Top 7 Benefits of the Evolution to ADMS

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It is common that utilities have deployed multiple systems in their control centers for management of telemetry, switch planning, outage management and power analysis. Historically, matching a single challenge with a single solution was enough for grid management. Yet the distribution network is becoming progressively dynamic, complexity is increasing, and utilities need to understand and integrate a growing volume of data. Evolving from a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to an Advanced Distribution Management Solution (ADMS) offers end-to-end control and orchestration of the electric distribution network. We’d like to take a few minutes to share the seven key benefits we believe utilities will gain when moving forward on this digital transformation.

Moving to an ADMS provides operators and controllers with the means to effectively and efficiently manage network operations, and move forward with optimization via a shared real-time view and advanced analytics. Evolving from a point-solution viewpoint to an approach centered on the end-to-end control and orchestration of the electric distribution network is core to succeeding in the current business environment. For operators, controllers, dispatchers, and, increasingly, field crews, the ADMS evolution offers several advantages.

SCADA is a specific technology providing highly reliable measurements. But it’s only one source of information available to the control room. The electrical distribution utility is investing in many kinds of measurements, but humans can’t take full advantage of the magnitude of data available. The control room operator can easily get lost in the huge amount of irrelevant, redundant, and conflicting data available. It’s stressful, and data errors are a big risk.

An ADMS helps automate data assimilation to provide operators with the actionable data they need, when they need it for safer and more efficient operations. Integrating the core distribution operations of a SCADA system, outage management, switching, and network analysis and optimization applications into a single solution with a single pane of glass for distribution operations provides operators with the actionable information they need. With the ADMS helping to get the right data to the right user at the right time, operations become safer and more efficient.

The distribution network operations model is always evolving. Especially now with increasing levels of DERs connecting to the distribution grid. With multiple digital solutions and applications, significant effort and resources are devoted to continuously synchronizing multiple distinct perspectives of the distribution system. 

An effective ADMS, on the other hand, provides a shared Distribution Network Operations Model. The large, complex, as-operated distribution power network that multiple applications use is merged into a single easy-to-understand view. Freed from performing the data integration and synchronisation, users can instead focus on safe system oversight and control.

It is not physically nor economically practical for a single person to monitor and absorb and analyse data for every aspect of the distribution network. Data from smart field devices such as Customer Information Systems (CIS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), and Weather Data Services all need integration.

The digital transformation of distribution utilities is resulting in an ever-increasing volume of data. An ADMS helps utilities leverage the power inherent in this data. Merging different types of information into a single, easy-to-understand view gives system users the situational awareness and power of information to support better business decisions.

SCADA offers network outage status data and more accurate restoration times. ADMS solutions take it further to optimize the outage response process of identification, assessment, dispatching and restoration, all while accurately informing stakeholders of progress.

With an ADMS users can quickly comprehend the extent of an unplanned outage and view suggested restoration steps to improve outage response efficiency and improve customer satisfaction. Even when multiple outages are being worked simultaneously the comprehensive ADMS solution is secure, scalable and performance-oriented. Field crews can access real-time data, are optimally allocated work, and can instantly confirm authorized switching steps through secure communications.

SCADA reports grid data, while the advanced applications of ADMS leverage that data to provide awareness and control of potentially thousands of devices at any given time, without human interaction.

Optimization applications such as Fault Location, Isolation, and Service Restoration (FLISR) and Integrated Volt-VAR Optimization (IVVO) can control, in an orchestrated manner, a multitude of distribution automation devices installed in the field. Fully implementing advanced ADMS applications can dramatically impact the daily operations of the distribution utility.

Effective management of DERs is a key challenge driving the need to embrace the digital grid transformation. SCADA has traditionally been used to interconnect with any breaker, transformer, etc., device on the distribution grid. However, it isn’t economical to connect each and every DER with a traditional SCADA protocol.

ADMS application functions, such as network visualization, connectivity and energization analysis, power flow and state estimation, short circuit, fault location, FLISR, and IVVO, can all be made DER-aware. With DER-awareness within ADMS, operators gain the situational intelligence needed to recognize developing situations and act quickly and decisively, orchestrating flexibility across the grid for both utility and non-utility DERs. ADMS can also integrate other techniques for visibility, including IoT connectivity, forecasting and state estimation.

Maintenance crews have historically relied on the operator in the control room to provide the intel on what parts of the network were or were not energized. Today, with ADMS, utilities can extend network model visibility to the field, empowering field crews with a mobile view of the as-operated network.

Network management is streamlined via field and control room collaboration. This mobile empowerment nets improved response times, which leads to better asset value and greater customer satisfaction. At the same time, providing visibility and control to the field supports improved worker safety.

Utilities have many reasons to advance their grid technology. SCADA offers a good starting point, but digital transformation demands more of electric distribution utilities. With an evolution from SCADA to an ADMS, everything comes together to enable and deliver a better quality of service.

GE’s DER-aware ADMS moves beyond the traditional bounds of SCADA, DMS and OMS and provides software for the safe and secure management and orchestration of the distribution grid. All to drive grid modernization, helping operators solve complex challenges and meet customer expectations of a reliable and resilient distribution grid via next-generation control and optimization capabilities.

Read the white paper: Digital Transformation: The Benefits of a SCADA to ADMS Evolution

Download the infographic: Top 7 Benefits of the Evolution to ADMS