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Study of Commercial Lab Testing of Medium and High Voltage Equipment

Newton-Evans Research Company is currently conducting a study of the market for laboratory testing of medium and high voltage electric power T&D equipment. The purpose of this study is to find out how electricity producers, T&D companies, industrial facilities and transit and rail companies handle testing of equipment such as: power transformers, load tap changers, switchgear, load interruptors, outdoor circuit breakers, fused cutouts, relays, capacitors, load break switches, reclosers and instrument transformers.

Some of the tests for these pieces of equipment that are routinely performed in a laboratory situation include: arc flash, internal arcing fault, load and capacitive switching, short circuit interruption and withstand, overload, interrupting current tests, switching tests and cable/line charging. These laboratory-based tests are sometimes performed in-house by electric utility staff, but more often an outside consultant, equipment manufacturer, university or commercial test lab is hired to perform these tests.

In an effort to better serve electric power utilities, generating companies and industrial facilities, test labs want to know: “If you had the opportunity to troubleshoot a technical problem “off the grid” using an independent lab, what are some of the problems or issues you would test in that situation?”

If you or someone you know is involved in equipment testing or maintenance planning and would like to take our survey and receive a report of findings from this study, and a stipend, send inquiries to info@newton-evans.com or call 800-222-2856. A link to our survey, hosted by Surveymonkey.com, is available here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ElecPwrEquipTestingSurvey2016

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Electric Utility Spending on Relay Testing, Use of WANs for Remote Access

Here are some excerpts from previous Protection and Control studies; some of these topics will be revisited in our 2016 survey.

Overall, do you plan to increase, decrease or maintain current levels of capital investment for relay testing equipment, software and training?
The overwhelming majority of the 2012 sample indicated that they plan to maintain their current CapEx levels for these activities. Sixteen percent said they would increase expenditures, and only one respondent indicated a decrease in CapEx. The 2009 findings had indicated that 70% of the respondents would maintain their 2009 level of investment in relay test equipment. Fifteen percent planned to increase such investment, while only eight percent planned a decrease.

Do you plan to rely more on third party services for relay testing?
PlannedCapexRelayTestingIn 2012, 20% of responding utilities said they plan to rely more in the coming three year period (2012-2014) on third party relay commissioning and testing services. One person mentioned that due to manpower shortages, they do not have enough personnel available to do testing as well as regular line work.

In 2009, only twelve percent had planned to use third party relay testing services. Nearly 25% of the 2006 survey sample indicated that they would be likely to rely more heavily on third party relay testing services. The 2009 cutback in spending for third party services may well have been due to the impact of the recession, and the significant erosion of CAPEX and OPEX spending in that year.

Do you operate a Wide Area Network (WAN) for remote access to relays?
Fifty-three percent of utility respondents overall said they operate a WAN for remote relay access. Surprisingly, 71% of investor owned utilities said they do not operate a WAN for remote access.

How do you operate a Wide Area Network (WAN) for remote access to relays?
Of the 42 utilities in the sample that operate a WAN, 71% operate the WAN via serial port terminal servers or data concentrators, and 62% indicated they operate the WAN through firewalls. Almost all utilities had a multi-pronged approach to operating their WANs.

For more information on the forthcoming update to the worldwide study of the protective relay marketplace, call 1 410 465 7316 or send an email inquiry to info@newton-evans.com

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Role of Electric Power Utility Operational Technology Consulting Firms

There are a large number of consulting services providers to Operations and Engineering staffs in the electric power industry. In North America, Tier One providers include the Structure Group business unit within Accenture, KEMA DNV GL, QUANTA-Technology, PE (Power Engineers), PSC, SISCO, UISOL and others. Several of these firms have their origins as T&D engineering consultants, somewhat akin to the expertise found at the very large firms such as Black & Veatch, Burns & McDonnell, Bechtel and others.

