The PI System revolutionizes one utility s electric transmission & distribution power system data

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1 OSIsoft, Inc. PI System Case Study Overview Country or Region: United States Industry: Transmission and Distribution Business Situation Operators, engineers, managers, and executives needed an easy way to visualize the real-time or historical operations data of the Utility s Transmission & Distribution (T&D) power system, especially during critical operational periods. The company also needed a tool to monitor cyber security assets for compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) 1200 Urgent Action Cyber Security Standard. Solution Ease of use, Microsoft-based standard platform, easy-to-build applications and displays, outstanding data trending capabilities, reliable IT security, and NERC security compliance monitoring with IT Monitor. Benefits Creation of visual representations of all T&D real-time and historical data in one place Increased T&D real-time power system data visibility and information availability to engineering and planning, construction and maintenance, marketing, regulatory, load forecasting, district offices, and Emergency Operations Center without accessing the real-time control systems Ease, speed, and accuracy in reporting Integrated information/collaboration with other utility entities Greatly improved system visibility to act in emergency situations Trending/analysis tools right on the desktop The PI System revolutionizes one utility s electric transmission & distribution power system data We immediately saw major benefits in the PI System and wanted a full-scale implementation as soon as possible to get the data to the end-users. Project Manager, T&D Utility As with most electric transmission & distribution (T&D) companies, growth does not come without many challenges, commonly faced by most large utility companies: diverse data sources in different locations with restricted access; numerous manual data retrieval processes; with limited ability for people outside the control center to immediately observe what problems have occurred; and operating in an interactive environment. In 2003, one T&D Utility, implemented OSIsoft s PI System (PI ) across all Transmission and Distribution operations. This decision dramatically changed the way this Utility is able to access power system data and conduct business. Now operators, engineers, analysts, managers, and executives are able to monitor real-time power system data using easy-to-configure displays, with the ability to trend and analyze in real time or historical mode. PI gave this Utility an unparalleled ability to monitor transmission line status from the Emergency Operations Center when crises arise. Systems are now integrated and data is provided to operations, management, planning, forecasting, and regulatory compliance groups. Two major, complex real-time control systems monitor and control the power system at this Utility: the transmission Energy Management System (EMS) and the Distribution Management System (DMS). There are many applications within EMS; however one of the main functions is Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), which scans data from (or sends control to) the field devices via the Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) through the master station equipment or Front-End Processors. The EMS and DMS systems are primarily used for real-time operational purposes and are not intended for long-term data storage.

2 The PI System becomes a company standard Like many companies, most employees within this Utility had limited access to real-time information, and data retrieval required numerous manual processes. The company s transmission grid operations and distribution operations departments sought a tool that would provide employees easy access to the T&D real-time information they needed, enabling them to analyze and manage data themselves. There was also a great need for a system that would allow users to easily retrieve data, create displays, and generate reports. For this, the Utility s Energy Management Systems Operations group discovered the OSIsoft PI System, with its unique real-time, time-series data engine. They realized that in addition to PI being Microsoft-based and consistent with industry standards, most other electric utilities were using PI already. No matter what conference or meeting I went to, I always heard people from other electric utilities talking about using PI. Apparently, OSIsoft s Platform has become the industry standard in the power generation and T&D business. We work very closely with other utility entities, and sometimes they send us some trending snapshots for us to analyze, like a sudden spike or a dip for certain analog data. Often times in the past, it was difficult for us to determine what had occurred because if the event happened and cleared quickly, our system wasn t able to collect or record such a sudden change, says the Utility s Project Manager. The Utility s PI project became a joint venture between electric transmission and electric distribution, in order to provide access to both transmission and distribution data from one common platform. The goal was for one system to capture and store data from both the transmission and the distribution systems. Additional project goals included: Creating synergies in data integration between the transmission and distribution groups Interfacing with other company T&D data sources and applications Enhancing and improving power system data quality Transferring all non-scada data (substation automation) directly into PI Transferring metering and measurement department distributed generation data directly into PI Implementing EMS infrastructure security monitoring and notification for NERC compliance System Transmission Summary A fast, streamlined installation The Utility had a remarkably rapid PI System installation, beginning in mid It was 125 miles per hour, non-stop, says the Utility. After two weeks, we had 10,000 points from the Transmission EMS and three substations from the Distribution DMS going into PI, including backfilling EMS data since Four months later, we had 40,000 points from the Distribution DMS in PI, including backfilling DMS data since Six months later in December, we upgraded PI from a 50,000-tag to 150,000-tag server. Because of such an easy installation process, we implemented the PI System as fast as we could, says the Utility. We immediately saw major benefits in the Platform and wanted a full-scale implementation as soon as possible to get the data to the end-users. There was a real sense of urgency because the PI System could collect all the data we needed into one single location. That s why we had to rush to upgrade our server tag count and purchase more client licenses at the end of December Within a short time, we were able to establish a new purchase order contract with OSIsoft, upgrade the server to 150K tags, and then we received the invoice to complete the purchase process. That was the fastest turnaround I ve ever seen, after working with many software or hardware vendors where sometimes it can take weeks to just get a quotation. Page 2 of 7

