Between the Poles

Infrastructure excellence competition

Infrastructure-excellence.com is hosting the second annual competition showcasing Excellence in Infrastructure— highlighting the best projects done in 2012/2013. The winners will be given over US$10,000 in prizes by the competition sponsors.  The competition is open to anyone 21 years and older who is planning, designing, building, and managing infrastructure projects.  Project types may include the following:

• Transportation (roads and highways, rail, airports, or bridges)
• Land development (commercial sites, subdivisions, public parks, or recreation)
• Water (distribution, water resources, dams and levees, or wastewater)
• Energy (electric and gas distribution, electric transmission, and substation design)
• Urban planning

Clearance calculation for substation design

I blogged previously about entegra, a company based in Germany that provides substation design solutions.  Entegra's substation design application is called primtech which has been optimized for  designing large substations.  It includes an extensible library of intelligent 3D objects such as power switches, transformers, isolators, insulators, chains, high-voltage cables, high-voltage pipes, foundations, steel structures, and terminals.  Last year I blogged about Primtech's support for lightning protection design.

The most recent major addition for substation designers is clearance calculation which is included in primtech 12.  Air Insulated substations require minimum distances between the different phases of live facilities as well as between live and grounded equipment. In addition minimum clearances are required between live facilities and surrounding fences and vehicle routes through the substation.  Primtech is now able to automatically compute these types of clearances according to the IEC 60071-2 standard.  

To do this requires a 3D CAD model of the substation and information for each piece of equipment indicating whether it is live, grounded, an insulator,  a fence or a vehicle route.  Based on this information primtech's Phase Checker automatically assigns each facility to the appropriate phase.  The phase checking also allows you to verify that all of the live conductors and other equipment are properly connected. 

Based on the 3D model and the phase assignments, all of the required minimum clearances for the whole substation can then be automatically computed.   Primtech is flexible in that it allows you to specify particular areas where you are interested in looking at clearances.  Primtech will then visually highlight the areas which do not satisfy the minimum clearances for phase to phase,  phase to ground,  phases to roads, phases to fences, phases to ground level, and insulators to ground level.  In addition to computing clearances, Primtech can also automatically perform collision detection to detect mechanical interferences between different pieces of equipment.

Productivity, knowledge transfer, and 3D model-based design in the electric power industry

Productivity has become a major challenge in the $7 trillion construction industry.  Recently McKinsey reported that construction productivity has stagnated in the EU, Japan, and Korea, and declined in the U.S.

In the utility and telecom industries productivity has become a critical issue partly as a result of the aging workforce.  Organizations are losing experienced workers to retirement faster than they can replace them with younger, less experienced workers.  This means that they are not only facing reduced headcount, but also less experienced workers.  In 2007 a Booz Allen Hamilton study predicted a 20% decline in productivity in the US electric power industry.

The share of workers 55-and-over in the workforce has reached an all time high of over 21 % (BLS Labor Force Statistics from Current Population Survey).  The labor force growth has been affected by the aging of the baby-boom generation, people born between 1946 and 1964. In 2012, the baby-boom cohort is between 48 to 66 years old. This age group has grown by over 4 times the rate of growth of the overall labor force. Over the past decade the share of the 55-and-older age
group has increased from 14.3 % in 2002 to over 21 % in 2012.

There are two important trends affecting the electric power industry.  One is what is referred to as the aging workforce, which is affecting many of the world's advanced economies.  In countries like Germany and Japan, the population is aging and shrinking.  In others such as the US, in the 90's the participation rate declined as life expectancy increased.  The problem is exacerbated in the utility industry, where the age of many utility workers in the world's advanced economies is over 55.  The second challenge is that as we expand and replace our existing electric and other utility networks with renewable energy and intelligent networks (smart grids), new skills, especially digital technology skills, are required.

