Spencer Murray, Sr. Telecom Eng.

Distribution Automation

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Why FortisAlberta choose Distribution Automation?• Reliability (SAIDI, SAIFI)• Operational benefits:

• Load balancing between substations.• Real-time load values of the system.• Remote Switching

• Reducing Customer Outage time

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FortisAlberta Restoration

• Permanent short circuit (fault) occurs on a distribution feeder, all or some of the customers served by the feeder will experience a loss of power until field crews are able to restore service.

• Field crew activities :• 1) Traveling to the general vicinity of the feeder fault, based on

customer calls and feeder protective devices • 2) Patrolling the feeder to determine the exact location of the fault • 3) Isolate the damaged section by performing manual switching and

restoring customers as quickly as possible.• 4) Repairing the damage• 5) Performing manual switching to restore the feeder to its original

configuration.• This restoration can take 30 minutes or longer.

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Distribution Automation Restoration

• Distribution automation provides a means to perform activities 1 through 3 listed on the previous page.

• With S&C Electric automated switches and the IntelliTeam software will restore some of the customers on the feeder in one minute or less.

• The fault is isolated between two switches which decrease the patrolling and the restoration time.

• Fewer customers are affected by the fault and the customers that are affect are restored quicker. This improves our customer satisfaction, SAIDI and SAIFI.

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Our Obstacles:

• No Control Center• No Communications Infrastructure• No Substation RTU• How do we know a switch operated or Normally Opened

moved because of fault• How can we perform switching operations remotely?

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Monitoring Control Application (MCA)

• Requirements• Reported a switches status and also something we could

use to operate the switches.• Accessible by our PLTs from their trucks because we

have no control center.• Visual of the substation and real time load values of the

feeders, but no control of anything in the sub.

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Bow Networks

• eLAn Front End Processor (FEP)• Acts as a SCADA master retrieving point data from the field

devices• Issues control commands to the field devices

• eLAN HMI• Provides a secure web-launch visualization of the field data• Provides a single line diagram of Airdrie and St. Albert

• Universal DNP Gateway (UDG)• Collects real-time data from the GE D20’s in the substation

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Airdrie MCA

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199s Substation

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5803 Control/Padmount PMH-11

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View Detail Summary

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IntelliRupter PulseCloser

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St Alberta MCA

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Communications: Switches

• Airdrie DA • UtiliNet Radio 902-928Mhz• 9.6Kbps• Node Identification is a GPS coordinates

• St. Albert DA • SpeedNet Radio 902-928Mhz• 650Kbps• Node Identification is a IP Address

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Communications: Head End

• HeadEnd Radio at the Service Point Office• Backhaul the data to master server where Bow Networks host

our MCA for Airdrie and St. Albert• PLT’s all have a Laptop and EVDO modem in there truck which

allows them to log on to the server.

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Reliability

• Airdrie DA installed late 2007• 2008

• Only a couple of operations in the first year• Lots of adverse wind conditions in 2008

• 2009• Added 2 new feeders from 186S Dry Creek sub in 2009• We have had a couple of operations due to public contact

and weather

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Our Experiences

• PLTs use it as a remote switching tool• PLT’s use it to look at loading conditions• New set of tools required for Metering Group

• Radio’s• Ethernet Addressing

• Training