Since the turn of the century and the development of grid modernization studies extending to OT/IT integration, and to enterprise-wide consulting services, a number of additional consulting specialists such as Enernex, Nexant, Bridge Energy, Navigant are highly visible and competing with the more “traditional” OT consulting community.

Additional firms are also active in related segments of grid modernization activities including telecommunications specialist firms (UTCG, PWI, Boreas, Telcordia (part of Ericsson), PSI, and carriers); Cyber consulting specialists (Tripwire, Industrial Defender (now owned by Lockheed Martin), Waterfall Security Solutions, IPKeys, Network & Security Technologies, N-Dimension and Securicon) and market management specialists (OATI, PA, Scott-Madden).

The survey conducted during the fourth quarter of 2015 was concerned in part with the perceived changes taking place among the consulting community that serves operational technology needs of electric utilities.

Some of the summary highlights of one study include these observations
Three of five key integrators of control systems look upon OT specialist consultants as “fair and impartial” while two suggested that consultants have their favorites among the systems provider community.

Integrator officials also provided their thoughts on the future role for OT consultants as follows:

  • Niche players will increase due to that the DER penetration will drive new regulation and requirement for ADMS (distribution)
  • Difficult to say with certainty, but I don’t think the consultant roles will change much.
  • I believe consultants will be supporting more and more project implementation for the end customer as the key internal knowledgeable resources are become less available.
  • To be a trusted partner to a utility to help guide them, but not make decisions on their behalf or to further benefit from those decisions. The role of being part of a procurement (RFP/RFI) process and then to provide system integration services for the selected bidder is raising major ethics concerns.
  • I don’t think much will change over the next 4 years.
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Asset Management of T&D Equipment and Integration of Renewables Needs Advanced Field Testing Methodology

Guest Article contributed by Paul Leufkens
We read with much interest “T&D Testing Topics” about the role and importance of lab and field testing to the electrical power industry. When Chuck published this recently as part of reviewing 2015 activities he described many different test activities by various organizations with very diverse purposes. From there now we want to look ahead to the testing areas in which we expect significant change and rapid development in 2016.

Utilities need remaining life assessment methods and better targeted maintenance programs based on testing experience. Considering integration of renewables, local testing of an integrated system has to be addressed. Another challenge is how to transform Big Data provided by new Smart Grid applications to good use and better Asset Management.

Manufacturer’s intentions with testing
First, let’s clarify that the “testing” examined in this context is budgeted testing on equipment for Transmission and Distribution (T&D) grids, rather than the routine tests that are part of a regular manufacturing process. There are many reasons to undertake and invest into these programs: safety, reliability, liability, performance, compliance to standards and regulations, life expectancy of assets, functionality and more.

Traditionally manufacturers of switchgear, transformers, cables etc. need certification. Type-test certificates show compliance with IEEE ANSI or other internationally recognized standards. This is desirable for market introductions and subsequently may be required for larger international tendered projects. Certificates can cover risk and liability, although that’s considered more outside than inside the US.

Vendors can have many intentions with testing. First there is the verification of new designs and functioning of prototypes at the end stage of product development. When there is a significant change in standards, type tests must be renewed, as was the case recently when requirements for Internal Arc resistance became stricter. Safety testing is fundamental and, together with its traditional UL listing, has become essential for commerce: the demand chain ceases to function without it.

Modern development of newer technologies faces banks or other investors who want independent evaluation and proof of reliable and expected performance for instance of solar PV modules or BESS. It is remarkable that sometimes a manufacturer pushes more severe requirements for a test program than the standard demands, but it happens. We saw that for instance a few years ago with such a seemingly end-of-development product as glass chain insulators: in this instance a manufacturer created a competitive edge by distinguishing itself from the competition. Continue reading Asset Management of T&D Equipment and Integration of Renewables Needs Advanced Field Testing Methodology

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2015 Newton-Evans Survey Respondent Donations to Charitable Organizations

Participants in various Newton-Evans research studies are often asked if they would like us to make a donation on their behalf (in amounts of $25 or $50 dollars a piece) to one of several pre-selected charitable organizations including UNICEF, the Wounded Warrior Project, the Canadian and the American Red Cross.