In 2009 I graphed some statistics from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to compare productivity in the electric power industry to non-farm industrial productivity through 2007.  I've updated the results with the latest data from the BLS comparing productivity in the non-farm and electric power utilities sectors through 2010.  The resuls, which are shown in the attached graph, show that productivity in the electric power industry increased more rapidly than non farm industrial productivity through 1998, but that since 1998 productivity in the electric power industry has ben fairly flat.

I suspect that productivity might even have declined as projected by the Booz Allen study of the electric power industry in 2007 if the participation rate of workers 55-and-over had not increased significantly from 30% in the 90's to 40% in 2011 for the general labor force.  Even the participation rate of workers 65-and-over has increased significantly, from about 12% to over 18%, in the same time period.

The challenges that utilities are facing is how to increase productivity while capturing the knowledge and experience of experienced workers and transferring it to the next generation of engineers and designers. 

In the sphere of design utilities are finding that 3D model-based design technology can help.  The next generation is conversant with communications, media, and digital technologies, having been brought up with the internet and gaming technology, PSPs, XBoxes, and Wiis. Modern 3D model-based design applications, which use 3D visualization tools that were developed for the gaming industry, provide an environment that is much more familiar and stimulating for the millennial generation, who may perceive traditional 2D design and paper construction drawings as something left over from the dark ages.

For example, a large U.S. utility, which is developing 3D models for all of its 3000 substations as part of a program to increase the productivity of their substation designers, has found that 3D model-based design faciliates knowledge transfer between experienced designers and recently hired, young designers. They have found that by forming substation modeling teams of young designers who are comfortable with 3D model-based design but have limited experience in electric power design together with an experienced electric power designer as a mentor, they can optimize the transfer of knowledge and experience in the process of developing 3D models of their substations assets.  The good news is that because there is a trend for experienced workers to remain in the workforce longer, there is still time for utilities to implement programs like this one.

Designing lightning protection for substations

I blogged previously about entegra, a company based in Germany that provides substation design solutions.  Entegra's substation design application is called primtech which has been optimized for  designing large substations.  Primtech runs on an AutoCAD and Oracle or SQL Server database platform.  It includes an extensible library of intelligent 3D objects such as power switches, transformers, isolators, insulators, chains, high-voltage cables, high-voltage pipes, foundations, steel structures, and terminals.  primtech now includes lightning protection design.

Lightning protection for substations

Without surge protection and shielding substations are susceptible to lightnig strikes which can cause insulation flashovers, damage and possible failure of major equipment, and even a substation outage. Direct stroke shielding and surge arresters can be used to minimize the risk of equipment damage.

Various design approaches for shielding, comprised of rods and wires as lightning arresters, have been used including traditional empirical design and more recently electrogeometric models.  The most widely used of the latter is the so-called rolling sphere method developed in 1977 for shielding buildings and adapted for substations.

The algorithms that primtech supports for lightning protection design include the rolling-sphere method (derived from IEC 62305-1 Standard) as well as the German DIN VDE 0101 Standard.  primtech performs these calculations very efficiently which makes it possible to compare different lightning protection classes or to vary the dimensions of lightning arresters, for example, adjusting the height of rods.

The lightning protection design algorithms have been optimized for air insulated substations and like all the design capabilities of primtech, can be used for even the largest substations.  The algorithms can also be used for substation buildings, including gas insulated substations.

Three standards proposed for NIST/SGIP smart grid Catalog of Standards

Six standards have been approved for the Catalog of Standards (CoS) managed by the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP).   SGIP was set up by NIST to drive a consensus-based standards recommendation process for the smart grid.  FERC has decided against mandating these standards for US electric power utilities, so these standards are recommended, not mandatory.

The first six entries in the Catalog of Standards include

1. internet protocol standards, which will allow grid devices to exchange information;
2. energy usage information standards, which will permit consumers to know the cost of energy used at a given time
3. standards for vehicle charging stations, necessary for ensuring electric vehicles can be connected to power outlets
4. use cases for communication between plug-in vehicles and the grid, to help ensure that the vehicles–which will draw heavy power loads–will not place undue strain on the grid
5. requirements for upgrading smart meters, which will replace household electric meters
6. guidelines for assessing standards for wireless communication devices, which will be needed for grid communication

Three additional standards are currently being voted on among the SGIP membership for inclusion in the Catalog of Standards.

