Demand Response Enabling Technology Development Project

June 4, 2003

SYSTEM INTEGRATION

Research Opportunity Notice

Overall Objective

The objective this Research Opportunity Notice (RON) is to solicit R&D proposals for developing
enabling technologies for integrating utility business and engineering information systems in
support of dynamic tariffs and demand response (DR). Proposed R&D may address part or all of
the technologies and/or any related technologies which further the goals described in this RON.
R&D projects should focus on developing enabling technologies for system integration as
opposed to commercial product development.

Specific Goals

The proposed R&D projects for system integration technologies in support of DR should also
support the following goals:

• The concept of measured once and used many times

• Sharing of stored data within all utility information systems
• Support legacy systems as well as pathways to future unknown systems
• Common methods of sending and receiving data messages
• Automated initiation of new and innovative utility business processes

The Need for System Integration

Traditionally, information systems have been isolated within each utility department. Historically
the various departments developed the systems with the intent that the system hardware and
information databases are the best to support the department's functions. Systems were
incompatible because:

• Many computing hardware platforms

• Many operating systems
• Different mainframe/client-server/web-based systems
• Many component technologies (CORBA, DCOM, Enterprise Java Beans)

This historical legacy also created islands of information within the utility. Consider an example of
the power transformer data from the perspective of several utility departments.

• Planning Department. In order to plan for a new transformer, the planning department
will need data from the inventory database (will the new transformer come from the utility
warehouse?), the purchasing and test and measurement database (what are the tested
impedance?), the operations database (real loads, generation dispatches), the
construction database (when and what is installed), etc. Once the data is collected, the
planning department keeps the data in the planning department database.
• Design Department. To create the initial design and budget for a substation, the design
department will need data from the purchasing database (prior costs), the manufacturer’s
Computer Aided Design (CAD) files (equipment layout), control and protection
department data (prior performance), etc. Once the data is collected, the design
department keeps the data in the design department database.
• Maintenance Department. While the transformer is in service, the maintenance
department needs Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data to locate the transformer,

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maintenance data, test and measurement data, operations data, and purchasing and
inventory data.
• Operations Department. The operations department needs present and anticipated
loading data, planned switching or maintenance activity of the transformer, and
transformer rating data.

As this illustration shows, there’s a multitude of databases and departmental data requests for
just one single piece of equipment. Imagine the level of complexity when this scenario is
expanded to cover the entire utility’s business.

In summary, the drawbacks of such islands of information are:

• Duplicate entries for the same data in multiple databases

• Each duplicate data entry may not be synchronized
• Data from one system usually must be entered by hand into another system - high
probability of human error
• Non-critical data are rarely updated and accuracy of the data is suspect
• Locked into legacy proprietary systems
• Difficult to introduce new systems into the utility

Utility Industry System Integration Related Initiatives

Aware of the above drawbacks, utilities, through the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and
other standards committees, have started several projects. These include:

• Utility Communications Architecture (UCA)

The UCA began as a project at the EPRI in 1988. The UCA specification was developed
as a communications roadmap for supporting a competitive integrated utility. UCA is a
flexible and scaleable architecture that provides communications solutions from simple
devices to control centers all based upon compatible, standard and interoperable
communications protocols and device object models. The current version of UCA, UCA
2.0 has been merged with similar work of the International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC) Technical Committee (TC) 57 into the IEC 61850 standard.
• Inter-Control Center Communications Protocol (ICCP)
Developed initially as part of UCA. It is now also known as IEC-870-6 TASE.2
(Telecontrol Application Service Element). ICCP/TASE.2 enables real-time data
exchange over WAN’s between utility control centers, power pools, regional control
centers, and non-utilities.
• Control Center API (CCAPI)
EPRI led an industry-wide effort, called CCAPI, to develop open, interoperable
applications in the electric power control center environment through the use of
standardized interfaces. Central to the CCAPI are the concepts of the Common
Information Model (CIM) and the Utility Integration Bus (UIB).
• Common Information Model (CIM)
CIM defines a utility industry standard data object-model for the development and
integration of applications used for electric power systems engineering, planning,
management, operation, and commerce. CIM continues to be extended by IEC TC57
Working Groups WG13 (Energy Management System Application Program Interface –
EMS API) and WG14 (System Interfaces for Distribution Management – SIDM) in
collaboration with EPRI.
• Utility Integration Bus (UIB)
UIB provides a common way to automate communications between applications within
the utility. UIB is designed to allow applications to use message broker technology,
component technology (CORBA, DCOM, Enterprise Java Beans), and XML formatted

