Making Distribution Automation Work: The Need for Smart Data

As shown in Figure 3, asset management, as specified by ISO 55000, is an iterative approach that arises from the organizational objectives, is embodied in a strategic asset management plan, and incorporates performance evaluation so that its ongoing contributions to the organizational objectives can be affirmed. The crux of this approach is analytics that, on the basis of all available data pertinent to the assets, compute health scores, rank the assets, and provide actionable intelligence. There is a range of such analytic solutions being deployed in utilities, ranging from those that focus on a particular asset class to comprehensive Asset Risk Management Systems (ARMS) that span multiple asset classes and incorporate multiple analytics packages. The focus of ARMS on optimally and sustainably managing assets, their performance, risks, and expenditures differs from and complements the procurement planning and work-centric viewpoints of Enterprise Asset Planning (EAP) system and Work and Asset Management System (WAMS).

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  SCADA Historian
  
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  Geospatial Information System (GIS)
  
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  Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs)
  
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  Work and Asset Management Systems (WAMS) that have inspection and work order data
  
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  Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)
  
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  Databases that store results of diagnostic tests
  

In order to get a complete picture of the asset and fleet condition, this distributed data needs to be gathered and analyzed. The CIM is the logical choice as the semantic model for this task; in particular, the IEC 61968-4 standard that describes the CIM-based messages that enable integration of disparate asset related data for ARMS analytics. A new edition of this standard is planned in 2016 to support asset decision support applications including strategy definition and prioritization, maintenance strategy planning, and risk management, with the aim of maximizing value. Typical information exchanges for such applications include:

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  Asset data from enterprise data sources to ARMS
  
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    Asset list and characteristics provided by EAP to ARMS
    
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    Asset location data provided by GIS to ARMS
    
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    Asset measurements and test results provided by historian and test databases to ARMS
    
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    Asset inspection and maintenance data provided by WAMS to ARMS
    
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  Actionable intelligence from ARMS to various enterprise systems
  
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    Risk-ranked asset list provided by ARMS to EAP for replacement planning
    
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    Asset health and condition assessments provided to GIS for provision to the field force
    
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    Work request provided to WAMS on the basis of deteriorating health indicators
    

A specific realization of ARMS focused on substation assets may comprise of the following elements:

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  Online condition monitoring devices for power transformers, circuit breakers, and batteries stream data to a historian
  
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  Diagnostic test results and inspection results are stored in database systems
  
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  Analytic suite continuously assesses the data to determine asset condition. For instance, in the case of power transformer:
  
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    Among the analysis would be the monitoring of dissolved gases in the transformer oil for the presence of any fault condition indicators
    
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    If the assessment predicts a health event – e.g., high risk of bubble formation – actionable intelligence alert is provided to designated systems and/or persons
    
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  Analytic suite periodically assesses and helps optimize the asset use