The energy transition and the future development prospects of electricity distribution are challenging the distribution management in electric utilities. We addressed this topic from the utility’s perspective at the Suunta event organized for our customers. Tommi Lähdeaho, Head of Asset Management, and Heikki Paananen, Head of Operations, at Elenia explained the trends in the electricity distribution industry and the expectations they place on software solutions to support distribution management. Matti Syyrakki, responsible for Trimble's distribution management solutions, explained how these expectations could be met in the future.
Electricity distribution plays an important role in the energy transition. The electricity network and its dynamics are changing, and the traditional model of electricity flowing from large generation units to the customer is changing rapidly. Tommi Lähdeaho of Elenia stressed that the energy transition will bring a drive towards self-sufficiency, which will be reflected in large generation plants but also in decentralized energy production. As decentralized production grows and transportation becomes electrified, automation, digitalization and information systems will take center stage. These are aimed at managing electricity networks in the face of growing dynamism and complexity.
Elenia, our long-standing customer, has prepared for the future by, for example, investing in its information systems. Elenia is the second largest electric utility in Finland, serving 438,000 customers in a vast area. The total length of their electricity network would stretch almost twice around the Earth.
According to Tommi Lähdeaho, Elenia's secure electricity network is the foundation and enabler of everything. Cabling plays a key role in increasing security of supply, and Elenia has set a target of 90% cabling by 2036. Although Finland has a strong security of electricity supply, new features are needed in electricity networks and their management to meet changing needs.
– A secure electricity network forms the basis for constructing a more flexible, smarter and cost-effective system that will serve customers' needs well into the future, stated Lähdeaho.
The energy transition is also changing customer needs. Elenia's Heikki Paananen described the impact of the electrification era on customer behavior and requirements.
– Anything that can be electrified will be electrified. As the share of electricity in the consumer's household grows and the customer's interest in electricity increases, so do their demands. The services provided by the electric utility have to work.
So how do you build an electricity network to meet the needs of the future and the needs of customers?
Electricity networks need to respond quickly to changing situations and manage capacity efficiently. Future distribution management systems will therefore need to be able to respond quickly and predict, as electricity consumption can vary greatly from time to time.
– When it comes to distribution management systems, we have a high demand for responsiveness and predictability so that we have time to come up with solutions, said Lähdeaho.
According to Paananen, ensuring the required quality of electricity becomes more challenging as distortions, surges and voltage dips become more prominent. That's why the data in SCADA, such as measurements and outage records, must be made available to DMS. Trimble's Matti Syyrakki described a distribution management system that – through a single user interface – makes use of the necessary functionality of SCADA and the control and readout functions of smart meters. This provides a comprehensive situational snapshot of the electricity network.
The distribution management system must be capable of responding to the complexity of network dynamics and various challenges. As distributed generation increases, the system must be able to predict and manage variations in generation under different operating conditions and at different voltage levels. For example, the impact of solar and wind power capacity on the network must be taken into account to ensure security of supply and power quality.
– Wind power is a challenge for the management of the high-voltage network to maintain power quality and network stability. Solar power is also a tough nut to crack. If people are not at home on a hot summer's day, there can be high yields but no consumption. When network usage patterns are variable, the distribution management system cannot distribute the same information all the time. The user interface needs to be modular and guidance is needed for the system user, Paananen described.
A key factor in ensuring sufficient capacity is demand response, i.e. the ability to increase or decrease electricity consumption at any given moment, depending on the electricity generation situation. Tommi Lähdeaho explained that the peak demand period may not be long, but the network starts to experience spikes due to production and consumption.
– If we don't get the flexibility there and get customers more active in the electricity market, we will have capacity challenges. The challenges are different at different voltage levels, Lähdeaho stressed.
So what will enable demand response? Lähdeaho said that a smart and strong electricity network is the basis for demand response solutions and enables customers to access the electricity market. When smart metering systems are installed at points of use, their computers can measure in real time and feed the data into the network.
Paananen described the accumulation of real-time data, which also contributes to challenging the network operator.
– The amount of data is increasing, with information from all voltage levels. For example, an operations supervisor or maintenance staff will be overwhelmed by the amount of data unless the system can assist and deduce, remove the noise, take that essential information and present it to the user.
Accumulated data needs to be integrated and used for decision making.
Trimble's Matti Syyrakki described how the automation and intelligence of the future distribution management systems must help the user respond and predict. Efficient computing capacity is essential to turn real-time information into decisions and quick responses. Based on an accurate network model and real-time inputs, such as switching state or metering data, the distribution management system performs calculations that result in an accurate picture of the state of the electricity network. This kind of situational awareness helps identify potential problems and allows short-term forecasting for operational activities.
Everything you need, such as the DMS and SCADA data, must work together in a single interface that assists the user with automation.
– It does the analysis so that us “Human Computers” don't have to work so hard. Once we have integrated controls in one interface, we can get to proactive network management. We act before something breaks, Syyrakki described.
Elenia's Heikki Paananen went through use cases where assistive automation would be needed. It could be used, for example, in switching programmes, of which Elenia makes 4,000 to 5,000 a year. Automation can also be used to optimize the switching situation in the network in terms of losses. Improving the efficiency of incident reports and dynamic alarm limits that vary according to the season are also tasks where automation can be of great benefit.
– Customers are no longer just stable electricity users. As both the use and generation of electricity changes radically, increasing foresight and reasoning is at the heart of the matter, Paananen explained.
In the era of electrification, information systems play an important role in electricity distribution. According to Syyrakki, the most important features of a distribution management system are high performance, high cyber security and high availability.
Performance is needed because the network state can change rapidly and the distribution management system must be able to process huge amounts of data in real time. Heikki Paananen from Elenia also stressed that all aspects of the operational systems must work in real time, map-based and at all voltage levels without any system glitches or stuttering.
Another key requirement is high availability. In electricity distribution, even small interruptions can cause major problems and costs. The distribution management system must operate reliably and ensure that all parts of the system are available at all times. This can be achieved, for example, by a hot standby solution that ensures that if one part of the system fails, another part immediately takes over.
Cyber security is at the heart of the distribution management system. Customer data and network operations must be protected. At the same time, care must be taken to ensure that updates do not cause long periods of downtime or loss of visibility. Paananen stressed the importance of a smartly designed system and smooth updates.
Syyrakki said that the future distribution management systems must operate on a high-security network and be accessible only to authorized users. Updates need to be done through the systems’ own synchronization process without long downtimes.
In the future of electricity distribution, the distribution management system will become an even more important tool. As electricity network phenomena become more complex and new energy solutions become more widespread, the distribution management system will have to respond to these challenges and enable secure and intelligent management of the electricity network. The objective for both electric utilities and system vendors is to create a future-proof, flexible and reliable electricity network that can meet future needs and enable the successful implementation of the energy transition.
