PAC World magazine : Creating Smart DISTRIBUTION through AUTOMATION

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Creating Smart DISTRIBUTION through AUTOMATION

Author:
Robert Uluski, EPRI, USA
Enhanced Distribution Operating Goals
The distribution system operating goals have always included maintaining a safe environment,
providing reliable service (including restoring service quickly when the lights go out), maintaining
acceptable voltage, being reasonably efficient, and protecting the assets. While these fundamental
operating objectives still apply, the Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) R&D activities in
advanced distribution applications show clearly that today's utilities are seeking to accomplish much
more:
Maximize efficiency and reliability
Improve system performance
Control the growth of demand and promote energy conservation
Accommodate as many distributed energy resources (DERs) as possible, and
Handle major new loads such as electric vehicle chargers
A
fundamental strategy being implemented by an increasing number of utilities to accomplish many of
these objectives is Distribution Automation (DA).
What is DA?
Today's electric distribution systems depend on intelligent field devices and control systems to
maintain maximum efficiency, reliability and performance while improving safety and protection of
distribution assets. These facilities must perform properly in dynamic operating environments due to
higher penetrations of distributed generating resources (including renewable energy resources with
highly variable output) and new types of loads such as electric vehicle chargers. This dynamic
operating environment is especially challenging for existing protection, automation, and control (PAC)
facilities, which must adapt to continuously changing operating environment.
Distribution system
operators must also be able to deal with a rapidly expanding amount of
new
distribution system information that threatens to overwhelm the operators. To address this situation,
distribution control centers are transitioning from mostly manually operated devices and paper-driven

processes, to remotely operated devices and computer-assisted, electronic decision support systems
which (in some cases) perform fully-automatic control actions without manual intervention.
Distribution SCADA - The Foundation for the Smart Distribution System

A key enabler for the smart distribution system is the ability to continuously monitor and automatically
control distribution field devices located in distribution substations and out on the feeders themselves.
This enabler is commonly referred to as Distribution Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(DSCADA.) Until recently, very few DSCADA facilities were available on the distribution system,

especially for portions of the distribution system that are outside the
substation fence (Figure 1.)
To enable the smart distribution system, robust and reliable communication facilities are needed to

acquire measurement data and to initiate remote control actions. One of

the most significant barriers
that prevent widespread DSCADA deployment is lack of available two-way communication facilities at
the
field devices. Distribution system communications are especially challenging due to the wide
coverage area, large number of communicating devices, and presence of obstructions. Many utilities
are
seeking to leverage AMI communication networks and public and private infrastructure (e.g.,
cellular networks). However, numerous challenges must be overcome, such as overall system
security, performance during power outages, and overall data throughput.

Establishing this DSCADA foundational element will enable electric distribution utilities to implement
advanced distribution applications,
such as Fault Location Isolation and Service Restoration (FLISR)
and Volt-VAR Optimization (VVO), which are described below.

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Fault Location Isolation and Service Restoration (FLISR)

Fault Location Isolation and Service Restoration (FLISR): One
of the important characteristics of
the smart grid is its ability to self heal. This does not mean that the smart grid will be
able to repair
damaged equipment and automatically return the damaged equipment to service. Rather, the selfhealing function will automatically restore service to as many customers as possible as quickly as
possible while field crews make the necessary repairs. The key DA application for implementing a selfhealing network is the FLISR
application.

FLISR
creates a switching plan for re-energizing portions of a distribution circuit that have been deenergized as a result of a permanent feeder fault. Once the switching plan is created, FLISR can
automatically execute the plan to restore service where possible, usually in less than one minute
following the initial fault occurrence. Without FLISR, at least part of the distribution feeder will be out of
service until field crews arrive on the scene. Figure 2 contains a time line showing the typical
sequence of activities from the occurrence of the fault to the return to normal service.
As
seen on the time line, following receipt of
customer telephone calls (or last gasp
messages from advanced meters), field
crews
must travel to the approximate fault
location identified by protective
relay IEDs
and faulted circuit indicators or predicted by
an outage management system (OMS,) and
investigate the fault by patrolling the

suspected faulted portion of the feeder.