IEC 61850

This is relevant to substation automation systems. It defines the communication between intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) in the substation and the related system requirements.  Substation automation is of core relevance for smart grid.

IEEE C37.239-2010

Defines a standard for common format for event data exchange (COMFEDE) for power systems, specifically a common format for data files used for the interchange of various types of event data collected from electrical power systems or power system models.

OASIS Energy Interop

Energy Interop defines the interaction between smart grids and their end nodes, including smart buildings, enterprises, industry, homes, and vehicles, specifically the interoperable and standard exchange of signals for dynamic pricing, reliability, and emergencies.

U.S. Department of Energy's vision of the power grid in 2035

The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has decided to share its vision of the electric power grid in 2035 with industry, vendors, regulators and consumers.

Seamless, cost-effective electricity system from generation to end use

This means supporting both AC and DC and designed to optimize asset utilization and operating efficiency.  It should have different characteristics in different regions, reflecting local circumstances, but be part of a shared national vision.  It should be reliable and resilient, enable new products and services to be added, and help the U.S.'s global competitiveness.

Meeting the clean energy demands and capacity requirements of this century

The DoE sees a dramtic increase in clean energy generation, suggesting 80% by 2035, and accommodating a wide range of generation and storage options.  It would be reasonable to assume that by clean energy is meant the very broad range of options as defined in the current Clean Energy Standard before the Senate.

Allowing consumer participation and electricity use as desired

The DoE vision means informed participation by consumers with complete choice of how they want to participate. It includes distributed resources, demand response, demand-side management, electrification of transportation, and energy efficiency.

Getting there

These are all things that have been part of the vision of renewable energy and smart grid for some time.  What is emerging is a better idea of how to get there.  Jesse Berst sees several things that we need to do to enable the DoE vision of the grid in 2035 to happen.

• AC-DC hybrid systems
• Different degrees of power quality for different customer sets
• Making it easy for outsiders to offer new products, services and markets
• Making it easy for any form of generation or storage to hook into the system
• Giving choice to 100% of customers
• The substation will morph into an "Electricity Systems Hub"

Intelligent substations will become the “pinch point” for end-to-end integration.  The DoE sees a blurring of the distinction between transmission and distribution, which will create opportunities for industry and  make life interesting for regulators.

Distributech Utility University: Substation automation and enterprise data management

Yesterday at Distributech Utility University John D McDonald, currently with GE, presented the perspective a very experienced electric power industry veteran, but also of a visonary and a pioneer, on substation automation and managing the data generated by the equipment in substations.

Substations are a ciritcal part of the electric power grid everywhere we use electricity.  In the US there are about 14 000 transmission substations and 48 000 distribution substations.

Intelligent electronic device

The fundamental building block of substation automation is the intelligent electronic device (IED).  An IED incoporates two key elements in addtion to its electric power function (control, protection, data acquisition), a digital processor and the ability to communicate digitally with the external world.  A little over half of all substation have IEDs, but they need to be integrated into a communications network and an enterprise data management system, to be able to provide the full benefits of which they are capable.  Most utiltiies are only realizing 20% of the benefits of their IEDs.

Operational and non-operational data

There are two types of data that are generated by IEDs.  Operational data is data that is used by the control center. Typically a data point is recorded every 2 seconds by each IED and in North America DNP3 is the standard protocol used to communicate this information to the control center.  Non-operational data is not used for real-time operation of the grid.  It is available on demand or may be triggered by an event and is extracted by proprietary commands.  It can be point data or a file. 

These two types of data are managed in different ways and follows different pathways through the organization.  IEDs communicate with data concentrators which replace the older RTUs.  From the data concentrators the data follows different paths depending on whether it is operational or non-operational data.  Operational data goes directly to the control center, which often uses a SCADA system.  Non-operational data goes to a corporate enterprise data management system, typically a data mart, where the data may be used by 20-25 different groups within the utility. 

