Earlier in 2018, Newton Evans completed a survey of the North American market for Distribution Automation. Here are some excerpts from this report.
Have you integrated any communication/controls for distributed generation (DG) into your DA system architecture?
2018 Survey Findings
Twenty-three percent of respondents reported that they have integrated some communication links or controls for DG into their DA system architecture. This is slightly higher than what was observed in the 2014 survey, which had found that 16% of the utilities surveyed were doing this.
A larger portion of investor owned utilities and utilities serving over 100,000 customers are integrating DG communications as of mid-2018 than was found in the overall sample.
2014 Survey Findings
Only 16 percent indicated any level of use of DA-related communications/controls for DG activities. An additional 14% plan to integrate communications/controls for DG into their utility’s DA architecture by year end 2017.
Nearly one-third of IOUs replying to this question plan to integrate communications and controls for DG into their DA system architecture by year-end 2017. Electric cooperatives were more likely than their counterparts at other utilities (27% to about 12% or so) to have integrated some level of DG controls into their DA systems architecture by year-end 2014.
Are you considering a trial deployment to manage distributed energy resources – DER – (e.g. inverters, energy storage, EV chargers, etc.) within the DA system?
2018 Survey Findings
Twenty-five percent of respondents indicated that they are considering a trial deployment of DER management within the scope of their utility DA activities and plans. This is slightly higher than what was observed in the 2014 survey (15%). Twenty-four percent of responding utilities this year indicated they plan to do this in the future.
2014 Survey Findings
Well over one third of the replies to this question report having a trial deployment to manage DER resources within the DA system either underway (15%) or planned (23%) by year-end 2017. Among IOU respondents, the percentage rose to 67% with activities underway or planned for DA systems to include some level of deployment of DER management tools. Among all large utility respondents this percentage stood at 72% of respondents.
More than 30 additional topics are covered in the 2018-2020 Newton-Evans DA report. Fifty-three major and mid-size utilities were surveyed and interviewed to gather the information for the new report. This group provides a sample accounting for 10% of served North American electricity customers while operating more than 50,000 primary MV distribution feeders across North America.
A supplemental nine-page North American DA market outlook synopsis for the years 2018 through 2024 is included in this report. The supplement provides DA market outlook information and rationale for each of five DA components including field equipment, substation resident software, control systems-resident software, telecommunications services and automation device controllers.
This 2018 DA Market Study is sold individually and also as part of a report bundle on DA that includes: 1) the “Overview of the 2017-2020 U.S. Transmission and Distribution Equipment Market: Distribution Automation Series (Complete Set of 9 top-line reports)” and 2) a Power Point slide deck developed by Chuck Newton titled, “The Role of Advanced DMS/SCADA Software and Systems in Building a Resilient and Reliable Power Distribution Grid.”
Contact us for more information, report samples and pricing information:
info@newton-evans.com
410-465-7316
(Click here for more information about this report)
summary reviews and highlights from completed studies