Once the field crews locate the damage,
they either make the necessary repairs or
isolate the problem area and perform
manual switching to restore power to as
many customers as possible. Based on the typical time line, customers connected to healthy portions
of the feeder can experience an outage lasting several hours (see Figure 2).
The FLISR application can reduce the
outage duration for these same customers
to less than one minute. When a fault
occurs, fault detectors
mounted on remote
controlled line switches immediately report
the fault to FLISR. Prior to performing any
actual control actions, the FLISR application
will allow conventional protection and
control schemes (e.g., automatic reclosers)
a time period to operate. If automatic
reclosing is not successful, FLISR control
actions are triggered.
The FLISR application function
automatically detects that a fault has occurred, locates the fault (between two medium voltage
switches), issues control commands to open the switches that bound the damaged area to isolate the
damaged section of the feeder, and
then closes other switches (where possible) to restore service to

healthy sections of the feeder. The current state-of-the-art allows all

of these actions to be completed
without manual intervention (fully-automatic control). These steps are detailed below:
Fault Detection:
FLISR should only operate following a short circuit (fault) on the feeder itself or
in the facilities that normally supply the feeder. FLISR should not operate when a feeder
becomes de-energized due to manual switching activities or due to a system wide emergency
that triggers underfrequency or undervoltage load shedding. To meet this requirement, one or
more fault detectors are needed to trigger FLISR operation when fault-level currents are
detected (see Figure 3.) Common practice is to use a protective relay intelligent electronic
device (IED) in the substation or a line recloser with self contained protection facilities to
determine that a fault occurred in the distribution feeder protection zone and then provide a
signal to trigger FLISR operation
Fault Location: The
next step is to determine the "section" of the feeder that contains the fault.
FLISR "sections" are portions of the feeder that are bounded
by remotely controlled switches.
Each switch includes a Faulted Circuit Indicator (FCI) that determines if fault current has recently
passed through the switch. This would indicate that there is a fault located "downstream" (further
from the substation) of the switch. FLISR
uses the FCI status indications and knowledge of the
as-operated feeder topology to determine what section is faulted. The faulted section is bounded
by one FCI that has a fault indication and one or more FCIs that did not "see" the fault (see
Figure 4)
Fault Isolation: FLISR
then issues control commands to open the switches needed to
completely
isolate the damaged section of the feeder based on the Fault Location analysis

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described above (see Figure 5.) It is common practice for FLISR to defer these control actions
until the standard automatic reclosing sequence has been completed. This ensures that feeder

reconfiguration by FLISR is only performed following a permanent fault (should not reconfigure
the feeder if fault is a self-clearing "temporary" fault)
Service Restoration:
Once the damaged section of the feeder is isolated, FLISR attempts to

restore service to as many "healthy" sections of the feeder as possible

via the available sources.
Available sources include the normal source
of supply to the feeder as well as any available
backup sources that are connected to the faulted feeder via normally-open, remotely controlled
tie switches that have spare capacity to carry additional load
Any
feeder section that is
upstream of the faulted feeder

section (closer to the substation)

can be restored from the original

source with no verification of

available capacity. However, to
restore feeder sections that are
downstream of the faulted
feeder section (further away from
the substation), the feeder must
have at least one backup source
with sufficient capacity to carry
the additional load being
transferred. If suitable backup
sources do not exist, FLISR
provides no additional benefit beyond what can be gained through regular line reclosers without
supervisory control and FLISR software. FLISR determines the pre-fault load on each healthy
feeder section, and then compares that load with the spare capacity on backup sources. If sufficient
capacity exists, then the tie switch is closed to restore service. If sufficient capacity does not exist,
then the section in question will remain de-energized until field crews arrive on the scene. With modern
application software and sufficient communication bandwidth, all of the
above actions can be
completed in less than one minute with no manual intervention.
As can be seen in Figure 6, the upstream portion of the feeder has been restored, and one of the two
downstream sections is restored. One downstream section remains de-energized due to lack
of
available capacity on the backup source.

