Press Release
SAN RAMON, Calif. – April 9, 2020 – GE Digital today unveiled enhancements to Storm Assist, an Outage Response module that is part of its Advanced Distribution Management Solutions (ADMS) portfolio. Though it goes by the moniker Storm Assist, the solution delivers value on both blue- and dark-sky days. This easy-to-use application allows electric utilities to decentralize outage dispatch as well as rapidly expand their outage response workforce during times of intense activity.
Storm Assist optimizes existing control center staff by allowing them to focus on high-priority, high-impact outages while off-loading much of the routine outage and crew management work to other users in the control center, as well as those in the business center or offsite. The latest enhancements in Storm Assist features improved support for single customer outages, in-service incidents, and major event days.
“The need to empower decentralized and secure operations is becoming more critical, whether for health challenges, severe weather or otherwise. This translates to challenges from a resource perspective,” said Jim Walsh, GE Digital General Manager, Grid Software.
Storm Assist allows a utility to quickly increase the size of its outage response workforce by giving secure access to ADMS/Outage Management to personnel outside of the control center
Jim Walsh - GE Digital General Manager, Grid Software.
Given the increasing need for remote work solutions, GE Digital’s solutions like Storm Assist help utilities practice social distancing while helping ensure the lights stay on – one less worry for end customers. Designed as a “multiplier”, the application maintains security while giving the utility a dramatically enhanced capacity to expand and enable remote work efficiently.
Storm Assist is an effective workflow-oriented application that manages the entire lifecycle of an outage: from the initial phone call or through an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) notification; to crew assignment and status updates; to Estimated Time to Restoration (ETR) revisions; and to the final outage closeout process. Users have access to real-time network data, customer calls and comments, real-time crew locations and status updates, and are able to capture detailed restoration information associated with the outage.
New features in Storm Assist include:
Severe weather brings a myriad of challenges to utilities. With Storm Assist, utilities can help their employees and communities stay safe while continuing to deliver effective outage response. North American utilities have used Storm Assist to rapidly expand the number of people participating in the restoration process. For some customers, “storm mode” may happen almost every day during the summer thunderstorm season. For others it is the occasional windstorms or ice storm.
The latest version of Storm Assist, part of GE Digital’s ADMS solution, is now generally available. To learn more, please go to www.ge.com/digital/outageresponse.
During times of severe weather, or even short but intense activity after-hours, control center staff can become overloaded and look to augment the restoration process with non-control center personnel.
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