#UtilityOperations

[xtremeutilityconsulting]

Streamline Utility Operations with Tailored Solutions 

Let Xtreme Utility Consulting take the complexity out of utility operations. With our customized strategies, your city can enjoy efficient, reliable, and cost-effective services tailored to meet your community’s unique needs. What We Deliver:

[nypaenergy]

It Takes a Village: NYPA Raises the Bar for Data Quality with New Digital Tool

What does it take to be a truly end-to-end digital utility? Data-driven collaboration and top-to-bottom commitment to data quality using the latest cutting-edge digital tools.

At the New York Power Authority (NYPA), having access to useful data is vitally important for everyday operations. Good short- and long-term asset management decisions rely on dependable information, which means data quality has become particularly important as more asset information becomes available digitally.

That’s why, in November 2018, NYPA rolled out its unique Data Quality Management Solution. The Data Quality Solution uses color-coded, easily digestible displays to summarize overall data quality. The first iteration of the Data Quality Solution was introduced to measure and visualize the quality of asset data. Each piece of data is given a score from zero to one — known as the Data Quality Index (DQI) — which defines the quality of a particular piece of data.

NYPA’s advances in data quality are part of the broader effort to manage its data as an asset through NYPA’s Data Governance Framework.

“Data is the fuel for all our strategic initiatives,” said Chen Picard, Director of Data Governance, Architecture and Analytics. “We want to treat our data the same way as we do all our physical assets.”

Since its launch, the Data Quality Solution has been used by planners and asset managers across all NYPA facilities to identify and remediate data gaps for NYPA’s most critical assets — including battery banks, transformers and breakers. It provides clear guidance on how data quality can be improved. Any data can be imported and visualized. The result is an adaptable means to improve data quality for a variety of departments and projects.

“At NYPA we say, ‘improving data quality takes a village,’” said Leonard Caputo, Director of Asset Information. “No one person has all the information for a given asset. The planners enter the data into Maximo, but they rely on input from asset managers, project managers, engineering, environmental, and health and safety, just to name a few.”

Recently, a comprehensive landing page was added to the Data Quality Solution that shows an overview of data quality over time and provides key insights for potential improvements at each site. Additionally, a second feature was introduced to the tool in October 2019 — the Work Order Visualizer — which evaluates work order entry fields for validity and accuracy.

The Data Quality Solution was first presented at the NYPA-hosted Maximo Utility Working Group (MUWG) 2019 spring conference in Syracuse, New York. The industry response to the tool has been overwhelmingly positive, which has led to demonstrations of the tool for several international companies, including IBM, the developer of Maximo.

“NYPA’s Data Quality Solution is setting an example for the industry,” said Pam Denny, Maximo offering manager at IBM. “There’s a lot of talk out there about treating data as an asset, but NYPA is actually doing it by developing tools and processes that ensure data quality.”

The tool was instrumental in meeting the information requirements of ISO 55001 certification, which NYPA received in September 2019. During the certification process, auditors were particularly interested in NYPA’s end-to-end Data Quality Management Framework, including data quality tracking, visualization and remediation capabilities for treating data as an asset.

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[nypaenergy]

Analog to Digital: Telemetry Upgrades Improve Operations at Clark Energy Center

At the New York Power Authority (NYPA), monitoring and operating our statewide generation and transmission system is an important and challenging task that relies on having the right data exactly when it is needed. That’s why system operators at our Frederick R. Clark Energy Center (CEC) use both a primary and backup telemetry system for redundancy when retrieving operational data like voltages, power outputs, line flows and more from NYPA facilities and other key points across the grid.

In order to sustain and improve the efficiency of our operations, we recently upgraded our backup telemetry system at CEC to be more reliable, compact, modular and upgradable while also being easier to maintain and operate.

CEC’s primary source of information, the energy management system (EMS), enables system operators to receive and visualize a wealth of information from critical assets across the state. A backup telemetry system retains visibility of these assets in the event of an EMS shutdown. This secondary system runs concurrently with the EMS, meaning system operators also use it to validate information — offering a high degree of confidence in key measurements being used to operate the system.