Future FLISR deployments will attempt to restore this portion of the feeder by executing demand
response to release some existing capacity or perform secondary load transfers. Future FLISR
applications may also
use microgrid technology to restore this section of the feeder using distributed
energy resources.

FLISR Impact on Existing Protection and Control Facilities

FLISR Impact on Existing Protection and Control Facilities: DA
FLISR systems such as that
described above must be well coordinated with existing protection and control facilities. Key issues
pertaining to existing protection are described below:
The protection
system must provide information to indicate that a fault has occurred on the
distribution system. As noted earlier, FLISR should not operate when a distribution feeder or
portion of a feeder has become de-energized due to manual switching or when underfrequency
(or undervoltage) load shedding relays operate. The protection system must be able to supply
fault detection information to FLISR. In most cases this requires a protective relay IED rather
than an electromechanical relay
FLISR should not trigger any control actions until existing protective relays systems have
completed their necessary control actions, such as automatic reclosing. FLISR control actions
should only be triggered when automatic reclosing is unsuccessful. Some modifications to
existing protection and control functions may be needed to support this requirement. For
example, if automatic reclosing is unsuccessful and the automatic reclosing relay goes to
lockout, then some means must be provided to allow the affected
switches to be closed via
remote control following fault isolation by FLISR
FLISR switch-closing actions are often disabled when field crews are performing live-line work.
This is similar to the well-established practice of disabling automatic reclosing during such work
activities. FLISR disabling should be included in the utilitys hot-line tagging procedure
Transferring
a significant portion of a faulted feeder to a backup feeder may lengthen the backup
feeder by a considerable amount. Protective relays on the backup feeder must be able to see
faults on
the entire feeder following re-configuration. This may require extending the reach of the
distribution protective relays to handle worst case conditions. Alternatively, if protective relay
IEDs exist, FLISR may be able to initiate a transfer to an alternative setting group following
feeder re-configuration

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Volt-VAR Control and Optimization: The

smart grid concept has also dramatically changed the
design and operation of modern Volt-VAR control systems. The objectives for Volt-VAR Control have
expanded considerably beyond simply maintaining acceptable voltage and power factor. Volt-VAR
Control has
become Volt-VAR Optimization, which has the expanded objectives to increase overall
efficiency, reduce electrical demand, promote energy conservation, and improve power quality.

Volt-VAR Optimization (VVO) systems

must accommodate distributed energy
resources (DERs), and must respond
automatically when the status
or output
level of DERs changes. In addition, VVO
systems must operate
effectively following
feeder reconfiguration, which will happen
more frequently in a smart distribution grid
due to optimal network reconfiguration,
automatic service restoration, and other
applications involving smart switching.
As the name implies, VVO is generally
comprised of two main parts: VAR control
and Voltage control.
Early volt-VAR control schemes handled these two main functions separately via
independent controllers with little or no coordination of
control actions. The current industry trend is
integrated volt-VAR control in which control of switched capacitor banks, voltage regulators, substation
transformer load tap changers (LTCs), and other volt-VAR control devices is fully coordinated to
produce optimal results.
VAR Control
VAR Control is
the management of reactive power flow in the electric distribution system. In the past,
VAR control focused on maintaining power factor (PF) on the distribution system as close to unity as
possible to reduce
electrical losses and to minimize the flow of reactive power from the central
generators over the transmission network to the distribution system. VAR control was usually
accomplished by installing fixed and switched capacitor banks in the distribution substations and out
on the distribution feeders themselves. The control objective is to switch the
capacitor bank on when
needed most based on local measurements (measurements taken at the capacitor bank location
itself)
that directly or indirectly indicate the need for more reactive power compensation.
Table 1 lists the typical control parameters
for switched capacitor banks with
standalone controllers.

