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D 4.5.9
Integrated ICT infrastructure in Smart Grid
environment
Version 1.0
Created:
2013-01-08
By:
Joni Aalto, Empower IM Oy
Jan Segerstam, Empower IM Oy
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Table of Contents
1.
Preface .......................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.
Integrated ICT infrastructure ........................................................................................................................ 4
2.1 Field equipment.......................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Service provider’s systems ......................................................................................................................... 6
2.3 DSO’s systems ............................................................................................................................................. 8
2.4 Systems which provide information for the end customers ...................................................................... 9
3.
Continuation of the work ............................................................................................................................. 9
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1.
Preface
This report is a part of the results from the third funding period of the Finnish national research project
”Smart Grids and Energy Markets”. The project has been funded by Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for
Technology and Innovation. This document is mainly based on the workshops between Empower IM Oy and
Kymenlaakson Sähkö Oy. The workshops were carried out in cooperation with multiple specialists.
The first goal of the workshops was to identify and describe the most important processes related to smart
fault management in the low voltage network. These processes were introduced in the deliverable 4.5.8
“Common process oriented methodology and tools for building integrated ICT infrastructures in Smart Grid
environment”. Additional goal for the workshops was also to identify the systems which would be required in
the previously mentioned processes and to recognize the functionalities which would be required from the
systems in a service based AMR infrastructure.
As a result, a system map was built. This system map acts as an example case of an integrated ICT
infrastructure in smart grid environment. Therefore, this work also partly deepens the upper level system
descriptions which are being developed in SGEM Tasks 4.3 and 6.1. The system map is introduced in this
deliverable and the responsibilities of the different systems related to the smart fault management processes
are explained, while the focus is on the functionalities of the service provider’s systems.
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2.
Integrated ICT infrastructure
AMR system infrastructure as a service based solution increases the number of the parties which are
responsible for a part of the overall system infrastructure. Each of these parties operates and maintains a
pre-defined part of the system infrastructure. This makes the operational environment more complex and for
example failure location and repair commonly require cooperation between multiple parties. Still, if
efficiently operated, this kind of operational environment enables to maximize the benefits of the
functionalities of the smart meters in a cost-efficient way. Following chapters describe the role of the
different systems as the fault management processes act as a background for the descriptions. Figure 1
illustrates the processes which were introduced in the previous deliverable. Furthermore, the figure 2
introduces the system map of the integrated ICT infrastructure in smart grid environment.
Figure 1. Fault management processes of a DSO.
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End
customer
Integrated ICT infrastructure
Information
about repaired
fault
(SMS)
Information
about fault
(SMS)
Disturbance information service
DSO
Voltage quality
management
Service provider
Fault
management
processes
Field equipment
NIS
DMS
DSO's integration interface
Reporting
Reading system 1
Service provider's integration
interface
Work control system
Reading system 2
Alarm Server
Field work
processes
Figure 2. System map related to the smart fault management in the low voltage network.
Next chapters describe the systems and the recognized functionalities related to them which would be
required in the smart fault management in the low voltage network. The division of the systems is made
between the most significant participants, which participate in the processes. Therefore, the functionalities
of field equipment, service provider’s systems, DSO’s systems and the systems providing information for the
end customers are separately described.
2.1 Field equipment
Field equipment includes the AMR meters as well as the concentrators which deliver the information from
the meters to the reading system, excluding the p2p-meters which communicate directly with the reading
system. When considering the fault management processes in the low voltage networks, the AMR meters
have the most important role as they recognize, register and indicate about the fault situations.
AMR metering device measures the pre-defined values, like phase currents and voltages and compare these
values to the pre-defined parameters. Different parameters are used to identify separately different fault
types in the low voltage network. Once the measurements are below or above, depending on the fault type,
the defined parameter levels the meter notices this and if the fault situation lasts for pre-defined time period
the meter sends a notification about the fault. This notification is delivered to the concentrator or directly to
the reading system, depending on the meter type. Typically the notification includes the information about
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the fault type, time stamp and basic information about the meter which sent the notification. It is also
possible that separate software and a server are used to communicate the notification onwards to the upper
level systems. In the figure 2 this kind of server is called as “alarm server”. This kind of functionality is an
example of a situation when a metering device is active and sends information without a request from other
systems.
Selecting the suitable parameters to recognize the different faults was recognized to be a crucial activity.
Management of the zero fault is one example in particular, where the correct parameterization is important.
This is because the AMR meters are not allowed to cause unnecessary interruptions in power delivery.
