MAY 5, 2016
Wind Farm Operator Investigates Time Series
Data to Help Monetize Curtailed Generation
By Janice Abel
Keywords
Manufacturing Intelligence, Operations Intelligence, Real-time Data, Discovery and Investigational Software, Operations Data, Industrial Analytics,
Avangrid Renewables, Seeq
Overview
Avangrid Renewables is a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc., and part of the
IBERDROLA Group. Spain-based Iberdrola S.A. is the largest wind energy
company in the world. As ARC Advisory Group recently learned, the company collects a wide variety of data from many different sources. However,
Avangrid Renewables collects a wide
variety of data from many different
sources. However, in the past it faced
in the past it faced challenges when it came to gaining useful insight from these data.
Particularly
problematic, was the difficulty determining and
challenges when it came to gaining
documenting lost generation across its wind tur-
useful insight from these data.
bine fleet time due to voluntary generation
Particularly problematic, was the
curtailment to meet contractual obligations. Inabil-
difficulty in determining and
documenting lost generation across its
wind turbine fleet time due to voluntary
generation curtailment to meet
contractual obligations. Inability to do
so, can lead to lost revenues.
ity to do so, can lead to lost revenues.
Avangrid Renewables owns and operates nearly 60
plants in the US. The company is the second largest
owner of wind energy projects in the US, with more
than 6,000 MW of owned and controlled renewable
generation assets, which includes 3,000 wind turbines. It also has 636 MW of
combined cycle gas turbine generation, 50 MW of solar generation, plus 55
MW of controlled biomass generation. The company has more than 750 employees in the US.
According to company executives, it is focused on
operational excellence and selective growth.
The company collects a wide variety of time series and other data from its
wind turbines and other operational assets, plus weather systems, pricing
systems, market data systems, etc., and responds to signals from the local
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ARC Insights, Page 2
grid operator (ISO) system. Data sources include the OSIsoft PI System, SAP, SCADA
systems, SQL databases, and so on. The company wanted to investigate the data that was
already in the OSIsoft system so that it could
better visualize and understand the data. The
company was using a number of analytic tools
that allowed it to analyze the data, but found
these to be difficult and time consuming to use.
To alleviate the situation, Avangrid Renewables
Avangrid Renewables’ Klondike Wind Farm
deployed
data
investigation
and
discovery technology from Seeq, a new company in this space with a fresh approach to
helping industrial organizations gain business value from their data. Significantly, Seeq does not duplicate the data but, instead, integrates data from
existing databases, historians, and analytics without tampering with the systems of record.
Curtailment Can Mean Losses Unless Documented
In the US, wind generation companies must curtail wind power generation
at certain times, both to balance supply and demand under contractual obligations with the local ISO and to help ensure safe operation.
Renewables companies can be compensated for lost generation if they can
accurately calculate, document, and report the monetary value of what they
would have put on the grid during these curtailment periods. Inability to do
Companies must curtail wind power
generation during certain periods of the
day to balance supply and demand and to
help ensure safe operation.
so, can lead to lost revenues. According to Brandon Lake, Senior Business Systems Analyst at
Avangrid Renewables, “Prior to implementing the
new technology, the company was not able to report the losses accurately and was losing money.”
It can be challenging to track wind turbines’ losses because of the time it takes
to return to full speed. The company needed to dig into the data to determine
how much power it was not allowed to produce (calculating in the wind
speeds during those time periods) and the economic impact of the curtailment. Under its contractual agreement, the ISO would only compensate
Avangrid Renewables for its curtailment losses if it could produce sufficient
proof of the impact. “We knew we were losing money - but to determine the
©2016 • ARC • 3 Allied Drive • Dedham, MA 02026 USA • 781-471-1000 • ARCweb.com
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actual impact required investigating years of turbine data,” Mr. Lake told
ARC Advisory Group. This was a time consuming and difficult task.
Examining Curtailment Costs
Previously, the company did not investigate the ramp down time cost or
other areas because of the time and effort required to do this in Excel and the
need for expert consultants. According to Mr. Lake, due to the speed and
ease of using the Seeq tool, it made business sense to further examine the cost
of shutdown time.
Red Area Shows Previously Unaccounted for Lost Generation
“With Seeq we were able to isolate these events, add analytics, and determine
what was happening in just hours. In the past, this would have taken days
or weeks,” commented Mr. Lake.