To achieve overall efficiency improvements,

it is necessary to deploy a
VVO strategy
that bases its control actions on system
level, rather than local, measurements.
Accomplishing this design objective requires communication facilities that are typically part of a
DSCADA system.
The communication facilities enable the system to base its
control actions on overall system conditions
rather than just on local
conditions at the site of the capacitor bank or voltage regulator.
The communication facilities also enable distribution system operators to monitor the status of the field
voltage
control and VAR control equipment so that appropriate actions can be taken immediately when
a component failure occurs. Figure 8 depicts this approach.
The DSCADA approach to VVO is a considerable improvement versus the standalone controller
approach due to its ability to base control actions on a holistic view of the distribution system rather
than local measurements. This approach works well for the
operating environment that exists on many
electric utility distribution feeders today (minimal DG, infrequent changes in feeder configuration0.
However, in the future as the penetration of large DG units grows and advanced distribution
applications (such as optimal network reconfiguration) become prevalent, the rules-based approach
may
lack the flexibility to address all future operating possibilities. In
such cases, a more sophisticated
model-driven solution may be needed.
Voltage Control is the management of voltage at all points along the distribution feeder. The primary

objective for voltage control has been to maintain acceptable voltage for all customers under all
loading conditions. Figure 7 shows the range of acceptable voltage conditions. It is common practice
for utilities to operate in the upper portion of the acceptable voltage range. This ensures that the
voltage will not temporarily dip below the
voltage range for out of normal operation shown in Figure
7. Recently, as electric utilities seek to address energy efficiency and conservation portfolios, many
electric distribution utilities are turning to voltage reduction (VR) as a way to satisfy energy efficiency,
demand reduction, and energy conservation objectives. VR involves operating the distribution feeder
at a voltage that is in the lower portion of the acceptable voltage range. Electric utility experience,
backed by extensive laboratory testing, has shown that many electrical loads, especially electric
motors, consume less real and reactive power and perform just as well (or better) when voltage is

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lowered slightly. Numerous utilities are planning to operate

with reduced voltage on a continuous basis
(for energy conservation) or during peak load periods (for demand reduction).
The specific benefits
that can be achieved with VR depend on customer type (residential, commercial, industrial, etc), time
of day, day of week and season, and other such factors. The amount of benefit is also affected by the
amount the voltage can be reduced without violating the voltage constraints.
VR benefits will be affected by new up and coming appliances that comprise a growing percentage of
the load. Many new appliances will be equipped with electronic controls that exhibit constant power
behavior which is not favorable for achieving VR benefits. With constant power loads, the electricity
consumed by the device stays constant as voltage
is reduced. However, as the voltage is reduced,
current increases which can produce higher electrical (I2R) losses on the feeder. To
assist electric
utilities in evaluating the potential benefits of CVR,
EPRI has embarked on a new research effort:
Load Modeling for Voltage Optimization. This project includes laboratory testing to identify
characteristics of new appliances under reduced voltage conditions, development of a library of
customer load models for standard customer classes, and extensive field demonstrations to verify the
accuracy of the new customer load models. This research effort is being coordinated with the VoltVAR Task Force of the IEEE PES Smart Distribution Working Group.
Impact on Existing Protection and Control Systems: DSCADA
based VVO systems are not
expected to have a significant impact on existing protection systems. However, the protective relays
and other IEDs will be expected to supply many of the real-time measurements needed by the VVO
logic, such as current and voltage measurements, real
power, and reactive power. One area of
concern is the level of accuracy of such measurements. Since VVO systems are often seeking to
achieve benefits of a few percentage points of normal operation, measurement accuracy of 1% or
better is needed. Existing control
systems, such as voltage regulators, will need to accept control

signals the VVO system. Typically, control signals are provided in the form of setpoint changes.
However, direct raise and lower commands may be issued to voltage regulators and substation load
tap changers.