In 2015, Newton-Evans Research Company’s contributions – made on behalf of survey participants around the world – add up to $1,725:  Over the past decade, our survey respondents have selected donations to charities with payments by Newton-Evans amounting to more than $35,000.  We are grateful to our survey participants from around the world for donating their honorarium to these and other charitable organizations.  During 2016, Newton-Evans will be conducting three major international studies, so the donations to UNICEF will likely be substantially higher than in 2015.

 

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Worldwide Study of the Protective Relay Marketplace in Electric Utilities: 2016-2018

Newton-Evans is in the planning stages of updating one of its flagship report series on the Worldwide Protective Relay Marketplace, slated for completion in the second quarter of 2016.

If you are a supplier of protective relays, relay testing or integration services, or if you are interested in following technology trends, we invite you to contact us to let us know what questions, comments or concerns you have about this $2.5 billion world market.

Send us an email to relaymarket@newton-evans.com with any ideas you have, or if you are interested in pre-subscribing to this report series. Pre-subscribers are encouraged to help us design the survey/questionnaire which goes out to hundreds of electric utility decision makers and planners around the world by submitting from 2-5 questions for consideration.

Overview
Newton-Evans’ Worldwide Study of the Protective Relay Marketplace: 2016-2018 is planned to be a multi-client study which encompasses the world market for protective relays in the electric utility industry. This four volume report series will be the seventh worldwide study of protective relays which Newton-Evans has undertaken. Participants in this market study will include utility engineers and managers from investor-owned utilities, municipal and provincial utilities, cooperative utilities within the United States and Canada, together with national power systems throughout the world. The study will measure current market sizes and contains projections on a world region basis for the next several years. The entire research program will define the product and market requirements which suppliers must meet in order to successfully participate in one or more of these diverse world market regions.

Newton-Evans Research Company estimates from an earlier 2012 relay market study indicate that the North American protective relay market stood at almost $600 million for both utility and industrial applications. It will be interesting to see how changes in the world market since completion of the 2012-2014 study will affect the outlook for 2016-2018.

Methodology
Field survey work is conducted using a mix of primary research methods including personal interviews, mail surveys, faxes, e-mail and follow-up telephone interviews by Newton-Evans Research Company staff. In addition to discussions with utility managers and influencers, Newton-Evans conducts interviews with protective relay industry officials to gather management impressions about the size, scope, direction and trends in the relay business. Discussions and information exchanges with international suppliers provide additional market insight. Over the past 15 years Newton-Evans has received thousands of completed surveys from utility personnel.

Topics
The survey-based findings in Volumes 1 (North American Market) and 2 (International Market) will discuss the following:

  • Number of relays to be purchased over the 2016-2018 period
  • Percentage of digital/microprocessor relays in installed base and planned for new and retrofit applications purchases
  • Estimates of annual budgets for protective relay hardware purchases
  • Level of testing for new digital relays
  • Communications approaches for wide area networks
  • Relay communications protocol requirements
  • Types of relay scheme redundancy used for microprocessor-based relaying terminals
  • Third party services for relay testing
  • Level of implementation of IEC 61850
  • Uses of IEC 61850 within substation, for protection, control, and SCADA
  • Use fiber optics to connect substations
  • Outsourcing trends for testing, engineering, integration
  • Use of condition based maintenance to reduce maintenance testing time of technicians

Volume 3 will provide a market forecast for the relay market through 2018. The survey sample from volumes 1 and 2 will be analyzed by world percentage of distribution line miles, transmission line miles, number of substations, nameplate capacity (as it applies to generator protection), and number of medium to large transformers included in the sample. This data is then used to estimate factory shipments according to type of relay (electromechanical vs. solid state), market segment (North American utilities, International utilities, and IPP/Industrial/OEMs), relay application (substation equipment, generators/motors, transmission lines, or distribution feeders), and market share by relay manufacturer.

