Tutorial 1

Data analytics in Smart Grids

Context

The growing awareness of climate challenges is leading all over the world to
long term policies which act mainly on the way we are producing and
consuming energy. The penetration of renewable energies in our electricity
distribution grids, such as photovoltaics and wind power for instance, is in that
way more and more favoured, in order to limit the consumption of fossil fuels
which are available in a limited quantity. This is done at a domestic level (it
mainly concerns photovoltaics in that case), and at a larger scale as well:
energy producers are more and more including a significant part of « green »
energy in their production portfolios. Political decisions also target to influence
the electrical consumption, by supporting technologies that improve the
energy efficiency, and by working on mentalities in order to prone a rational
use of energy. The transportation system is even impacted, with the
progressive arrival of electrical vehicles.

A common consequence of all these measures is that they strongly impact the
operation of our electricity distribution systems, which have not been
historically designed for hosting decentralized generation, and for handling
important load peaks due to simultaneous electrical vehicle charging for
instance. This can give rise to technical problems such as overvoltages and/or
congestions, which may lead to network failures in some extreme cases. This
is even reinforced by the stochastic nature of solar and wind generation on the
one hand, and of electrical load on the other hand.

To face these challenges, the community is proposing tailored network

management strategies, funded on advanced optimization algorithms, which
are mainly based on the following (simple) rule: use energy where and when it
is produced, as much as possible. Practical implications of this rule consist for
instance in the implementation of load-shifting strategies (using e.g. time of
use tariffs), in the installation of storage devices, or in the setting up of
microgrids, which target a quasi-total energy autonomy from the main grid.

Motivation

The performance of all these technical solutions strongly rely on the

observability of the grid. It is indeed crucial to estimate the space-time
trajectory of the system in order to perform adequate management decisions,
which can have the following form for instance: « store that amount of energy
e starting from time t in storage device s », « move that quantity of load l to a
further time slot t », etc. The quality of these space-time estimations is
conditioned by the availability of production/consumption data in the studied
network: for building accurate models of stochastic quantities, we need data.
This has been understood by Distribution System Operators (DSOs) all over
the world, who are currently massively deploying smart metering devices in
their networks, able to record hourly or even quarter-hourly energy flows.

Access to data is not only crucial for DSOs but also for other actors. A close
monitoring of electrical consumption can for instance help end-users to
decrease their overall consumption. Electricity providers may also provide
tailored offers to their clients, or individual advises to their clients regarding
their energy behaviour. Accurate renewable production and market price
models may help energy producers to better manage their energy portfolio in
order to optimize their profits, etc.

In that context, the utilities are literally faced with a data tsunami from the
array of new devices and sensors in the field, so that Smart Grids are finally
entering the world of Big Data.

Objectives of the tutorial

This tutorial focuses on smart grid data analytics. Its objectives are threefold :
 it intends to dress a state-of-the-art of data modeling techniques with
an emphasis on quantities involved in smart grids, such as electrical
consumption (domestic and industrial), wind and solar production,
energy prices, etc. Machine Learning as well as Statistical techniques
will both be covered, and dedicated tools will be suggested,
 current research questions pertaining to data science in modern
electricity distribution networks will be presented and discussed,
based on the speakers' most recent research activities,
 the extension to Big Data analytics, compared to traditionnal analytics,
will thoroughly be reviewed. The speakers intend to propose a guide
for setting up Big Data analytics applications in Smart Grids, and will
focus on selected case studies.

A particular attention will be paid to adopt successively the point of view of the
different stakeholders which are present in electricity distribution networks:
DSOs, end-users, energy suppliers, energy producers. Appropriate examples
and illustrations will be provided.

The tutorial will be structured as follows:

1. Challenges in modern electricity distribution networks. In this

section, the motivation of the tutorial is thoroughly presented, by
presenting the different problems that require data models in smart
grids (such as operational and long term planning for DSOs, portfolio
management for producers, improvement of the energy efficiency for
customers, offering dedicated services for suppliers, etc.). The different
time horizons which need to be considered in smart grids are also
presented. The current/expected evolution towards Big Data in Smart
 Grids is explained.

2. Generalities on data modeling in smart grids. In this part, the

peculiar characteristics of the studied data are exposed. A thorough
introduction to data science in the field of smart grids is thereby made
out, with dedicated illustrations pertaining to the modeling and
prediction tasks. Techniques pertaining to the field of Machine Learning
and Statistics will be covered.

3. Open research questions in data analytics for Smart Grids. Models

presented in section 2 are extended to more complex and larger
applications. Various research problems are thoroughly discussed and
illustrated (some cases may change based on the speakers' most
recent research activities):

A) Dimensionality. With more and more data to handle in larger and

larger networks, smart grids are finally entering the world of Big
Data. This subsection proposes various approaches to handle the
additionnal computational effort required when simulating large real-
life problems.
a) Clustering: clustering techniques are exposed to compute a
limited set of patterns that are representative of the studied
dataset.
b) Smart sampling: the number of space-time trajectories to
consider in a given simulation is decreased by a suitable
modeling of the correlation existing between different quantities.

