Benef i Cts of Implementing Distribution Automation

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The Benefits

of

Implementing Distribution Automation and System M onitoring

in the Open Electricity Market

Rong-Liang Chen

Member of IEEE

Shafi Sabir

Senior Member of IEEE

Abstract

In the new busine ss environment rates for monopoly distribution services (wires), regulators are trying to

create a balance between the dollars paid by the con sumers and rate of return that the shareh olders are

allowed to earn. The regulator in Ontario has implemented Performance B ased R egulation (PBR) to

regulate the wires part of the distribution system. In PBR quality of services provided to the customers

are considered as one of the performance m easurement criteria. Distribution automation and system

monitoring are the w ays that electric utilities will be able to create innovative ideas for better customer

services, improve reliability, defer capital investment and improve system operation.

The authors describe the impact of deregulation of electricity utilities on electricity rates and conduct

economic analysis to show the benefits of implementing distribution automation and system monitoring in

the distribution system planning and operations. In the recent years more and more S CAD A, IED and fiber

optics are installed in the distribution systems to improve system op eration, customer services and generate

additional revenue.

This paper also describes a planning process for impleme nting distribution automation. The planning process of

distribution automation includes planning strategies, ustification of distribution automation functional projects and

identification of distribution automation projects. The paper emphasizes on the distribution automatic switching and

utilization of integrated comm unication networks.

Key words: distribution automation automatic switching comm unication systems

I INTRODUCTION

The recent regulatory changes have caused emergence of new issues for the utilities in managing the pow er

system and co ncern in retaining the customers.

As

distribution utilities shift from non-profit public utilities to

profit-driven b usiness enterprises, the question how to m aintain and improve service reliability w hile keeping

electricity rates lower and protect shareholders interests becomes more difficult to answer. The trend that service

reliability is going downwards is not uncom mon as seen in some of the utilities. Reliability has a cost and

regulators have to provide incentives to im prove the system reliability.

Besides the chang ing of the utility business, the emergence of new sensitive loads such as e-b usiness data

center, lntemet Service Provider (ISP) and industry with sensitive manufacturing process demanding

uninterrupted and stringent quality of power supply. These new loads not only add on the system peak

demand about 5-13%and grow fast, but also require high standard of service reliability and power

quality.

The evolutionary growth in micropro cessor based devices and telecommunication equipm ent and network have

brought the possibility of integrating protection, control, metering, automation and monitoring system cost

effectively. This will considerably improve system reliability, quality of supply, and customer service and defer

capital investment on system expansion. Distribution automation and system monitoring meet the demands and

requirements in improving service reliability at a lower cost.

In this paper authors will discuss the impact of deregulation on distribution utilities in S ection

11

Distribution

automation and system monitoring and their benefits are shown in S ection 111 Communication system is an

integrated part o f implementing distribution automation and its fun ctions are described in S ection IV. In Section

V the authors show their experience [1] [2] and values in planning distribution automation, especially the

Ca nad ian C on fer enc e on Ele ctrica l an d C om pul er k% &ehg 2001 Toronto

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automatic switching. Techno logy of distribution automa tion is still under developm ent and innovations will make

more benefits to utilities. Section

V

discusse s the most beneficial DA function, automa tic switching. The benefits

and innovation of automatic switching are reported. One of the keys to the success of such project depends on

establishing simple vision with clear goals and objectives. Proper Busin ess Plans and effective Project

Management described briefly in Section V will ensure success

11

IMPACT OF DEREGULATION ON DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES

The main impacts of deregulation on distribution utilities were the procurement of electric power, maintain and

improve service reliability and better customer services. The procurement o f electric power in the short-term and

long-term contracts between the utilities and the power providers is an important factor to ensure lower electricity

rates for customers at all times. In terms of engineering it is substantial to maintain and improve operation

efficiency in the deregulatory environment to provide pow er to customers at acceptable reliability level and to

serve the customer in better ways.

Under new structure of the deregulation the w ire i.e. transmission and distribution system will be regulated and

generation will comp ete in open market. In the past regulators allow ed the distributors to

set

the rates of

electricity based on revenue requirement or cos t of service plus other expenses to be recovered in rates. In the

new business environment rates for monopoly distribution services, regulators are trying to create a balance

between the dollar paid by the consum ers and return-on-investment (R 01) that the shareholders o f the utility are

allowed to eam

[3].

There are different methods that can be considered, such as market based

or

incentive based.

Each one

of

them has different merits and dem erits.

The regulator in Ontario at present chose a water down version of Performance Based Regulation (PBR). In

PBR quality of service provided to the customers is considered as one o f the performance measurement criteria.

The quality of service may include improvement of system reliability, powe r quality, and custom er services, etc.

The regulator will approve just and reasonable rates for transmitting and distributing electricity. Distribution

automation and system monitoring can meet the above quality of service improvement criteria and the cost

justification can be aligned with the corporate objectives o f system performance improvement.