Distribution Management Systems' Evolution

Distribution Management Systems' Evolution

Today, the concept of DA is evolving into a Distribution Management System (DMS), which is a
decision support system to help electric utility personnel monitor and control the entire distribution
system in
an optimal manner while improving safety and asset protection. The DMS will assist, not
replace, the operating personnel who will continue playing an essential role in managing the operation
of the distribution system. While some DMS control applications are fully-automatic, this does not
eliminate the need for operator oversight of all applications.
A primary DMS objective is to optimize distribution system performance by squeezing as much
capability as possible out of existing assets. This is a major new responsibility for control room
operators, who have focused on maintaining workforce safety and keeping the lights on. Adding this
new operating responsibility is one of the most significant
DMS implementation challenges, often
requiring new control room procedures, extensive training and certification, and additional technical
support. The DMS is comprised of three major components: Distribution Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition (DSCADA), advanced distribution applications, and external interfaces. Figure 9 illustrates
how these three pieces fit together.
New DMS applications are continuously being developed to meet the growing need for decision
support and advanced control in the increasingly complex distribution grid. Operation of the smart
distribution grid is complicated by the presence of high penetrations of DERs and potential large new
loads such as electric vehicles. Additional decision support capabilities are needed to manage these
resources effectively. Several examples are listed below:

Predictive Fault Location (PFL)

uses the distribution system model and fault current magnitude

supplied by protective relay Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) to accurately identify the location of a
fault. The application uses a short circuit analysis program to identify possible fault locations that could

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have produced the fault current magnitude recorded by the IEDs.

In most cases, this approach is considerably more accurate
than alternative fault location strategies
such as OMS outage grouping and tracing techniques and distance to fault calculations contained
within the protective relay IEDs.
Enhanced Fault Location and Automatic Restoration: Many
utilities are implementing FLISR
systems that automatically detect faults, isolate the damaged portion of the feeder, and restore as
much service as possible within seconds as part of their strategy to achieve
a self healing grid. One
problem with these systems is that service restoration is often blocked due to heavy loading on backup
feeders. The next generation of automatic restoration systems will take advantage of other advanced
control facilities that are being
deployed as part of the smart grid. For example, when encountering a

load transfer limit, the automatic restoration system may initiate actions to free up capacity on the
affected feeders thus enabling the load transfer to proceed. As illustrated in Figure 10, capacity
release strategies may include initiation of demand response actions, activation of CVR, and
temporary reduction of fast charging activities for electric vehicles.
Fault Anticipation and Contingency
Analysis
- While much of todays operating
activities are focused on healing the grid
following a fault, the future DMS is expected
to play a much larger role in anticipating

problems before they occur. Current

research efforts to identify incipient
problems through current and voltage
waveform analysis activities are achieving
positive results and may soon become a
part of
DMS application suite. Distribution
contingency analysis
applications, which
continuously examine potential outage
scenarios, are also available from several
DMS vendors. When the contingency analysis program identifies a potential problem (such as a
substation transformer that is approaching its loading limits) the distribution system operator is alerted
so that corrective action, can be initiated.
Sidebars:
As the smart distribution grid continues to unfold, there will be a growing number of new challenges for
DA system operators.
Protection and control personnel and technicians must work closely with smart grid specialists to
ensure the effective integration of all intelligent devices.
The new generation of smart distribution control centers should manage the distribution system with
improved performance
standards, and without compromising age-old mandates to be safe and keep
the lights on and bright.
It is essential that the basic operating principles, including maintaining safety and protecting the high
voltage assets, are not compromised along the way to a smarter, more efficient grid.
DA is becoming an essential element of the smart distribution system, helping utilities meet the needs
of the 21st century.
The DMS is comprised of three major components: Distribution Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition (DSCADA), advanced distribution applications, and external interfaces.
Biography
Biography: Robert
(Bob) Uluski has BSEE from Northeastern University and MSEE from
University of
Wisconsin-Madison. He is a Technical Executive at the Electric Power Research Institute. He is
currently leading EPRI's effort
in the areas of Distribution Management Systems and smart

distribution. Prior to joining EPRI, Bob assisted many electric utilities with the planning, procurement
and implementation of T&D automation systems. Bob is an officer of the IEEE PES Smart Distribution
Working Group and was awarded IEEE's Douglas M. Staszesky award in 2010 for contributions in the
field of DA.
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