The communications to and from devices in substations is typically serial, not ethernet.  There are organizational reasons which have made it difficult to implement LANs in substations.  Typically this is becasue LANs are the responsibility of the IT group, not operations.

55% of substations with IEDs (29% of all substations) have no integration with enterprise data management systems and no automation.  The remainder (24% of the total) have some integration.  After retrofit of older substations 97% will have IEDs, and of these 42% will include IED integration and automation.  Virtually all new substations have IEDs, and most also have IED integration and automation.

The motivation for installing IEDs and the associated integration and automation is motivated by deregulation and competition and an enterprise-wide interest in information from IEDs.

• Improved power quality and service reliability (SAIDI and SAIFI)
• New energy-related services and business areas
• Lower cost of service
• Better decision making

In the past these have provided sufficient motivation for forward looking utilities to invest in substation automation, but as the statistics on IED deployement and integration indicate, many utilities have not taken advantage of the opportunity, 

Substation automation and the smart grid

The smart grid provides a major business driver for substation automation, as a result of which the rate of substation automation is expected to go up dramatically.  The term that John McDonald prefers to use is the "smarter grid", because the grid has always had some level on intelligence.  But what he sees as happening is that because of IEDs and similar intelligent devices in distribution ann transmission networks, and in generating plants, the grid is moving from the old grid characterized by

• You call when the power goes out
• The utility pays whatever it takes to meet peak demand
• Difficult to manage high wind and solar penetration
• Cannot manage distributed generation safely
• ~10 % of power is wasted in transmission and distribution

to the smarter grid where

• The utility knows the power is out and usually restores it automatically
• The utility suppresses demand at peak, lowering cost and reducing CAPEX
• No problem with higher wind and solar penetration
• Can manage distributed generation safely
• Power loss is reduced by 2+ %, lowering emissions and customer bills

Substation automation is a ciritical part of making the smarter grid happen.

AU: Designing the world's largest substations

One of the companies participating at Autodesk University this year is entegra.   Based in Germany entegra has been providing substation design solutions for fourteen years.  Their first customer was EnBW Regional AG, the third largest energy company in Germany. 

Entegra's substation design application is called primtech which has been optimized for the design of the world's largest substations.  Over the years they have expanded their customer base to include the largest electric power engineering firms in the world such as Siemens and ABB. 

Primtech is based on AutoCAD and Oracle or SQL Server databases.  It includes an extensible library of 2000 intelligent 3D objects such as power switches, transformers, isolators, insulators, chains, high-voltage cables, high-voltage pipes, foundations, steel structures, and terminals.  Primtech is designed to support the full substation product life-cycle (PLM) from the planning stage, design and construction to full operation and upgrading. Primtech links to SAP for materials ordering.

The design environment supports 2D and 3D for optimal performance.  3D renderings are photorealistic to allow substation designs to be shared with all stakeholders including non-technical decision makers.  Multiple designers can work concurrently using a checkin/checkout protocol.  Final 2D designs can be exported as DWG, DGN, PDF and TIFF.  Native 3-D AutoCAD models can be exported as well.  Automated bill of materials generation creates itemized bills of material managed through a BOM manager which maintains consistent parts numbers for large projects.

Primtech allows you prepare and view different plans including switchyard outline, ISO view, switchyard layout plan, switchyard site plan, earthing plan, terminal plan, foundation plan, lightning protection, switchyard application plan, switchyard lighting plan, and roads and fences.

There is a very good video that gives an overview of the evolution of substation design.

Because of their experience in substation design, Autodesk has recognized entegra as a Preferred Industry Partner for substation design.

AU: Integrating 3D model-based structural and electrical design for substations

I have blogged previously about automating substation design at Duke Energy, now the largest electric utility in the U.S.  Duke estimated that their approach increased the producitivity of their substation designers by 50%, which in these days where utilities are facing a shrinking workforce is an important improvment, especially given the cirtical importance of automating substations to support smart grid initiatives.