Until recently, the backup system used what is known as a patch panel to allow technicians to access data streams, obtain measurements and perform maintenance on the system. The design was prone to dust buildup that often resulted in signal drift and inaccurate readings being displayed in the control room, and technicians would frequently need to perform the laborious task of cleaning the contacts to bring signals back within tolerance.

“Bad data is worse than losing the signal because it makes checking our primary system more difficult,” said Christopher Powers, electrical engineer. “The design of the new system essentially eliminated that risk.”

NYPA’s project to revamp the secondary system at CEC completely replaced the patch panel with a smaller, simpler and more consolidated platform. Although the signals coming to the backup telemetry system are still analog, digital processors perform analog-to-digital conversions that enable technicians to use new telemetry software to easily patch in and perform maintenance on the system. The new hardware also includes status indication lights, translating to greater situational awareness of the signals going to and from the equipment.

“The new hardware and software made maintenance and troubleshooting much easier,” said Mike Parisi, senior director of system operations and planning. “The whole process is more efficient.”

The new hardware is modular, which means it can be easily upgraded to accommodate more data in the future. Furthermore, the new telemetry software makes all data immediately viewable within the control room at CEC, which has an immediate impact on the overall accuracy of NYPA’s operations. With a significantly more flexible and reliable system in place, CEC now has a reliable set of signals that it can maintain for the long term.

“Since we made the switch, we haven’t had any signal drift,” Parisi said. “None of this would have been possible without support from the technical services team and technicians here in Marcy.”

[nypaenergy]

Eyes in the Sky: Pairing Drones with Advanced Imaging and Sensing Technologies

NYPA continues to explore new applications for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) with a particular focus on finding ways to improve personnel safety and operational efficiency. Teams are investigating the potential applications for advanced imaging technologies such as high‑resolution and high‑zoom cameras, infrared sensors, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and corona cameras to support a wide spectrum of utility operations.

The drones NYPA currently deploys are already outfitted with high‑resolution/high‑zoom cameras and infrared sensors, which have critical applications for safety and efficiency. While visual cameras can be used to navigate difficult‑to‑access areas, the infrared sensors allow pilots to examine temperature contrasts to identify potential equipment issues or thermal insulation loss.

“We can survey switchyards and transmission lines for hot spots, look for insulation loss in buildings or steam generators and even detect oil circulation issues within transformers,” said Dan Drennan, system operator at Marcy and FAA‑certified drone pilot. “These cameras provide us with the resolution to see minute details without putting someone next to energized equipment.”

Additionally, NYPA’s UAS program is working on use cases for advanced sensing technology such as LiDAR and corona. LiDAR technology helps to gather data that can be used to generate 3D models of the objects scanned. Corona cameras detect trails of electrons that signal electrical leakage, and are being investigated for their ability to help identify efficiency losses before they become faults that impact operation of the electric system. They are currently used in handheld form across NYPA, but mounting corona cameras on drones may provide greater detail and offer a new perspective on facilities and equipment.

The UAS Program is making rapid progress in identifying and testing applications for drone technologies, advancing NYPA ever closer toward becoming the nation’s first end‑to‑end digital utility.

[nypaenergy]

New York Power Authority Adds State-of-the-Art Resilience Measures to Statewide Transmission Artery

NYPA is implementing a critical asset performance management (APM) initiative that uses predictive analytics and monitoring software to analyze the health of our transmission assets, identifying potential risks, optimizing operations and reducing unplanned outages. This cutting-edge capability not only means increased reliability for the end customer—municipalities and businesses across New York State -- but also marks a significant step in NYPA’s effort to become the first fully digital utility in the country.

The recent implementation of APM  software on NYPA’s generation assets has already yielded significant cost savings by avoiding costly repairs. We’re looking forward to adding this capability to our 1400 miles circuit miles of transmission lines, substations and switchyards to make our transmission equipment smarter, more resilient and better able to avoid outages.

In contrast to the near real-time insights that generation APM provides, transmission APM tracks overall health of transmission assets over time, becoming increasingly more accurate as more data is collected. Integrating the digitized asset management approach into generation and now transmission assets allows NYPA to monitor assets comprehensively and make informed decisions when planning maintenance activities or allocating grid modernization investments. The data will feed into NYPA’s newly-opened Integrated Smart Operations Center (iSOC) and transmit critical insights to key individuals.