Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/961476
NETWORK / 9 /APRIL 2018 Secondary substation automation across medium and low voltage grids is a key requirement for modernising UK & ROI Networks. With the increase of Operational Telecom (OT) capability, utilities can improve reliability, enhance effi ciency, and optimise grid performance, while also establishing an infrastructure to cater for new market opportunity. Currently, intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) and applications are automating grid functions, typically for monitoring and control. They collect, process, and communicate power line data, including frequency, voltage, and existing levels of current. On top of that, they send automated, control signals, apply real- time adjustments to changes in load, generation, and failure conditions. To support IED and connected assets, utilities have deployed multiple layers of secondary networks. The problem is, these secondary layers are often based on different technologies and are unable to support new business needs. Some use proprietary mobile technologies with narrow bandwidth. This creates challenges from solutions that struggle to meet the expanding needs of connectivity, driven by the evolving business. Connecting new distributed energy resources (DER) is often diffi cult and requires extensive effort to design connectivity. Each network layer must also be managed and maintained separately, thus increasing OpEx. Plus, secure, reliable communications for supporting new and critical applications, including distributed generation (DG) integration, inverter control, as well as automated fault isolation and reclosing, cannot be provided by existing secondary network systems. Using specifi c networks can also hamper control, co-ordination, and increase connection latency among the various grid applications at the network edge. So, given these challenges, what's your best path for automating this rapid growth of data? Why not click on this path ? … https://networks.nokia.com/power-utilities/ fi eld-area-network. 1 © Nokia 2016 Control center Data center Application specific Field Area Networks (FANs) I N D U S T RY I N S I G H T What path is your grid data taking? end consumer bill, and we will continue to have a razor-sharp focus on driving down our own costs, and to seek ways in which we can enable our customers to reduce their impact on the consumer bill. The RIIO framework has helped us deliver on this: In RIIO-T1 so far, National Grid has generated nearly £460m of savings for bill payers by being quicker and more e‚ cient in the way we work. On top of that, we have voluntarily deferred £480m of allowances to reduce bills in the short term and are using £150m from the sale of our gas distribution business to set up the National Grid Warm Homes Fund supporting the fuel poor. We have also been listening to the nearly 200 companies who make up our direct cus- tomer base – the organisations that pay us directly for using our gas and electricity transmission networks – to understand what they need from us in the future and where we can improve our service to them. To bring this to life, we are embarking on a new way of building business plans going forward. Developing our plans at National Grid We have drawn on the best practice and ex- perience in other sectors such as air trans- port and water, to develop our stakeholder led approach to building our business plans for each of our licence holders: gas transmission, electricity transmission owner and the soon to be legally separate electric- ity system operator. This approach has three broad phases: ● Listen. In this phase we determine which outputs/services our stakeholders see as most important; ● Co-create. We gather evidence on how stakeholders value options and view trade-oŽ s; and ● Propose. Validate our holistic business plans with stakeholders. We are calling for everyone with an interest in Great Britain's energy choices to engage with us. Collectively, we'll develop plans that will enable the next phase of the transi- tion to a new energy landscape in Great Britain. If you haven't already been involved in one of our workshops, webinars or have been contacted individually, please get involved by registering your interest: Electricity transmission owner Gary.Stokes@nationalgrid.com Gas transmission Jennifer.Pemberton@nationalgrid.com Electricity system operator Seamus.Gallagher@nationalgrid.com