B) Imperfect databases.
a) Missing data: even if smart metering devices are deployed all
over the world, some nodes may still suffer from a lack of data.
Moreover, the sensors may also have failures, which generate
holes in the database. Original techniques, such as matrix
factorization commonly employed in recommender systems, are
presented to handle these cases.
b) Erroneous data: The sensor failures may sometimes result in
wrong data recorded in the database, instead of holes in the
most extreme case. Pre-processing techniques must therefore
be employed on data to detect and correct these outliers.

4. Towards Big Data Analytics. This section gives guidelines for facing
the data tsunami which is expected from Smart Grids. More
particularly, it insists on the differences with classical analytics. The
following points will be developed:
A) Classification of Big Data analytics – utility context
B) The Process – a guide
C) Things to consider when setting up analytics
D) Example analytics and their key inputs

Various engineering disciplines will be involved throughout the tutorial, such

as probabilities and statistics, machine learning, time series modeling, signal
processing, and, of course, electrical power engineering.
Who should attend?

This tutorial is intended for all stakeholders (Distribution System Operators,

consumers, energy suppliers and producers, etc.) and for academic
researchers as well, who want to improve or refresh their knowledge in:
• Data Science pertaining to the field of Smart Grids
• Big Data analytics tools

Support material

Copies of presented slides will be provided.

About the presenters (in alphabetical order)

Zacharie De Grève (https://sites.google.com/site/zachariedegreve/)

Zacharie De Grève holds an Electrical and Electronics Engineering degree

from the Faculty of Engineering of Mons, Belgium (2007). He has been a
research fellow of the Belgian Fund for Research (F.R.S/FNRS) until 2012,
when he got the PhD degree in Electrical Engineering, from the University of
Mons. He is now a research and teaching assistant at the Electrical Power
Department of the same university. His research interests include the
numerical modeling of electromagnetic fields, as well as data analytics in
power electrical networks.

Fabian Lecron

Fabian Lecron received the computer science engineering degree from the
Faculté Polytechnique de Mons (FPMs), Belgium, and the management
sciences degree from the Facultés Universitaires Catholiques de Mons
(FUCaM), Belgium, respectively in 2008 and 2011. He obtained a Ph.D.
degree in applied sciences at the University of Mons (formerly Faculté
Polytechnique de Mons) in 2013. He is now postdoctoral researcher at the
University of Mons (UMONS), Belgium. His main research areas are
collaborative recommendation, data mining, and business analytics.
François Vallée

François Vallée holds an Electrical Engineering degree from the Faculty of

Engineering of Mons, Belgium (2003). He got the PhD degree in Electrical
Engineering, from university of Mons in 2009 and received the SRBE/KVBE
Sinave award for his research work in 2010. He is now an associate professor
at the Electrical Power unit of the same university. His fields of interest mainly
include renewable energy based generation statistical modelling for power
systems techno-economic analysis.

Anant Venkateswaran

Mr. Anant Venkateswaran is an industry thought leader, teacher, presenter

and has over 20+ years of global experience. Anant has supported strategy,
business case, cost-benefit analysis etc., and the development solution
architectures, roadmaps and business cases and subsequently technology
adoption and solutions delivery phases. Anant has conducted workshops with
customers globally, resulting in their business challenges being translated first
into innovative concepts and subsequently into intelligent solutions. Having
been on both sides of the procurement process, Anant believes in reaching
across and partnering with multiple customer stakeholders and developing
comprehensive solution strategies and execution roadmaps. Anant currently
serves GE’s Grid Solutions business.

Anant’s experience and expertise was built around the pillars of Power
System & the Value Chain from generation to consumption, Industry Verticals,
Supply Chain and Govt.

As a technology leader, Anant has also successfully influenced strategic

planning & investments, procurement, design, development in prior roles. He
is proven ability to envision, develop & execute business, marketing,
technology and sales plans and streamlining processes to achieve
productivity through technology have resulted in substantial savings for
customers. As a corporate-wide leader for strategic planning & investments,
procurement, design, development, Anant has been involved in planning &
execution of Complex projects globally.
Anant is actively driving industry thought and standards through active
participation in IEEE, CIGRE, AEE, IEC, ASHRAE and other technical bodies
and has been a presenter, moderator, teacher and panelist at conferences
and thought leadership events worldwide. Anant has taught many Utility
University (Distributech), University level and continuing education courses
around innovative and disruptive technologies (EE, DSM, Microgrids, Big
Data, IoT, Cloud Computing, Line Monitoring, Situational Awareness etc) as
well as traditional electric and gas utility value chain from generation to the
customer.