3 Immediately upon installation, the Utility saw data never before captured, let alone displayed in configurable, real-time applications. Before, most people didn t have direct access to EMS data, so they would ask us for data. Now, engineers have access to all the data they need right on their desktop, says the Utility. With every T&D point built into the hierarchical Module Database, users can easily select and trend multiple points by pointing-and-clicking in the drill-down structure. Users can also search for real-time and historical data, and calculate max/min/average automatically, right on their desktops. Starting out right The Utility s PI team needed to address a number of critical decisions before company-wide rollout. The first was that each data point, known as a tag, must be represented in OSIsoft s Module Database A consistent naming convention for the tags was designed.and developed for standardization across all the systems. A good tag-naming convention also made searches within the Module Database hierarchies more logical and straightforward. The second decision regarded system redundancy. The PI System architecture is designed with an automatic backup failover scheme and complete system redundancy, just like this company s EMS and DMS systems. The third major decision was to immediately start implementing and utilizing IT Monitor. NERC and IT Monitor After the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001, energy companies came under far more scrutiny over computer and cyber security. We take NERC compliance very seriously, says the Utility. From the executive level on down, our company is very concerned with cyber security within the real-time control system infrastructure. In addition, all utilities face tremendous pressure to comply with new cyber security standards. The NERC 1200 Urgent Action Cyber Security Standard (NERC 1200 UAS), is a temporary standard establishing a set of defined security requirements for the energy industry. The purpose of NERC 1200 UAS is to reduce risks to the reliability of bulk electric systems from any compromise of critical cyber assets. NERC 1200 UAS will expire in Summer 2005, so a draft of a permanent Cyber Security Standard (NERC 1300) was circulated for comment in September The new NERC 1300 standard is expected to be refined and eventually ratified to take over when NERC 1200 expires next year. Since NERC requires all critical cyber assets to be monitored seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, we needed a tool to perform this system-wide monitoring, says the Utility. Since we had already invested in the PI System and knew its reliable reputation of monitoring our power system, we wanted to build on that by adding the IT Monitor product from OSIsoft. We thought it would be a good tool for our EMS infrastructure. Today, IT Monitor keeps an eye on the Utility s EMS critical cyber assets across multiple platforms and devices. For our EMS infrastructure in the control center, IT Monitor is watching all of our PI servers, PI interface/opc nodes, SQL and Web servers, EMS application nodes, front-end processors (our master station), dispatcher workstations, and network devices, says the Utility. Page 3 of 7

4 IT Monitor went well beyond our expectations. Not only can we monitor CPU, memory, swapping space, and file system disk space, we can also monitor every single EMS process real-time data distribution, automatic generation control (AGC), real-time calculations, alarm and events processing, and many other EMS critical processes and activities. IT Monitor has quite a lot of monitoring capability; whatever we need to monitor, we probably can do it with IT Monitor. We can use IT Monitor to cover anything that is SNMP-enabled, even beyond the computer infrastructure, like our uninterruptible power supplies, and facility-related items such as air conditioners. All the equipment all of our asset and investment in our control center can be potentially supervised with IT Monitor. IT Monitor is definitely a valuable, strategic investment for our control center, the Utility says. It really helped us meet the cyber security criteria in NERC 1200 and has given our staff the ability to monitor system changes and performance. The most valuable part was that we could tell our executives, Don t worry. Everything is taken care of and done right, as far as EMS cyber security. Real-time data is vital in the wake of disaster The Utility has had an Emergency Operations Center for several years. In the wake of disaster, energy crisis, or large-scale power outage in the area, this center is immediately activated. At those times, all key representatives from the company come together in the center to monitor events, communicate and make decisions much like a command center. Before PI, people couldn t monitor the real-time information at the center, says the Utility. Trying to get current real-time information was very challenging during a crisis. The center had to communicate with the operations staff in the control room by fax, by phone, or by to try to get the latest information. But with PI at the center s workstations, people can now monitor all of our transmission and distribution systems from the desktop. For example, last year in 2004, the distribution operations group developed a Load Curtailment application in PI to prepare for possible load-shedding or rolling blackouts during a power crisis. This has really helped the emergency center personnel because they don t have to communicate with the distribution operations switching center to get real-time information and periodic updates. Now the operator or dispatcher in the control center or switching center can concentrate on operations and dealing with the crisis at hand. The Utility also uses the Web browser-based, view-only ActiveView client application. Every single ProcessBook display can be viewed via the Web browser. With the Utility s electric grid diagram linked to the PI data, users can go back to any historical event to review the impact and sequence of events on the transmission grid, step-by-step with scroll back /forward capability, such as depicted here for one particular crisis. Page 4 of 7