111

DISTRIBUTION AUTOMATION AND SYSTE M MONITORING

1 Distribution Automation

Distribution Automation (DA) can b e defined as automatically monitoring, protecting and

controlling switching operations through intelligent electronic devices to restore power service

during fault by sequential events and m aintain better operating conditions back to norm al

operations. If we add Demand Side Management (D SM ) functions, such as Automatic Meter

Reading AMR) nd Load Managem ent (LM), into distribution automation, it comes a broad

definition of Distribution Automation.

Distribution automation can be divided into three categories, such as transformer substation, feeder,

and customer premises automations. Usually the distribution automation on substation and feeder

are integrated to share comm on monitoring and controlling equipment an d devices.

The DA functions on transformer substation include substation control such as bus voltage control,

circulating current control, bus load balancing and overload control, and transformer protection

such as bus fault isolation, and transformer isolation. The DA functions on feeder mainly include

feeder automatic switching and feeder voltage/Var control. The form er deals with fault

identification, fault location, fault isolation an d service restoration. Th e latter contains capacitor

placement and voltage regulator control. The DA functions on the customer premise could be in a

broad range covering load control, real-time price signaling, remote meter reading and billing, etc.

We have to justify these functions by evaluating their benefits. These benefits are financial,

operational maintenance and customer satisfactions. The financial benefit and the expenses of

operations and maintenance are quantified in dollars. The outcome o f improved operational and

maintenance benefits and custom er satisfaction are not measurable. In order to make these types of

benefits comparable we consider using cu stom er interruption co sts (CIC ) to reflect these benefits,

which include tangible and intangible benefits [4][5]

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2. Benefits of distribution automation

a. Financial benefits

Deferral of capital investment (new TS, additional transformer capacity, additional feeders,

Increased revenue due to quick restoration

Reduced operation and maintenance cost

Improved utilization o f system capacity

Reduced system loss

Custom er retention for improved quality of supply

reconductoring etc)

b. Operational Maintenance benefits

Improved reliability by reducing outage duration

Improved v oltage control

Reduced man hour and man power

Accurate and useful planning and operational datdinformation

Better fault detection and diagnostic analysis

Better management of system and compo nent loading

c. C ustomer related benefits

Better service reliability

Reduce interruption cost for customers

Better quality of supply

3.

System Monitoring

Over the years distribution system monitoring has been improved co nsiderably because of financial

benefits as well as improvement of system reliability. Monitoring system allow s gathering

information of the feeders, transformers [6][7] switchgears, and customer loads during normal

operations as well as faulted conditions. With the advancement of se nsors, high-speed

communication system and the new processors with the high speed processing capability,

tremendous scopes for online and offline diagnostics of system condition an d equipm ent have

emerged, which will ultimately reduce O&M cost and improve asset management. The information

gathered by the monitoring system w ill help to integrate protection and control to improve custom er

service and system performance.

The monitoring system will collect a large number o f valuable information, which will be

processed and stored in a d ata storage facility, and it will be used by different applications. It is

important to plan ahead for the hardware, operating system and database technolo gy to be

employed. Possibly the business information will be integrated into the sam e database and hence

the management of the data will be an important issue to resolve. [8][9]

4. Benefits of System M onitoring

Some utilities have im plemented system to monitor embedded gen erators, transformers, cables,

overhead lines and customers loads, etc. in the distribution system to achieve certain benefits such

as:

Improve operation efficiency

Achieve better reliability

Reduce the risk of failure

of

equipment

Better information on custom ers load profile

Accurate load forecasting

Implement cond ition based maintenance

Less cost in meter reading

Reduced revenue losses due to theft of service

Improve outage reporting

The new information that will be made available by the mon itoring system will encourage

researcher to develop new algorithms and software for protection control, distribution

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automation, diagnostics, etc. which will ultimately reduce O&M cost. The information will also be

very useful for system planner, system operators and for preparing cost effective maintenance

schedule. There are numerous possibilities and they will increase our productivity, improve asset

management, improve distribution system availability and will help to earn customer loyalty.

IV. COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

A communication system is an integral part of the Distribution Automation and M onitoring System. In the new

business environment it is becoming more important to bring information from the field devices for faster

processing and making a quick decision. Th e wireless legacy sy stem that most of the distribution utilities have

operated at 800 and 900 MH z band an d numbe r of channel allocated for distribution automation are very limited.

These legacy systems are not suitable for applications for next generation of automation and monitoring system.

The legacy systems are inadequate but their services and investment will be m aintained for a while and at the

same time future network needs to be built ready for the next generation of automation and m onitoring system.

Before utilities decide to invest for future comm itment of com munication network, utility should establish the

necessary strategic performance and financial objectives. One o f the strategic performance objectives could be

to create broader o r more attractive product line and superior customer services and one o f the financial

performance objectives could be to create a diversified revenue base.