Therefore, the parameters which AMR meters utilize to recognize the zero faults, must be carefully selected
and the fault identification algorithms of the AMR meters must be reliable. This issue will be covered in the
additional workshops.
The process of “request for customer site information” is an example of an operation in which the metering
device provides information on a request i.e. when the request arrives from the reading system. In this case
the metering device delivers a set of information as an answer for the request. This information includes the
momentary values of for example phase voltages and currents, which can be used by a DSO to deduce the
situation in the low voltage network. Additionally, the metering device can also provide the status
(active/not active) of different fault types, which reduces the need for manual inference work for the staff of
the DSO. This functionality is an example of the situation when the metering device provides information on
request.
The process of “management of zero fault” is an example of a process in which the metering device first
provides the indication about the fault situation and also disconnects the customer site from the electricity
network, but after that waits for a further request from the upper systems. Once the zero fault is repaired
the re-connection request arrives to the metering device which connects the customer site back to the
electricity network. Furthermore, the metering device acknowledges the upper systems about the reconnection and about the time when the re-connection was made. Generally, the metering device’s
capability to provide time stamps about the different incidents is highly valuable. This provides important
information for example about the duration of the data transfer between the different systems and about
how long the end customer has been under a fault situation.
2.2 Service provider’s systems
Service provider’s systems form a system layer between the field equipment and the DSO’s systems. This
layer is needed in order to be able to monitor the correct functioning of the lower level systems by observing
the response times and to enable the service provider to maintain statistics about the volume of different
events. In this example case the service provider together with the field equipment providers manage the
reading systems and the additional software and/or server which is used to deliver the information and
notifications related to the fault management processes in the low voltage network.
The most significant monitoring activities of the events related to the fault management in the low voltage
network were also recognized during the workshops. They can be divided into three parts. First, the service
provider needs to monitor the volume of the different events as this information can be used as a basis for
invoicing. In this example case this would mean the number of alarms, requests for customer site
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information and re-connection requests after the zero faults. To be able to do this, the integration interface
needs to be equipped with the functionalities to sort out the different events and to count the number of
these different events. This information could be used, not only for invoicing, but also for reporting purposes
as it provides valuable information about the low voltage network for the DSO.
During the workshops, it was recognized that reasonable SLA-levels (Service Level Agreement) would be
beneficial to be determined for the smart fault management processes. Practically, these levels would
determine the acceptable delays for data transfer and other functionalities related to the processes. It would
be possible to set for example monetary penalties for the SLA-levels which would be activated if the SLAlevels cannot be fulfilled. Alternatively, the SLA-levels can act as guidelines for both, the DSO and the service
provider, to be able to monitor the correct functioning of the operations.
The framework in which the SLA-levels can be determined is formed based on the capabilities of the AMR
equipment and all the systems which are required in the processes as well as the minimum requirements
from the DSO. By setting the SLA-levels, the DSO can ensure that the service provider takes care of the
responsibilities related to the smart fault management processes. These SLA-levels will be later determined,
by describing the functionalities whose operation time will be monitored.
Meanwhile the above described monitoring is required, also the possible failures during the processes needs
to be registered and monitored. These failures can be caused for example by the metering device’s
momentary incapability to execute the required actions or the system failures which cause improper or
inadequate functions.
These different issues would need to be monitored and the statistics collected. It could be agreed that the
service provider reports about these statistics regularly for example on a monthly basis. This enables the DSO
to monitor the service levels and the correct functioning of the service based AMR-infrastructure. This issue
needs also to be further discussed.
As always with the system integrations, the communication between the systems must be done by using the
communication methods and the information structures which are supported by the sending and the
receiving systems. This is also the case when the AMR meters produce information which is finally delivered
to the DMS system of the DSO, first passing through the system layer of the service provider. Some of the
meter providers have already developed their systems to be directly integrated with the certain DMS
systems when considering the functionalities related to the fault management of the low voltage network,
but this is not always the case.
In this example case, one of the reading systems would be capable of producing the data which is already in a
form which is compatible with the DMS system. This is made possible with the additional software designed
for this purpose. This makes the operation of the service provider’s system layer easier as the focus can be
on the monitoring of the volume of the data transfer and the different events, as the actual data can be
delivered without any additional adaptation.
Second AMR system cannot directly produce the data in a form which could be directly delivered to the DMS
system. In this case the data would need to be mapped to the correct structure in the service provider’s
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integration interface before delivering it to the DMS system. This issue concerns especially the delivery of the
different alarm messages. The AMR meters attach only the meter number to the alarm messages to be used
to identify the sending point, whereas the DMS system is configured to receive messages where the
consumption place ID is used as identification. This issue needs to be also further discussed.