Volume 4 profiles several of the major relay manufacturers and related equipment providers such as ABB, Alstom Grid, Basler, Beckwith, Cooper, Cutler Hammer, FKI, GE Multilin, Nari, RFL, Schneider, SEL, Siemens, and ZIV. Product descriptions and key contacts are provided, as well as reported 2014 and 2015 revenues where available.

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EMMOS Conference Sep. 21-23

Just a reminder for those planning to attend the 22nd annual EMMOS (Energy Management and Market Operations Systems) user group conference on September 21-23 at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel in Carmel, Indiana can make hotel reservations at a discounted rate until August 27th.

This year’s conference agenda will feature topical speakers and roundtable sessions, technical training classes and a vendor exhibition.

Featured conference and training topics at the 2015 gathering of North American and international control and market systems operations management and staff include:

  • Cyber Security Perspectives in Light of CIPS V5
  • Overview of MISO Market and System Reliability Operations
  • North American Developments in DMS and DA Usage
  • Visualization
  • Situational Awareness
  • Communications Standards
  • Renewables Integration and Management
  • Network Security Applications
  • Next Generation Systems
  • The Future of Energy – Smart Grid and Beyond, and several additional control systems related topics.

The 2015 conference will include tours of the Midwest ISO (MISO) control center on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. The vendor exhibition will include a cocktail and hors d’oeuvres reception on Monday evening.

The annual EMMOS conference attendees include electric power operations officials involved with transmission, distribution and generation, as well as IT managers, planning engineers, consultants, ISO staffs, and related systems personnel involved with control systems and substation modernization, distribution automation, outage management and geographic information systems.

Further information on the upcoming 2015 EMMOS conference, including registration information and hotel booking arrangements can be found on the EMMOS website at www.emmos.org. Exhibitor opportunity information is available from Ms. Erika Ferguson at EFerguson@osisoft.com

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The Role of ADMS/SCADA in Building a Resilient & Reliable Distribution Grid: Part 1

This is part one of a four part series on ADMS and Distribution Automation. Part one discusses Advanced DA, differences between Distribution SCADA and ADMS, market participants, usage patterns, challenges, priorities, and comments from users.

What utilities have said
Based on a mid-2014 study of the market for Distribution Automation (along with multiple earlier studies), increasing numbers of large utilities have indicated the following:

  • Integrated systems are becoming more desirable
  • Entrenched suppliers of large control systems (EMS primarily) have an “in” but often cannot provide the required component systems for an integrated approach to DMS-OMS-GIS.
  • Many mid-size utilities consider their DSCADA systems (primarily the ACS, OSI and Telvent communities) as suitable platforms for DMS/DA.
  • A high proportion of all respondents do not yet see a need for a separate DMS. This is especially true among the mid-tier utilities.
  • DMS systems can be (and most often are) implemented in a single control center that cuts across state lines in the United States.
  • Typically, operating companies under a large holding corporation operate their own DMS or DSCADA installations.

10 attributes of advanced DA
Here are the 10 attributes of an advanced distribution automation capability based on Intelligrid’s definition:

  1. Real-time Distribution Operation Model and Analysis (DOMA)
  2. Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration (FLISR/FDIR)
  3. Voltage/var Control (VVC/VVO)
  4. Distribution Contingency Analysis (DCA)
  5. Multi-level Feeder Reconfiguration (MFR)
  6. Relay Protection Re-coordination (RPRC)
  7. Pre-arming of Remedial Action Schemes (PRAS)
  8. Coordination of Emergency Actions (CEmA)
  9. Coordination of Restorative Actions (CRA)
  10. Intelligent Alarm Processing (IAP)

While ADMS platforms are increasingly used by Tier One utilities, many other utilities continue to rely on their DSCADA system to manage a growing portfolio of ADA functions.

