Network automation and advanced technologies

Network automation and advanced technologies can be seen as an enabler from Smart Grid perspective. This is because network automation and the technology used in it, has many consequences to network operation like better controllability and reliability, en-hanced fault locating and fault management. Advanced technologies are supporting new services that can be offered to customers for example via advanced metering devices. In Nordic countries like Finland and Sweden, the level of automation is at high level, espe-cially in MV networks. New technologies have been introduced in the past few years.

Almost all network functions are today based on the control center applications which are because of that, a very important part of network operation. Nevertheless, when as-sessing the development purely from a Smart Grid point of view, the most important precondition and enabler for new innovative services is the introduction of advanced metering devices. By measuring the level of automation and advanced technologies used in the network, it is possible to assess the development level of one perspective concerning the “smartness” in a network. The specific KPIs for network automation and advanced technologies are introduced in the Table 5.1 below. See Appendix 3 for more information of how the KPIs at the Table 5.1 are implemented to use in the “evaluation tool”.

Table 5.1, KPIs related to network automation and advanced technologies.

Key Performance Indicators

1. Supervisory control system (SCADA etc.) connection points (data elements) available, shared by the number of primary substations, secondary substa-tions and monitored / controllable grid elements.

2. Primary substations that are equipped with advanced relays like microproces-sor relays/ feeder managers (terminal relays) and integrated with the supervi-sory control system. Share of all primary substations.

3. Grid elements that can be remotely monitored in real-time, share of all grid elements.

4. Grid elements that can be remotely controlled in real-time, share of all grid elements.

5. Total demand served by advanced meters (AMR-meters) which are capable to monitor and communicate remotely. Share of all network users.

6. Advanced meter device features corresponding the European directives / standards / recommendations. Level of functionalities.

7. Automated meter readings, data transfer frequency supporting different net-work services. Level of transfer frequency.

8. Network operating systems. Applications exploiting the "real-time" data pro-vided by advanced meters. Level of real-time data exploitation.

9. Automated MV fault identification (locating) / grid reconfiguration during outages. Level of effective fault management capability.

The first KPI (1) at the Table 5.1 tells the amount of available points of the control sys-tem (SCADA etc.) in comparison with the amount of primary substations, secondary substations and monitored / controllable grid elements. It describes the DSO's capability to monitor and control the distribution network in a sufficient way. Monitoring and con-trolling the network will be even more crucial in the future, when the amount of DG, LV automation and other solutions depending on high control capability of the network, increase rapidly.

KPI (2) at the Table 5.1 is measuring the level of automation at primary substation level, which describes the DSO's capability to remotely monitor and control the primary substations in the network. Automated solutions at the primary substation level are go-ing to be important in future, as the amount of DG production increases. The role of advanced fault management methods and active voltage control becomes more im-portant and in order to achieve this it is vital to achieve a high integration rate between different network control systems. The KPI measures if there are sophisticated relays and technology at the primary substation level integrated with the supervisory control system.

The KPI (3) at the Table 5.1 is measuring the amount of grid elements that are re-motely monitored in real time by the DSO. It is vital, that a large number of grid ele-ments can be monitored in real time both in MV and LV networks in future. A more accurate network state estimation by automated and remotely monitored solutions is

needed. This can be achieved by implementing new sensors into the network and inte-grating them with the control systems, for example.

The KPI (4) at the Table 5.1 is measuring the amount of grid elements, which can be remotely controlled in real-time by the DSO. The ability to remotely control network elements from the control center is important. This ability can effect positively on many things in network operation like capability to transfer into microgrid operation and the fault management process in general by allowing fast network reconfiguration during outages which shortens the average outage time experienced by network customers.

Fifth KPI (5) at the Table 5.1 is measuring the amount of end-users that are equipped with advanced metering devices (AMR, automatic meter reading) which are capable to two-way communication. Introduction of AMR meters has been perceived as one of the most important preconditions to Smart Grid development. Advanced meters, or at least the information that the meters can offer enables many ancillary services in distribution business and electricity market, which are very important in future as the role of different kind of additional and innovative network services increase. Specific billing based on real consumption measurement, demand response, real-time pricing and smart tariffs are examples of these.

In order to establish a common internal electricity market in Europe, there has to be uniform recommendations concerning advanced meters, for example. Some recommen-dations have been introduced at European level. National recommenrecommen-dations have also been introduced in various countries and the functionalities of the meters, which are seen as the most important have been described. This KPI (6) at the Table 5.1 is measur-ing the features, that the AMR meters installed, are capable to offer compared with the international and national standards and recommendations.

The next KPI (7) at the Table 5.1 is measuring the level of automated meter data transfer frequency, for example hourly data transfer versus monthly data transfer. Many new services related to DSM are depending on “real-time” information offered by ad-vanced metering devices in a sufficient frequency. Network state management and con-sumption measurements supporting DR can achieve better accuracy when the frequency of the meter reading is high enough. It is commonly recommended that the meter read-ings should be done within a minimum of one hour interval, but it has to be also recog-nized that the data transfer should be done also with a sufficient frequency. In order to achieve all the possible benefits from hourly based meter readings, the data should also be transferred hourly, this is challenging because of the large amount of information.

This KPI (8) at the Table 5.1 is measuring the number of network operating system applications, which exploit the real-time information provided by advanced meters. The data exploitation has a crucial role in future, in order to support new services and better network state management. Both the DSO’s internal and external processes can benefit from “real-time” data utilization. Fault management process and billing system, for ex-ample.

The last KPI (9) number nine at the Table 5.1 is measuring the network's (DSO’s) ability to identify medium voltage network fault location and type, ability to automated

reconfiguration of the grid connections in order to limit the faulted area to a minimum in size or number of customers. DSO’s capability to realize fast fault management by utilizing the integration between controllable grid elements, advanced relays and net-work management systems is evaluated.