Also, only one of the AMR systems was capable of directly providing the required information as a response
for the “request for the customer site information”. Due to this, the requirements for the application which
would collect the information by using the right functionalities from the AMR reading system’s interface
were compiled. Practically, the application would have the information structure of the response message
which would be delivered back to the DSO’s DMS system and the application would invoke the service
interfaces of the AMR reading system to compile the response message from the single pieces of
information, which are provided by these services.
During the workshops it was also recognized that one challenge would be to design the most effective way to
manage the information about the reading system of the different metering points in the service provider’s
integration interface’s database. This issue concerns especially the “request for customer site information”.
Once the request arrives from the DSO, the service provider’s integration interface should be able to deliver
the requests to the correct reading systems. Single “request for customer site information” can include
multiple metering points, so this one request needs to be distributed to the corresponding reading systems
based on the information about the single metering points. One alternative would be to invoke both reading
systems, but this would always unnecessarily load both of the systems while only one of them would be
needed to response. This is also an issue which needs to be further clarified.
Another issue which required discussions was the re-connection request after the zero faults. The DSO
already utilizes remote disconnection and re-connection service which is provided by the service provider.
The DSO can activate these requests from the customer information system. The service provider’s
integration interface receives the requests and delivers them to the work control system. This system
handles the communication with the corresponding AMR reading system. Therefore, it could be possible to
utilize this already available functionality. On the other hand, there would be a need to separate the regular
re-connection requests from the re-connection request related to the management of the zero fault. One
solution for this could be to implement an application which would receive all the requests from the DSO and
register the requests which are related to the management of zero faults, before delivering the requests
onwards to the work control system. These issues require some further discussions to sort out the best
alternative.
2.3 DSO’s systems
DSOs operate multiple information systems to manage the electricity networks. From the point of view of
this example case the most significant system is the DMS (Distribution Management System) system. This
system is used to receive the notifications related to the fault management in the low voltage network. DMS
utilizes the information and provides the user with a graphical view about the situation in the low voltage
network. Also, it is the source system for the “requests for customer site information” as it allows the user to
choose the desired metering points and to activate the request for those.
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The DSO can utilize the information which is received from the AMR meters to direct the field working
groups more efficiently. As the DSO has the information about the fault types in the low voltage network it
can prioritize the faults and direct the repair groups first to the consumption places which require fast
attention. Also, the repair groups can prepare themselves better, once they already have an indication about
fault type.
In this example case, the DSO would be responsible for maintaining its own systems as well as for handling
and utilizing the information from the DSO’s integration interface onwards. This includes receiving, storing,
reporting and collecting the statistics based on the information which is received from the service provider’s
systems. This information includes the different alarms as well as the information which is received as a
response for the “request for the customer site information”.
2.4 Systems which provide information for the end customers
Previously, there were major improvement needs to provide more information for the end customers during
the different fault situations. As previously described, the modern AMR meters are capable of providing
more information about the faults in the low voltage network. These functionalities make it possible to
utilize this information to provide more accurate information also for the end customers.
In this example case, the most important system from this point of view is the disturbance information
service for the end customers. The end customers are provided with timely information about the
occurrence of the faults as well as the estimates about the repair time. Also, the information about the
ending of a fault situation is communicated to the end customer. The information which is received from the
processes related to the fault management in the low voltage network also gives an opportunity to utilize
this to provide the end customers with an improved graphical view about the overall situation in the
electricity network for example during a major disturbances such as storms.
The new functionalities not only provide more improved information about the situation in the low voltage
network for the DSO, but also more accurate information for the end customers. This for example reduces
the need for the end customer to call to the DSO’s customer service, thus reducing the work load of the
customer service especially during the major disturbances.
3.
Continuation of the work
This deliverable described the systems which are required to be able to run the processes related to the
smart fault management in the low voltage networks. Additionally, the required functionalities of different
systems were introduced. These form an example case of “Integrated ICT infrastructure in Smart Grid
environment” which is used as a basis for the continuation of the research work. The next step is to carry out
specialist interviews in order to identify the development needs regarding the integrated ICT infrastructure.
Some of these issues were already introduced in this deliverable. The results from this work will be
introduced in the separate deliverable “Optimization of the integrated ICT infrastructure for maximization of
the value of the 2nd generation AMR for the DSO and end customer”.
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