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messages. IEC TC57 WG13 and WG14 are also working on UIB. (Integration Bus is
sometimes also called Message Bus)
• Integrated Energy and Communications Systems Architecture (IECSA)
EPRI and the Electricity Innovation Institute (E2I) formed the Consortium for Electric
Infrastructure to Support a Digital Society (CEIDS). The goal of the CEIDS IECSA
Project is to develop an open, standards-based architecture for the data communications
and distributed computing infrastructure that will enable the integration of a wide variety
of intelligent electric power system components.

Purpose of This RON

The purpose of this RON is to solicit proposals for R&D tasks to develop enabling technologies
that will improve the integration of utility information systems. A main goal of funded R&D under
this RON is to create enabling technology that will lead to an order-of-magnitude (10 times)
increase in functionality while reducing total installed costs to one tenth (1/10th) of equivalent
technology used at the present time.

R&D Task Goals

• Support the concept of measured once and used many times

This idea of this concept is that measured data should be read once and stored in a
common database for access by multiple systems. This process reduces message traffic
(utility systems need not make redundant independent reads of the same data) and
ensures the data is accurate, valid, and up-to-date.
• Support sharing of stored data within all utility information systems
A common database avoids redundancy of data stored in multiple locations. Additionally,
the data at any particular location may be of questionable quality (accurate and current).
To avoid this concern, utility systems may make independent data reads to ensure the
data is current. However, this can cause data from the same source to be not
synchronized between systems. Thus the data is not usable for any type of correlation
studies/reports that crosses multiple systems.
• Support for legacy systems as well as pathways to future unknown systems
Utilities cannot replace legacy systems that were large investments. Any enabling
technologies must support these legacy systems. Legacy systems may not be able to
provide the rich content of common data sets that may exist in the future. However, the
enabling technology should maximize the transfer of data from the legacy system to the
common data set. The enabling technology should also contain pathways to future
systems by adhering to open and industry accepted standards.
• Support common methods of sending and receiving data messages
A common message protocol ensures applications are “plug” compatible. The utility is
not locked into proprietary systems. Only one interface is needed to stored data from the
messages into the common database instead of one unique interface for each system
(unique interfaces are still needed for legacy systems)
• Support automated initiation of new and innovative utility processes
With common data access and common message communications, software agents can
be developed to automate new and innovative utility processes that cannot be
implemented with the current utility systems. With regards to DR, these processes can
include automated price signal initiation and automated generation of customer bills
based on dynamic tariffs. Other innovative utility process can be an outage detection
system that can detect and locate the outage, plus dispatch the repair crew.

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Current Utility Business Environment

In California, before the electricity industry restructuring, there were three major Investor-Owned
Utilities (IOU), Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San
Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E). These utilities were traditional vertically integrated regulated
monopolies in their operating regions. The utilities owned and operated all components of the
electricity market; from power generation, to transmission, to distribution, to the meter located at
the electricity end-user’s premise.

After the electricity industry restructuring, the utilities divested their ownership of the generation
plants, but retained ownership of the transmission and distribution systems. Although in most
part, the utilities owned the transmission system, operation and maintenance were coordinated by
the non-profit entity, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The CAISO acts as
an electronic auction house, coordinating the sale of electricity between buyers and sellers. The
CAISO maintains the balance of the transmission system, matching supply and demand.

PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E became Utility Distribution Companies (UDC), owning and operating
the distribution systems that provide electricity to the retail customers. The distribution system
consists of breakers, conductors, transformers, fuses, capacitors, switches, monitoring and
control systems, communication systems, above and underground structure assets. UDC’s also
own meters and provide meter reading service. However, this asset and service can be provided
by third parties other than the UDC’s.

Example System Integration with AMR

Traditionally, meter reading is performed by a human walking up to the meter and manually
reading the meter. The meter register value is entered and stored into a handheld device. At the
end of the day, all the meter register values read are uploaded from the handheld device to the
utility’s Customer Information System (CIS). The CIS uses the meter register values to generate
the monthly bills. A step up from the human meter reader are Automatic Meter Reading (AMR)
systems. One type of AMR system is a drive-by system. In a drive-by system, a van drives along
the meter reading route and uses a wireless transmitter to query the electronic meters. Upon
being queried, the meters transmit the meter register values to a wireless receiver on the van.
The meter register values are uploaded to the CIS when the van returns to the utility. Other AMR
systems utilize telephones, 2-way pagers, cellular phone systems, or fixed wireless systems to
transmit meter register values back to the utility. In most cases, the AMR data residing on the
CIS database(s) are not utilized by any other business systems within the utility. There’s little or
no integration among the various utility business systems.

Now consider an AMR system deployed for the purpose of DR with all utility business systems
fully integrated. With up-to-date information available system wide, an intelligent agent for
automatic outage detection and repair crew dispatch can be envisioned.

The agent will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect outages based on the real-time information
from the Advanced Metering (AMR) and Distribution Automation (DA) Supervisory Control and
Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Once an outage is detected, the agent will retrieve
associated information from the CIS and the Automated Mapping/Facilities Management and
Geographic Information Systems (AM/FM/GIS) and using AI again, will prioritize a list of the
possible outage scenarios. Each scenario is a combination of the possible outage location and
the most likely cause of the outage (down line, blown transformer). Next, the agent will
interrogate the Work Management System (WMS) to determine the best crews and equipment
needed for each of the possible outage scenarios. Finally, the agent will alert and present the
scenarios to the operator(s). An operator can decide which of the scenario should be acted on.
The agent will complete the process by sending out the appropriate dispatch notices.

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Candidate Enabling Technologies for Use in Systems Integration:

• Additions and/or enhancements to the CIM and UIB

Enhancements can be new and innovative technologies that are applicable for use in
CIM or UIB.
• Software wrappers or applications interfaces
Software wrappers or applications interfaces are needed to support legacy systems and
current component technologies (CORBA, DCOM, Enterprise Java Beans), as well as
pathways to future unknown technologies.
• Intelligent agents
With an environment of common data access and common messaging for all utility
information systems, new and innovative intelligent agents can be formulated and
implemented. Based on events, conditions, and rules, these agents can automatically
push data to other agents or applications, pull or retrieve data as needed, or monitor
utility operations and system security and initiate alarms when abnormal conditions exist.
• Knowledge rules (ontologies)
Build ontologies for new and innovative processes within the utility business. These
ontologies will be the AI engines in the intelligent agents.

Summary

The purpose of this RON is to solicit proposals for R&D tasks related to enabling technologies for
integration of utility information systems. The outcome of these R&D tasks is not to produce a
product but to advance enabling technology for use in systems integration.

Proposals may address part or all of the technologies, and/or any related technology, which
furthers the goals described herein.