Use of DMS as of Mid-2014 (Participants in Newton-Evans’ Study)

  • Just over 40% of all respondents indicated use of a DMS as of June 2014.
  • IOUs were more likely to indicate having a DMS installation than were respondents from other utility types.
  • All of the surveyed utilities have a DSCADA capability and are likely to be applying SCADA control over basic DA functions such as capacitor bank control and recloser control.

ADMS and DSCADA market participants
The total North American DMS market is made up of ADMS and DSCADA, with some overlapping providers and some different market participants in each category. Among this North America sample of large utilities, GE and ABB/Ventyx led in mentions of current ADMS installations. OSI is also a major supplier of DSCADA and ADMS installations, but their clients tend to be mid-size utilities. All of the mentions for both GE and ABB/Ventyx were made by IOU respondents.

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North American Market for Single Phase Reclosers

During the first quarter of 2015 Newton-Evans Research Company studied the North American market for single phase reclosers. This survey based report addressed questions pertaining to purchasing volume by type (kV rating and insulation type), protection for 1-phase laterals, brands used, types of connections for recloser communications, importance of various recloser features, and other topics.

Newton-Evans found that out of 46 electric utilities who responded to the survey, 72% currently use single phase reclosers on their system and 4% plan to use them in the future. The total number of installed single phase reclosers among the survey sample included about 18,000 units, with the vast majority of those being oil insulated (as opposed to other insulation types like solid dielectric.)

Some key findings from this report suggest the following:
(1) Electric utilities predominantly use fuse protection on single phase taps rather than use a single phase recloser.
(2) While the bulk of survey respondents indicated a greater installed base of oil insulated single phase reclosers, on an average annual basis some utilities indicated they purchase many more solid dielectric reclosers than oil insulated.
(3) Nearly one-half of the respondents said that over 70% of future recloser purchases will be for new units and not for replacements.

Question: Over the next 3 years, please estimate the percentage % of 1-phase reclosers your utility will install on 1-phase laterals vs. feeder main applications.
Only a minority of new purchases of 1-phase reclosers will be installed on single phase laterals, although four utilities plan to use more than one-half of their 15kv purchases to protect single phase laterals. Three utilities plan the same (50%+) for 26kV units, none replied with any indication of any plans to use single phase reclosers of 38kV laterals.

Question: What types of connections are required for recloser communications?
Ethernet ranked as the type of connection required for DA communications, with rs-232, fiber and wireless connections also very important to this group.
RecloserComms1

Question: How are the 15kV 1-phase laterals on your system protected?
For 15kV laterals, most utilities indicated the vast majority of laterals are protected, but are protected by and large, via the use of fuses. Few 1-phase laterals are protected by reclosers and even fewer by electronic sectionalizers.

Question: What are your preferred protocol for recloser communications?
Clearly, the US utilities are still tightly aligned with DNP 3 as the most critical DA protocol, and the protocol that all manufacturers of DA devices do provide.

For more information about the market for reclosers or other research topics, give us a call: 1 800 222 2856.

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Excerpts from Newton-Evans’ North American Distribution Automation Market Assessment & Outlook: 2015-2017

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Below are some excerpts from this recent survey of 75 North American electric transmission & distribution companies.

Where are the controls located for FDIR/FLISR on your distribution system?
As had been observed and reported din earlier Newton-Evans studies of distribution automation, respondents continue to provide a mix of replies to this question. Among the 42% of utility officials indicating some implementation of FDIR/FLISR on their distribution system, many have controls implemented at two or three locations. Among the 31 utilities identified as current FDIR/FLISR user utilities, controls were listed as being located at the control center (58%), in the substation (45%) and in the field (52%).

