Managing Complex Distribution Networks

Source
L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, E1, have been created within the giCASES project (http://www.gicases.eu.
Ownership
Author: Björn Persson, Digpro AB. All material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
Abstract

The main objective of this module is that the students should become acquainted with the role which NIS/GIS plays in the daily management of an electricity distribution company. This means that an understanding of some essential operations to be supported by a utility network GI system should be achieved. This includes maintenance planning and management of inspections, operational procedures in the event of power blackout, quality-monitoring and network calculations and finally functions related to asset economical valuation in order to meet regulatory demands for setting distribution prices.

The major topics of the module are the components and modelling principles of electricity distribution networks, the structural design of such networks and the operational procedures used by distribution companies in its daily work. The module includes an opening lecture for giving a background to electric distribution network modelling. Also, an outlook to the complexity of governmental regulations for determining distribution prices, and the role of NIS/GIS in this process, is given.

The module is a self-learning module. It is provided in ppt- and recorded demonstrations formats.

It should be noted that the module does not contain hands-on exercises of operating an industry NIS-system. The intention is instead to provide the student with examples of daily operations and situations at a power distribution company where NIS is extensively involved. This is illustrated through recorded videos of demonstrations where the student is guided through realistic use-case scenarios.
Structure

The module consists of the following learning units:

  • L1: Modelling and basic design of electricity distribution networks, (lecture/rec. demonstration)
  • L2: Maintenance Planning, Inspection and Repair, U.C. 431, (lecture/rec. demonstration)
  • L3: FLISR, Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration (lecture/rec. demonstration), U.C. 432
  • L4: Outage analysis and Delivery quality (lecture/recorded demonstration), U.C. 433
  • L5: Regulatory Asset Base (RAB) and its calculation (lecture/recorded demonstration), U.C. 434
  • E1: Assignments
Learning outcomes

At the end of this module, a successful learner should be able to:

  • understand the basic components and methods used for modelling electric distribution networks in a NIS
  • understand how electric distribution networks are structurally designed
  • understand how NIS can support planning and carrying out of maintenance inspections and analysis of results
  • understand how NIS can support operative procedures in a command-central for electric distribution, in particular fault location, isolation and service restoration
  • understand how NIS can support the analysis and management of outages, as well as the gathering of data for statistical reporting of these
  • understand how NIS interacts with network calculation engines to analyse the distribution quality of the network
  • understand the basics of distribution prize regulation, the RAB (Regulatory Asset Base) and the central role NIS plays in establishing this
  • through assignments get an insight into, and report the practice and implementation of the use cases in a local or national power distributor
Intended Audience

Students in geospatial information technologies (or similar) Professionals working in the utility network sector.
Pre-requisites

Basic understanding of GIS applied to utility network information.
Language
English
Format

PPT presentation with text. Recorded demonstrations (video with voice).
Expected workload

Lectures: 6 hours.

Demonstrations: 4-6 hours

Assignments: 40 hours