Project Objective

The project objective is the deployment of a flexible data management and grid analytics platform that aligns OT/IT data sets based on the network model/asset relationships to support the needs for today and tomorrow as they transition to a fully functioning Distribution System Operator (DSO).  This will allow real-time monitoring/viewing into the operation of the network including;

·        Grid Resiliency

·        Asset health and maintenance

·        Situational awareness, and

·        DER/Storage/EV integration

Background

UK Power Networks (UKPN) is an electrical distribution company that covers London, Southeast England, and East England covering 30,000 square kilometers and 8.2 M metered customers.  UKPN is one of 6 Distribution System Operators that cover the entire UK market.

The United Kingdom like many countries is in the process of a major market shift from how utilities have operated for over hundred years.  These changes have included divestiture of power plants, as well as the end customer and have made them in to a “wires company only” with a greater responsibility on reliability and preparation for investment for low carbon networks (renewable energy), electric vehicles, smart technologies and the digitization of the grid.

Challenge

UKPN as a leader in this market and responsible for one of the largest population centers in the world is leading several project initiatives to meet the regulatory and market requirements.  One underlying and critical component is the digitalization of the grid.  This now includes:

·        Data sharing with 3rd parties from regulatory, market settlements, power generator and energy suppliers.

·        Smart Meters

·        Smart Network Assets

·        Self-Healing Grid Technologies

These efforts have led to the need for an operational data management and analytics system for these Operational Technologies (OT) at an unprecedented scale.

·        8.2M meters equals 5.9 billion daily data points

·        40,000 smart grid devices equals 200M daily data points.

But the amount of data itself is not the reason for the complexity but each meter and device must be contextualized in an asset hierarchy as the relationship is key to make the data useful.

Solution

To assist UK Power Networks on it journey, they have selected AVEVA’s PowerRunner on PI solution to be the data and analytics’ platform to assist in driving them to success during the increase of digitalization and DNO to DSO transition.