process bus for Centralized Protection & Control, and integrated condition monitoring for transformer and distribution switchgear through enabling digital technologies – there by laying the foundation for the future grid. This webinar will also provide a high-level overview of key protocols and standards for substation digitalization including IEC 61850 & IEC 61869-9/13, IEC 62439-3 PRP/HSR Communications and IEEE 1588 Time Synchronization.

Concept will be taking the nebulous “digital transformation” and breaking it down into practical ideas
Discussing how technology infrastructure and software can be used as the basis for launching innovation and more disruptive business growth
Also touching on how creating a more sustainable/reliable tech foundation can lower the risk of more aggressive modernization efforts

Energy Storage has become a necessary and integral part to the sustainability of the utility industry. Learn how utilities are using both behind the meter and grid- scale storage solutions to support the grid of tomorrow and secure the best path forward to an energy storage future.

With the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies being observed in several industries, these low-cost, advanced devices are also taking root in the energy industry. Edge computing devices are one example of an IoT technology that enables advanced functionality by allowing for the deployment of applications on its platform in the form of software containers that can be implemented on different edge devices across the distribution system. In an ongoing project by ABB, this technology is being developed as a distributed computing platform for distribution automation applications to enable faster response to faults and events on the distribution grid. In this webinar, a high-level view of the technology is introduced, and the fault restoration application is illustrated as an example. The potential of this technology is also discussed with examples of future applications.

GE Digital’s DER-Aware ADMS empowers electric utilities to accomplish the digital transformation of their business. Managing a constantly changing and dynamic electricity ecosystem is challenging, and as complexity increases, the transformation of data into actionable information enables electric utilities to make the right decisions for their consumers and their personnel. DER-awareness within the ADMS provides control room operators enhanced situational intelligence to recognize developing situations to act quickly and decisively, orchestrating both DER and the grid.

Utilities globally have seen significant return on investment from their ADMS deployments, including enhanced DER orchestration, grid reliability/resiliency and crew safety. This panel will introduce SCE, one of GE Digital’s forward-thinking utility customers that is partnering with GE, and walk through their strategy to accomplish DER orchestration across their grid for the benefit of their consumers and to meet regulatory objectives.

A model-based VVC/VVO application considers outages and system reconfiguration and can therefore provide performance benefits over manual or heuristic control of devices. The key to success of VVC/VVO implementation is to utilize a dynamic model so the VVO application is dealing with the “as-operated” network state. In this session, you will learn how one utility replaced its in-house built distributed capacitor control system with an integrated volt-var control system (IVVC) built on a modern, centralized distribution management system (DMS) platform. Successes and challenges with this type of implementation along with the operational benefits and lessons learned from building and operating a centralized IVVC system will also be presented.

In this session, utilities and stakeholders will present new solutions and processes they have implemented that save time, increase productivity and ultimately help them deliver better customer service.

Modernization at the edge of the distribution grid is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Take smart inverters: Utilities, ISOs/RTOs, and regulators are pursuing various approaches to adopting smart inverters, with many states and utilities in the initial stages of developing approaches. Learn how Minnesota approached smart inverter strategies though a utility case study that also involves the MN PUC and MISO. In addition, this session will also cover why grid architecture is becoming an increasingly prominent consideration in grid modernization initiatives via a discussion of ComEd’s work with DOE on SIMPLE (Sensors with Intelligent Measurement Platform and Low-Cost Equipment), a platform to enable high-fidelity monitoring and distributed control of a distribution system.

This panel will discuss several utility use cases for advanced distribution management system (ADMS) applications using the ADMS test bed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The ADMS test bed was established to accelerate industry development and adoption of ADMS capabilities. The test bed enables utility partners, vendors, and researchers to evaluate existing and future ADMS use cases in a realistic laboratory environment that includes software simulation of distribution systems, field equipment integrated through hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) techniques, and commercial or pre-commercial utility management systems such as ADMS and distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS).

To optimize service quality in Chile’s electrical system, Transelec has partnered with GE Grid Solutions to implement an Asset Performance Management (APM) solution integrated with their already existing digital platforms in order to reduce the risk of unforeseen asset failures by monitoring operational and health indicators of assets. Combining GE’s expertise in grid asset management and Transelec’s inspection and maintenance processes as well as technical knowledge of their assets into an integrated set of innovative digital tools, this partnership has brought the best of both worlds when it comes to implementing a new condition-based maintenance platform and integrating it within Transelec’s existing digital ecosystem. Along the way, the team has faced interesting challenges, and those have brought new opportunities for the customer’s digital transformation journey. In this presentation GE and Transelec discuss the key priorities for implementing APM, from selecting a partner with the right expertise to leveraging and integrating existing systems to the organizational change management, and the new opportunities that this has unlocked for the customer – and that can be applied to other T&D asset operators, too.

On August 10, 2020 a Derecho ripped thru parts of Alliant Energy’s Iowa service territory taking down trees, ripping apart corn silos and peeling roofs off of buildings. After the winds had subsided, nearly 260,000 Alliant Energy customers across central Iowa were without power and left with nearly $7.5 billion in damage.

How many “false positives” do you get from your outage management system when people are involved? How many customers call “just to see” if you know if they have power at their home? How many call to see if their family member or neighborhood has power, but they aren’t home? At Peninsula Light we found that up to 10-20% of our outage calls, especially during a major event, were from these “false positive” inputs. This type of call distracts from the outage response and requires time from dispatch and control center staff to determine if they are legitimate. As PenLight deployed a cellular meter AMI system in 2020, we are moving to a fully digital, data-based OMS system. To achieve this goal, PenLight’s ADMS/OMS implementation relies on outage notifications from our 200+ SCADA enabled triple-single reclosers and switch cabinets, and the new meter’s 99% reporting of outages and restorations. This presentation will provide an overview of the foundation we built over the past 7 years to bring our vision of a data-driven OMS to life, and our roadmap for the coming years to further extend use of the system.

With mountains of data at their fingertips, utilities today can implement artificial intelligence (AI) to help them make better decisions about their operations and improve how they serve their customers. In this panel discussion, co-ops will discuss different ways they have implemented AI, what information they have gleaned from their data and what lessons they have learned in the process.

Single phase Fault Location, Isolation, and Service Restoration (FLISR) along with Loss Of Voltage (LOV) automation is the newest method for improving reliability indices such as SAIDI, SAIFI, and MAIFI. It can be implemented on any size system using an array of different methods. This presentation will review the options currently available in the market to accomplish single phase automation, with a focus on one Midwest cooperative’s decision to implement model based single phase automation.