Location of controls for 31 respondents who have feeder automation and/or FLISR
DA1June1

In the future, where do you anticipate the controls to be located for FDIR/FLISR?
Interestingly, control placement for FDIR/FLISR in the future is anticipated to be primarily in the control center, as cited by 67% of all respondents. Nearly 40% indicated future control location in the field, while 29% cited plans for substation-based controls. Eighteen percent of all respondents indicated no plans (at year-end 2014) for feeder automation.

Importantly, regardless of type or size of responding utility, the majority of participating utilities plan to use the control center based systems to manage field equipment.

Location of controls for 59 respondents who have plans for feeder automation and/or FLISR
DA2June1

Continue reading Excerpts from Newton-Evans’ North American Distribution Automation Market Assessment & Outlook: 2015-2017

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Substation Automation 2015-2017 Market Overview Series Now Available

Newton-Evans Research has just finished updating a series of U.S. market overview briefs on fourteen different substation automation market topics, including: Remote Terminal Units, Programmable Logic controllers, Substation Automation Platforms, Multifunction Meters and Recorders, Inter-Utility Revenue Meters, Digital Relays, Digital Fault Recorders, Sequence of Events Recorders, Power Quality Recorders, Substation Reclosers, Substation Automation Integration Specialists, Substation Communications, Substation Voltage Regulators, and Substation Precision Timing Clocks.

Each report provides a list of major market participants and their year-end 2014 revenues and market shares, as well as estimates of product pricing and a U.S. market forecast through 2017. See the sample brochure for more detail.

This series of reports is available for purchase on our reports page

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New Utility Insights on Adoption of Advanced Distribution Automation Applications

Findings from the Newton-Evans Research Company study completed in February 2015 indicate that a substantial number of electric utilities are using distribution automation technologies such as FDIR/FLISR and VVC/VVO/CVR, but the number of operating feeders currently configured with these features is still relatively low. These observations are based on a survey of 75 electric T&D utilities in the U.S. and Canada providing electric power service to 32 million customers (approximately 20% of North America’s electricity end users, according to Newton-Evans estimates.)

Percentage of all feeders that have Fault Detection Isolation Restoration (FDIR) or Fault Location Isolation Service Restoration (FLISR) Capabilities
On a summary basis, nearly one-third of the responding utilities (32%) cited their operation of one or more primary distribution feeders configured with FDIR/FLISR capabilities. However, the overall installed base of feeders with FDIR/FLISR capabilities was quite small, standing at about five percent of the total number of feeders operated by these utilities. According to the survey sample, six percent of 13-15kV feeders and seven percent of 22-26kV feeders are configured to provide FDIR/FLISR functionality.

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Percentage of feeders that support integrated Volt/VAR control (VVC), Volt Var Optimization (VVO), or Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR)
Just over half of all respondents reported having at least some feeders supporting Integrated Volt/Var Control, Volt/Var Optimization (VVC/VVO) or Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR). The 75 respondents indicated an installed base of 34,122 feeders across 4 voltage levels: 4kV (5,094 feeders), 13kV/15kV (22,831 feeders), 22kV/26kV (4,214 feeders), and 33kV/38kV (1,983 feeders). Overall, respondents indicated that 32% of all feeders currently support VVC, VVO or CVR, but out of 4,214 feeders at the 22/24kV level about 59% support these capabilities.

VVOpie1

Percentage of utilities integrating VVC, VVO or CVR by year end 2017
Overall, 68% of the utilities replying to this question indicated that at least some feeders will support integrated IVV control/VVO and/or CVR by year-end 2017.

Decision factors for implementing VVC/VVO
Respondents indicated that “cost savings effected by reducing the need for infrastructure enhancements” was the single most-cited driver for volt-Var optimization (VVO) implementation, as reported by 38% of respondents. Additional cost savings brought about by “reducing the need for additional generation” was second in importance, at 33%. About 1 in 5 respondents also cited “regulatory compliance” as a significant driver for implementing VVO.

Other reasons mentioned for implementing include peak shaving to reduce demand costs, reducing losses, and maintaining power factor. A few utilities mentioned that VVO is either not a requirement for them or that they do not want to implement additional technology simply to raise revenue.

