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2019-12-18 13:00:00

A FORK IN THE ROAD FOR UTILITY GIS

A FORK IN THE ROAD FOR UTILITY GIS

ENERGYCENTRAL A few weeks ago, I had the good fortune of meeting with a Midwestern utility who may prove that there is hope for common sense in our industry! 

Before I explain, let’s press rewind first. 

As with many industries, the expectations for distribution power companies are that they either hold their operating costs flat year over year, or that they reduce their O&M expenditures each year. This means that no major decisions are made without completing an exhaustive business case. In fact, most IT projects are required to have less than a 3 year return on investment and at some large utilities, I have heard that they won’t invest unless they see payback in the same year.  So even after a business case is produced, the recommendation may be to do nothing if the return does not justify the investment. 

Working for a firm that supplies technology to utilities, we see this all the time with operational systems. For instance, if a utility has an aging OMS system, the utility doesn’t just upgrade – they evaluate their options which include looking at other vendor solutions and may even go to RFP if they determine that the alternatives of a new solution would provide more value than simply upgrading the current system.

Given all this background, industry experts are baffled on how some utilities are justifying moving from a proven network model management solution such as Intergraph or GE toward an ESRI GIS data model.  This is because a utility making a decision to move to ESRI today, has no choice but to drive that decision on an ArcGIS foundation with a geometric model. This is because the ESRI utility network (EUN) is still not ready to model complex electrical networks. 

ESRI understands the limitations that the ArcGIS foundation offers, which is why they are committed to moving away from a geometric model toward EUN. Experts are all in agreement that with advanced distribution management systems (ADMS) performing sophisticated electrical engineering analysis, they require a sophisticated tool to produce a digital twin of the network. Using a data model comprised of points, (phantom) lines and polygons isn’t robust enough for advanced applications such as state estimation, fault location and volt-var control. This translates into the fact that the ESRI geometric data model is not capable of handling ADMS data requirements on its own. Skye Perry, CEO for SSP Innovations comments in his T&D World article that a mature ESRI geometric model is not able to accommodate the data modeling requirements for ADMS.

Therefore when a utility moves from Intergraph or GE and selects ESRI today, they are moving from a logical data model with connectivity in an open Oracle database, to a geometric data model in a proprietary format that requires a 3rd party product to manage the connectivity. With the ArcGIS foundation, ESRI offers a solid GIS solution for visualization and mapping, but let us not confuse GIS with the modern direction on network model management for complex electrical networks. Most experts see this as a step backward with no tangible benefits. Where is the business justification in this?

The ultimate flaw in the (lack of a) business case is that moving from logical connectivity to a geometric system is just the first data migration. After moving to ArcGIS, a utility will find itself in a precarious position in the future. This is because the ESRI + Schneider partnership may have a limited shelf life with ArcFM eventually reaching an end of life and ESRI moving to EUN as their new platform. Utilities who chose this path will then have to perform a 2nd migration from a geometric network to EUN, which will eventually feature a logical electrical connectivity model ready for large scale production. 

Simply stated, this means converting data from logical, to graphical, back to logical. Imagine the time and cost required to migrate data and basically implement a complete different solution, twice. The only team that wins in this game are data migration vendors. This is substantiated by trying to research any utilities who have adopted EUN for complex electric systems – the majority of the press releases online are about data migration partners promoting their alliance with ESRI or stories of gas and water utilities moving to EUN; nothing can be found for EUN electric in production anywhere in the world.

Utilities considering a move to ESRI based network modeling technology today owe it to the ratepayers, shareholders and utility commission obligations to evaluate options. That is the fiscal responsibility of the utility leadership.  In a recent article, CTO of IQGeo Peter Batty expands on this point further by noting that as part of the system evaluation, utilities should be evaluating all their alternatives when it comes to IT system investment. Yet most utilities simply bandwagon jump with no business case.

If there is no business case for a double data migration scenario, what are the benefits from moving directly to an unproven EUN today? When I wrote this article in early 2018, it was thought that EUN would be ready in 3-5 years. Now almost 24 months later, the discussion is that those estimates may need to be extended for the electric model.  And that doesn’t say anything about it being matured and ready to handle the complexity of electrical networks at DFW airport, lower Manhattan or downtown Chicago. 

It seems unfathomable that utilities can move to a product that still isn’t ready to model complex networks with little justification. Three phase unbalanced electrical models, some with mesh downtown networks are extremely complex. This is why ESRI focused on the more simplistic models of gas and water with EUN and are still working on their electric model. 

Return to present day. After hearing endless stories of utilities opting for ESRI GIS, I was pleasantly surprised by a large Midwestern utility who has decided to break the mold – they are actually evaluating all options for GIS before making a selection to converge networks from different operating companies. Hallelujah! A utility who understands that they have options. It was so refreshing to see an evaluation process to consider all options for network model management, and not just simply selecting the ArcGIS path with an inevitable 2nd data migration down the road, or the risk laden path of ESRI EUN .  

Clearly, I am passionate about this topic. I started my professional career as a field engineer for a distribution power company. So, I will always want to look out for the best interests of my former colleagues. Now as a consultant I am compelled to urge utilities to review all options before making major IT decisions. If asked, my recommendation for utilities is that they ask potential GIS vendors to model their most complex electrical data in their proposed system, at THEIR cost – have them put their money where their mouth is! I know for a fact that Hexagon will jump at this opportunity to prove they can do today, (and have been able to do for the last two decades) what ESRI EUN still can not do. 

Last year at DistribuTECH, Robert J Sarfi, Ph.D., P. Eng. and Managing Partner of Boreas Group noted that the “GIS industry was at a crossroads.” This dilemma is also recognized by EPRI who are developing standards for distribution network model management based on a logical, data-centric architecture. Pat Brown of EPRI International, recently presented on the topic of Distribution Grid Data Modeling at the European CIM users group. From this presentation it is clear that grid modeling is so much more than just pure GIS.

The long anticipated move of ESRI to abandon the geometric network for the more widely adopted logical connectivity is still not ready for prime time. The partnership with Schneider is unclear. Utilities such as Alectra are merging distribution companies and consolidating on a single solution to model data, not just create maps. It is possible that the crossroads that Robert Sarfi speaks of, is actually a fork in the road - one where utilities realize that the “promise of,” does not substantiate a business case to select ESRI and performing due diligence on GIS options may be the road better taken.

As for the Midwestern Utility creating a business case to evaluate options, we applaud you as a trend setter. Let’s hope that for the sake of rate payers, that more utilities follow suit and consider their alternatives with a business case before either choosing a double migration or an unproven solution – both of which carry a high cost – as a default option. 

 

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This thought leadership article was originally shared with Energy Central's Digital Utility Community Group. The communities are a place where professionals in the power industry can share, learn and connect in a collaborative environment. Join the Digital Utility Community today and learn from others who work in the industry.

 

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