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Acronyms

A/D Analog to Digital

AI Artificial Intelligence
AM/FM/GIS Automated Mapping/Facilities Management and Geographic
Information Systems
AMR Automatic Meter Reading
ANSI America National Standards Institute
API Applications Program Interface
CAD Computer Aided Design
CAISO California Independent System Operator
CATV Cable TV
CCAPI Control Center API
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
CDPD Cellular Digital Packet Data
CEIDS Consortium for Electric Infrastructure to Support a Digital Society
CIM Common Information Model
CIS Customer Information System
CORBA Common Object Request Broker Architecture
DA Distribution Automation
DCOM Distributed Component Object Model
DR Demand Response
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
E2I Electricity Innovation Institute
EM Electromechanical
EMS API Energy Management System Application Program Interface
EPRI Electric Power Research Institute
GIS Geographic Information Systems
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
HVAC Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning
ICCP Inter-Control Center Communications Protocol
iDEN Integrated Digital Enhanced Network
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
IECSA Integrated Energy and Communications Systems Architecture
IOU major Investor-Owned Utilities
LAN Local-Area Network
LEO Low Earth Orbit
NOC Network Operating Center
PG&E Pacific Gas and Electric
R&D Research and Development
RF Radio Frequency
RON Research Opportunity Notice
SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
SCE Southern California Edison
SDG&E San Diego Gas and Electric
SIDM System Interfaces for Distribution Management
TASE Telecontrol Application Service Element
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
TC Technical Committee
TOU Time-of-Use
UCA Utility Communications Architecture

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Acronyms

UDC Utility Distribution Companies

UIB Utility Integration Bus
WAN Wide-Area Network
WMS Work Management System
XML Extensible Markup Language

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Definitions

ANSI C12 Series of ANSI standards that pertain to electricity metering.

Apparent Power Apparent Power (Kva , kilovolts-amps) is the vector sum of the Real
Power and Reactive Power. (See Real Power, Reactive Power, and
Power Factor)
Demand Response Reducing demand in response to a curtailment notification or short
term price signal.
Dynamic Tariff A tariff in which the retail electricity rate is characterized by one or
more dispatchable prices intended to reduce and/or shift peak load.
(See Tariffs)
Firmware Software that is embedded in the electronic device.
Local-Area Network A network consisting of nodes that are confined within a localized area.
For example, a floor of a building, or the building itself. (See Wide-
Area Network)
Modulation Method of superimposing a signal on a carrier wave form. For
example, in radio broadcasts, AM (amplitude modulation) and FM
(frequency modulation) are used.
Multi-phase Alternating current (AC) electricity that consists of more than one
phase of current. For example, common residential 240V AC power
used for electric ovens and clothes dryers is multi-phase. (See Single-
phase)
Non-contact No physical connection to the current-carrying wire.
Platform Hardware and software with the ability to perform multiple functions
Power Factor Ratio of Real Power to Apparent Power. Also the cosine of the angle
between the Real Power vector and the Apparent Power vector. (See
Apparent Power, Real Power, and Reactive Power)
Reactive Power Electrical power (Kvar, kilovolts-amps reactive) consumed by a
capacitive or inductive load. The Reactive Power vector is orthogonal
to the Real Power vector. (See Apparent power, Real Power, and
Power Factor)
Real Power Electrical power (KW, kilowatts) consumed by a resistive load and is
the power that is used for real work. The Real Power vector is
orthogonal to the Reactive Power vector. (See Apparent power,
Reactive Power, and Power Factor)
Revenue Meter Meter that can be used for billing purposes.
Revenue-grade Measuring accuracy that meets the requirements needed for billing
purposes.
Single-phase Alternating current (AC) electricity that consists of one phase of
current. For example, common residential 120V AC power is single-
phase. (See Multi-phase)
Soft Can be re-programmed with new software.
Stranded Made obsolete because the technology is no longer supported.
Tariffs The effective rates for electricity that includes rules, rate schedules,
and service area maps.
Wide-Area Network A network consisting of nodes that are dispersed over a wide area.
For example, nodes that are located in different buildings, or in
different cities. (See Local-Area Network)
Wireless No wires between source of information and receiver of the information

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http://www.caiso.com//docs/2002/05/20/2002052008073426642.html

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http://www.e2i.org/docs/CEIDS_RD_Plan_092101.pdf

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http://www.sisconet.com/downloads/usrguid5.doc

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