5 An entire company realizes the potential of the PI System In early 2004, the Utility s PI team decided to take PI on the road. As part of the companywide rollout, the EMS group invited all employees (except the Trading/Merchant business) to a presentation/demo of the plan, and a briefing on the benefits and capabilities of the Platform. In addition, many local on-site demos, training and installations were conducted at different parts of the Company. The team collected ideas and requests and created many PI System applications, displays, and reports to help people perform their jobs better. Also, many other databases, spreadsheets, and devices were linked to the PI System for a single T&D point database source. This was accomplished easily because OSIsoft s PI System has more than 400 interfaces already built to connect to hardware devices or software applications. These road shows generated great interest throughout the company. The more PI was demonstrated, the clearer it became that the PI System wasn t just for transmission and distribution anymore. Departments from marketing to regulatory to strategic planning, and even people from the customer service call centers participated and were interested in finding out how they could use the PI System in their area, says the Utility. PI monitors the entire grid automatically behind the scenes, says the Utility. It s like the eyes and ears of the operation. I don t like to hear people call OSIsoft s PI System a historian. To us, it s a company-wide real-time monitoring system and a historical data system. The alarming and notification system can even send an early warning before the problem occurs. Now, we implement it so that every single point and every single device is monitored by PI. The Utility now uses OSIsoft s PI System to gather and archive over 10,000 points of real-time Transmission EMS and over 40,000 Distribution SCADA data points. This power system information is now available throughout the company on user desktops. For example, an engineer or manager may wish to see the record for peak electricity use, or need to see real-time and historical trends at a substation to use in determining the timing of system outages, or for other purposes. Below are a few examples of PI displays that have been built for the Utility by its own people. Real-time Transmission operations management displays: System transmission summary Monthly trending display Intertie MW flow Digital point tracking analysis Capacitor control overview Substation /point search trending Transmission voltage profile Open circuit breakers Total load summary Special protection schemes Load forecast vs. actual RTU and communication channels status Yearly total load Real-time Distribution operations management displays: Load comparisons trending Comm line status Substation point search trending 12KV bus voltage Circuit watchlist Open circuit breaker SCADA battery analysis Open field device switch SCADA breaker analysis Load curtailment SCADA sectionalizers Page 5 of 7

6 Users can compare the T&D loading between today s load and two other user-selectable dates. The hierarchical display of point structure enables users to quickly and easily check individual point performance. Real-time Emergency Operations Center management displays: Tielines and breaker status Transmission summary System graphical display Load forecast vs. actual Daily system load comparison ISO system summary Substations displays: Combined T&D real-time substation one-line system operations diagrams Playing a part in a states grid management Like many parts of the country, the Independent Systems Operator (ISO) manages the entire grid for the Utility s territory. In order to manage the grid accurately and in real time, it is essential that the ISO, other utility entities and the Utility collaborate and exchange data. This was very difficult before the Utility installed the PI System to gather, store, visualize, and distribute real-time and historical data. Now that the other entity and the Utility use the PI System, both companies are able to share the trending results and other data analysis information in the same format. Use of the same PI tools has also provided an improvement in ensuring data quality and the ability to spot discrepancies for troubleshooting purposes between the two EMS systems. A color-coded open and closed breaker status display provides an at-a-glance overview of the Utility s 69 KV tie lines. Users have the ability to scroll backward and forward by a user-selectable time period. The lights are on Reliability and customer service are among the main goals of power utilities.pi helps this case study customer better monitor the electric power system; the PI System has become an integral part of the Utility s T&D business strategy because PI integrates transmission and distribution into one place. The engineers, operators, and managers are now closer to both Transmission and Distribution real-time data, which helps them make decisions in improving the reliability of the T&D system. Page 6 of 7

7 If we didn t have PI, we would probably be doing business like in the old days. We d have data sources separated and spread out among different locations. There d be no common platform for integration, so people would have limited access to certain pieces of information. We would have to rely on phones, fax, or s in order to request data. It would require some manual process or programming to retrieve the data, and then we would have to put it in a user-requested specific format. Without PI, it is a lot of work and very inefficient to manage the data. We can t imagine working in that slow fashion again, says the Utility. Many departments are now supported by the PI System. Besides transmission and distribution operations, construction, maintenance, planning and engineering departments, upper management, marketing, regulatory, environmental chemical lab, and metering, among others, are seeing benefits provided by PI. Now, not only are the lights still on in our territory, but we re seeing our operations more clearly in the future. Dr. Pat Kennedy (OSIsoft founder and CEO), you should be very proud of your company you have provided a great tool for our businesses, says the Utility. The EMS group has also targeted another project. We installed a projection screen to display critical system data on the wall in our workspace. This way, we are able to project IT Monitor and ProcessBook displays for the EMS support staff. We want everyone to see the big picture of the EMS infrastructure and electric power grid that our PI System provides! The Utility s total load for an entire year can be visualized quickly in one trend for better analysis, planning, and forecasting. Even though the Utility started using PI in mid 2003, using backfilled data, the users can still view the total area load from the entire year of 1996 forward to the present. Page 7 of 7 Copyright 2007 OSIsoft, Inc. All rights reserved. OSIsoft and the OSIsoft logo are trademarks of OSIsoft, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.