I have also blogged about Nashville Electric Service(NES), which has about 359,000 customers.  Their substation design team is comprised of three designers and three engineers, who are responsible for 68 primary, 30 customer, and 120 distribution substations.  They perform between 15 and 20 station upgrades every year and build a new station every two to three years.  Last year NES was one of six power utilities awarded the American Public Power Association's (APPA) Reliable Public Power Providers (RP3) Diamond Status, the industry’s highest award for reliability and safety.

NES is facing the same challenges that other utilities are. One of the biggest issues is an aging work force. In the next 5 years NES could lose half of its workers in the Substation Design Section and the other half has only 5 to 10 years’ experience.  Other important issues are aging infrastructure, growing customer expectations, and most recently aesthetics. NES customers have made it clear that they want reliable service, but they don’t want to see substation structures or equipment in their backyard (NIMBY).

This year on Autodesk University Virtual, Terri Humel and Joe Weaver descibe how NES cut its substation design time in half by using model-based design, often referred to as BIM, to design the physical layout of high-voltage electric substations to create intelligent 3D digital prototypes, generate construction drawings and bills of materials (BOM), and visualize designs for customer review.  They also discuss how to integrate electrical design with structural design.  They show how to check electrical clearances and  structural integrity for their designs.  By automating the process of upgrading aging structures and equipment, NES was able to increase the quality of their designs as well as save time.

Creating a substation design model

Terri and Joe present a detailed walkthough of the process of migrating existing CAD blocks to their model-based design environment,  placing foundations, columns and trusses, composing electrical sub-assemblies, generating cabling from electrical designs, adding conduits and grounding, checking electrical clearances and structural Integrity, and finally generating construction drawings and bill of materials (BOM).

Time study for model creation

NES recognized that they had a unique opportunity to compare the time required to create a substation design using 3D CAD to the time it took in a model-based design environment.  In 2005 NES upgraded the main and transfer 69kV bus at their Watkins Park substation. The original drawings for the electrical layout were only available as paper drawings. NES found that it took six weeks to create the 3D CAD design. In 2009 NES upgraded the 69kV breakers in the same 69kV structure. Using a model-based design tool, NES found that it took 3 weeks, or half the time, to create the model-based design.

Model-based design for the electric power industry

Next Wednesday August 3rd together with Energy Central we are presenting a webcast on Model-based design for the electric power industry: defining a more intelligent process for substation and electric distribution design.       
   

When: August 3rd, 2011 12pm Eastern

Who:  

Terri Humel, Kyle Baker, Nashville Electric Service

Robert Sarfi, Boreas Group LLC

Geoff Zeiss, Autodesk

Aging networks and smart grid requirements lead to renovation and retrofit projects in both substations and distribution networks. At the same time designers are retiring taking with them information about service area and utility standards -- knowledge often not captured in existing systems or processes. New designers must learn quickly how to become productive without 20-30 years experience.

There is a wealth of information that must be understood about designs, and without knowledge transfer from more experienced designers, and technology that can build more intelligence into the process, utilities risk design productivity and efficiency. Inconsistencies can lead to issues with improper sizing, over or under-ordering materials, QA/QC and ultimately cost the utility when rework has to be done. If accurate design information cannot be shared in a more consistent and coordinated way across the organization, it can slow processes, can cause issues with confidence in data accuracy, and can ultimately affect system reliability.

Greater emphasis is now being placed on improving not only technology, but also the design processes that help utilities to manage productivity and efficiency as well as provide more consistent and coordinated information for operations and maintenance.

This session will discuss the role of model-based technology, aslo known as BIM, in the evolving electric infrastructure space.  We will discuss the changing workforce, infrastructure renovation and retrofit, and how utilities are turning to technology to find solutions.  This is an opportunity to learn more about how model-based design can help you address knowledge transfer and help designers be more productive and consistent and how innovative 3D modeling technology makes electric power design interesting and fun.

This is a free webcast.  You can register here.