To see a table of contents and pricing information for the “North American Distribution Automation Market Assessment and Outlook: 2015-2017” visit our reports page

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Save 25% Off Currently Available Reports

Through January 31, 2015, Newton-Evans Research is offering a 25% discount on all currently available 2014 and earlier reports. Click on the “Order Here” button and use the discount code “2014sale” at checkout to take advantage of this limited time offer, or give us a call at 410-465-7316 and mention this announcement when placing your order with us over the phone.

Get the “Overview of the 2014-2016 U.S. Transmission and Distribution Equipment Market – HV Equipment Series” for only $731.25 – a savings of over $240. Or purchase the entire four-volume report series, “The Worldwide Market for Substation Automation and Integration programs in Electric Utilities: 2014-2016” for only $5,212.50 – a savings of $1,737.50 for a comprehensive package of market intelligence.

See our Reports Page for a complete listing of report topics and prices.

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Use of FDIR, Integrated Volt/Var Control, and Sensors on Distribution Feeders

The following information was excerpted from a Newton-Evans survey conducted in September 2010. A total of 47 utility officials from the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions responded to the survey participation request. For the majority of U.S.-based respondents, there was a good mix of utility representation by size and by type of utility.

Approximately what percentage of your feeders (existing & new) will include FDIR, Integrated Volt/VAR Control, or Medium Voltage/Low Voltage Sensors?

Importantly, utility responses indicate that the percentages of feeders to include any of the three applications will continue to increase over the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 periods.

Integrated volt and VAR control was the most likely application to have been implemented to date. However, the budget percentages allocated for FDIR are expected to more than double over the 2010-2012 periods (from 7% to 15%). The already substantial portion allocated for IVVC will likely grow from 19% to 28%.

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Distribution Automation: Communications for Feeder Automation

The following information was excerpted from a Newton-Evans survey conducted in September 2010. A total of 47 utility officials from the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions responded to the survey participation request. For the majority of U.S.-based respondents, there was a good mix of utility representation by size and by type of utility.

Do you plan to migrate (or have you already migrated) the existing feeder automation communications network to a newer wireless technology that allows for functionality like higher bandwidth, IP enabled radios and WiMAX?
Fifty-six percent of respondents had no plans to undertake any migration to newer wireless technology approaches. Sixteen percent of survey respondents had already migrated their existing feeder automation communications network to a newer wireless technology, while 30% were planning to do so.

If you are adding wireless technologies for feeder automation communications, which wireless technology are you planning to migrate to?
Three specific technologies were listed on the survey form (WiMAX, LTE and 4G) along with “other.” Forty-one percent cited WiMAX, 18% mentioned 4G and 6% listed LTE. More than three quarters of the group listed other wireless technologies as shown below.

Other Mentions

  • NetCom 900MHz packet radio
  • IP radio system
  • 700mHz Arcadian
  • CDMA 450 Mhz
  • Owned licensed spectrum
  • not sure; investigating
  • RFP stage
  • Low bandwidth/IP enabled IDEN
  • Higher speed 900 mHz supporting IP
  • Under investigation; not decided yet
  • unlicensed spread spectrum
  • Wimax, 802.11 technology, 900 mHz spread spectrum
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Distribution Automation Apps That Will Share Network Space

In 2007, a Newton-Evans survey of electric utilities in North America showed that 65% of the sample planned to have capacitor bank control on the same telecommunications infrastructure as distribution automation. Thirty-eight percent said that Volt/Var optimization, demand management or voltage reduction applications will share the same telecoms as DA, and 13% indicated load balancing will also use the same infrastructure. One quarter of the respondents to this survey cited “other” applications such as AMI, fault location, and station alarms.  We are revisiting this question and obtaining status and plans related to many more DA topics and issues during the fourth quarter of 2014.