Electric utilities can cost effectively build a fiber optic network within its service area because they own the

poles and ducts. Utilities could play a major role in building the futu re all optical networks, wh ich will provide

service to the bandwidth hungry customers. [lO] [ll][ 12][13] Utilities will need sm all portions of the fiber

capacity for its own use but the rest of the capacity can be leased to a third party r with a partnership with

telecom company being able to provide bandwidth services. The utility network will be a hybrid fiber-wireless

network. The wireless network will be mainly used for communicating w ith the field devices including meters

and field crews. The future network should be a single converged voice and data network, which will integrate

utilities busines s information system , billing, custome r service, and voice and field applications. Issues related to

protocols

[

14][ 151 and network management should be addressed at the planning stage of the project. Som e

utilities are alternatively considering internet-based technology.

V.

AUTOMATIC SWITCHING BEING MOST

BENEFICIAL

Automatic switching is

a

sequential process in restoring power supply when feeder faults occurred

causing power interruption. The sequential process of power restoration include s fault identification,

fault location, automatic fault isolation (sectionalization) and service restoration.

All

of the four

functions can be accom plished by installing intelligent automatic switches equipped with som e

communication devices.

Through the benefit analysis to the functions o f distribution automation, the most beneficial function is

automatic switching, which has been im plemented by man y utilities successfully by investing millions of

dollars with a rate o f retum o f about 2.5 3 years. The benefits are due to the capability of the automatic

switches that can isolate the faulted feeder section and restore power service

to

the unfaulted feeder

sections within one minute o f time starting at the time when the fault occurred. It reduces outage time

from an average of 60 90 minutes down to less than one minute. The analysis shows that automatic

switching will saved about 2.00 of customer interruption cost (C IC) per one kVA connected load.

For

two typical feeders of 30 kVA connected load there will be a saving o f 60,000 o f CIC a year. It was

estimated that the custom er minutes caused by customer load interruption would be reduced by about

25

for the overall system. There are also savings in operation cost such a s crew fault inspection,

manual operations of switching. Moreover, it mitigates the dam age to the feeder equipment and extends

the equipment life cycle by reducing the nu mbe r of inrush current caused by closing feeder breakers to

locate the fault.

To maximize the benefits of automatic sw itching and minimize the capital costs of automatic switches it

is important to determine the minimal num ber

of

automatic switches installed in the feeders and the best

effective locations to install the automatic sw itches. This is an example that now utilities are seeking

technology-based solutions to achieve greater benefits to satisfy customers.

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VI. BUSINESS PLANNING PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Distribution automation and system m onitoring are major projects and require considerable investment. A

proper business plan for the project is essential because it will help to make a decision in its entirety. Each

organization has a general business planning and de cision making process w hich is based on certain criteria that

should be followed in developing the business plan. Som e of the major items that need to be included in a

business plan are as follows:

The corporate business and financial strategies and objectives

Regulatory issues

Project descriptions

Business and technology drivers

Tangible and the intangible values and benefits

Investment costs o f the project

O& M costs

Training costs

Project prioritization process in the o rganization

Time table of the project

Financial analysis including rate

of

return

Risk analysis

One of the difficulties the business planner faces at the time of developing business plan is the methodology to

be used in compu ting the cost-benefit ratio. Some of the methodologies used by the authors are based on

customer interruption cost (CIC)

[4][5],

nalytical hierarchy process (AHP ) [161and resource-allocation

decisions

[

171

A proper project management process should be in place to manage such projects. The process will include

planning, scheduling, allocation of resources, monitoring an d controlling [181 The process will be designed to

manage organization's resources to com plete the project within time, w ithin cost, within expected performance

and customer's satisfaction. Also the risk management a nd scope change controlling processes should be

integrated in the project managem ent process.

The implementation o f distribution automation and s ystem mo nitoring along with the supporting

communication system go hand in hand. Th e strategies/business plan to implement the above systems

should not consider the s hort term benefits only, but also the long-term benefits. Utility should also

think of implementing the above s ystems at the same time b ecause the individual system complements

each other and the total benefits per dollar of inv estment will be m ore than if they are done separately.

If quality of system performance and customer services is some of the corporate objectives to meet

regulators' performan ce criteria then the above systems shou ld be one o f the strategic initiatives for the

utility. In the new wire business environment it is important to implement the above systems for the

benefits of the organization, imp roving custom er services, generating additional revenue, providing

us ef d inform ation for operating and planning decision makin g and better asset management etc.

V11. CONCLUSION

This paper discusses the various benefits of distribution system automation and system m onitoring to

improve system operation, system reliability, asset managem ent, etc. Because of the present competitive

business environm ent and new sensitive loads customers are dem anding greater reliability and quality of

service. The new SCA DA, IED and communication systems make it possible to integrate protection,

control and monitoring together to its maximu m benefits. The innovative development of automatic

switching will yield more benefits to distribution utilities. Truly, distribution automation and system

monitoring are the logical choice for the utilities to improv e system performance, and to achieve

customers and shareholders satisfactions.

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Benef i Cts of Implementing Distribution Automation

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