The company was able to visualize the information on a screen, determine
the curtailment time, add pricing, and other potential power set points, and
By exporting the data from Seeq and
deploying to Excel, Avangrid
combine the information to determine “what if” differential power scenarios between potential and
Renewables was able to add price
actual to determine losses. Once Avangrid Renew-
information and determine the cost to
ables isolated the time periods, Seeq was able to
the company. It estimates that the
sum the data to identify the revenue to claim.
technology can save between $30,000
to as much as $100,000 per year
While these losses don’t seem all that significant
depending upon the ISO contract, wind
when looking at just a single turbine over the course
curtailment, and wind availability.
of a single day, they added up to real dollars when
©2016 • ARC • 3 Allied Drive • Dedham, MA 02026 USA • 781-471-1000 • ARCweb.com
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multiplied across the company’s entire fleet of wind turbines over years of
operation. By exporting the data from Seeq to Excel, Avangrid Renewables
was able to add price information and determine the cost to the company. It
estimates that the technology saved it between $30,000 to as much as $100,000
per year depending upon the Independent System Operator (ISO) contract,
wind curtailment, and wind availability. According to Mr. Lake, “Seeq is a
powerful tool for isolating and comparing ‘capsules’ of data. The capsules
help identify areas that may have potential value for the company.”
Finding Patterns in the Data and Identifying Capsules
Identifying Capsules
Seeq enables several type of searches on time series data, in this case the
shape or pattern of the signal has been defined as the search criterion and
instances where that pattern occurs are identified by the solid horizontal
lines at the top of the trend viewer, known as “capsules.” These capsules,
individually or as a group, are the basis for managing and interacting with
time periods of interest in the data.
The technology can isolate events at multiple windfarms, helping transform
data into intelligence that allows Avangrid Renewables to find important
correlations.
Easy to Learn, Fast to Apply to Big Data
According to Mr. Lake, it only took him 45 minute to learn how to apply this
new technology to solve the problem. This included accessing over 250,000
©2016 • ARC • 3 Allied Drive • Dedham, MA 02026 USA • 781-471-1000 • ARCweb.com
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tags to start getting the answers and insights he was looking for. This represents a significant improvement over other solutions the company looked at.
Now that Avangrid Renewables can accurately calculate the dollar value of
what it would have put on the grid if it did not have to curtail power to recoup its lost revenue, it is looking to expand the tool with additional factors
as well as in other potentially revenue-producing areas using other attributes.
Benefits of Using the Technology
Mr. Lake identified some key benefits that Avangrid Renewables received
from using the Seeq technology. These included:
•
Ability to find key points in the data and to examine large amounts of
data from multiple sources
•
Ability to isolate incidents in the data that would have taken exponentially longer using Excel alone or other tools
•
Transforming industrial process data into useful information and actionable intelligence
•
Once an event has been isolated, the user can expand the time frame and
quickly adjust the queries for other wind farms
•
Significantly reduced the time required to investigate and gain the
needed insights and analysis (from months or even years, to hours)
•
Accelerating time to discovery
Recommendations
ARC research has uncovered a small number of new enterprise manufacturing and operations intelligence technologies and solutions that do not require
the specific expertise of data scientists to implement and use to gain actionable insights from Big Data. Instead, process engineers (or in some cases, even
process control operations people) can use these tools to investigate and discover insights on data that could not be done easily in the past.
Based on these findings, ARC recommends the following actions for owneroperators and other technology users:
•
Explore the potential for using new technologies to discover more insights and intelligence from historical and real-time data
©2016 • ARC • 3 Allied Drive • Dedham, MA 02026 USA • 781-471-1000 • ARCweb.com
ARC Insights, Page 6
•
Select a technology that is easy to use and does not require a data scientist
•
Focus on an area that shows value to your company to be able to costjustify the new technology
•
Calculate and measure the savings gained from using the new technology
For further information or to provide feedback on this Insight, please contact your
account manager or the author at [email protected]. ARC Insights are published
and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group. The information is proprietary to ARC
and no part may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC.
©2016 • ARC • 3 Allied Drive • Dedham, MA 02026 USA • 781-471-1000 • ARCweb.com