DAsharedApps

In designing a Distribution Automation system, controls and/or logic can be control center based, substation based, or field based. The 2007 Newton-Evans survey asked electric utilities, “Which type of controls are you planning for feeder automation?”

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Since completion of the 2007 study, Newton-Evans has conducted several proprietary studies on DA topics, both from a field equipment perspective as well as from a DMS perspective.  Our current study is now being readied for North American-wide utility participation in a comprehensive survey format.    During mid-2014, Newton-Evans also published its series of nine comprehensive DA market segment overviews on key market components including DA/DMS systems, control devices for reclosers and capacitors, voltage regulators, fault current indicators, pole-top RTUs, line mount monitoring devices, DA communications options and DA engineering and consulting services.

For more information on Newton-Evans DA research (including the new study of the North American market for DA, planned for late January 2015 availability) see our reports page and the article below.

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Newton-Evans Research Company plans to revisit the topic of Distribution Automation

DA Brochure Image

Newton-Evans Research Company plans to revisit the topic of Distribution Automation (DA) by researching the market for DA field devices, communications methods, engineering service and Distribution Management Systems (DMS) applications software used in the control center, the substation, and on lines and poles. We will invite hundreds of North American electric transmission & distribution utilities to participate in a survey of Distribution Automation hardware, software and communications infrastructure.

The results of this survey will be combined with Newton-Evans’ discussions with DA vendors and manufacturers and published in a report titled “Distribution Automation 2015-2020: North American Utility Perspectives, Market Outlook and Analysis.” This report – available in January of 2015 – will be a comprehensive market overview of the automation aspects of electric distribution networks and supporting infrastructure. The scope of this research project will also include estimates of growth in the communications infrastructure needed to support this increased deployment of DA hardware and software.

Research Methodology
The study will include several weeks of survey-based research with major and mid-size utilities, requesting their insights regarding DA plans through 2020. This study will also include secondary research to learn about documented plans for DA among North American utilities.

The final report, “Distribution Automation 2015-2020: North American Utility Perspectives, Market Outlook and Analysis” will measure current market sizes, provide estimates and outlooks of demand for distribution automation equipment through 2020, and showcase a selection of major product vendors and service providers in the DA marketplace.

(Download a .pdf brochure here)

Continue reading Newton-Evans Research Company plans to revisit the topic of Distribution Automation

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Ethernet in the Substation

Excerpts from this 2014 Newton-Evans study of the world market for substation automation show some interesting trends regarding the use of Ethernet networks in substations around North America. Some of these trends include:

  1. Electric utilities in North America are showing increased interest in IEEE 1613 as a requirement for Ethernet switches and routers
  2. Single network without failover is the most frequently used Ethernet LAN architecture, and one of the most planned for Ethernet LAN architectures in substations for year end 2016 (along with “Single network with multiple paths/failover” and “Independent primary devices/network and backup devices/network.”
  3. Roughly half of utilities surveyed do not have redundancy in substation Ethernet networks.

Although this year’s sample reported a much different (lower) average number of ports than had been reported in the 2011 sample, Newton-Evans believe that there will be additional Ethernet ports installed in many North American substations by 2016.

By year end 2013, the majority of North American utilities surveyed reported that their Ethernet ports are secured. This is about the same as what was reported in 2011.

By year-end 2013 the lack of redundancy in Ethernet networks had fallen from 55% to 49%, while 35% reported use of Ring approaches and 18% used STAR approaches to provide redundancy in their Ethernet networks as shown in this chart. There were some differences in Ethernet redundancy based on type and/or size groupings. For example, among public power utilities in the sample, 48% said they use Ring topology for redundancy and only 26% claimed they do not have redundancy in their substation Ethernet.

The new study found predominant use of Rapid Spanning Tree protocol (78%) to provide redundancy in Ethernet networks. This is a significant increase over the 57% of survey respondents reporting such use in the previous study. Use of Hot Standby Router protocol (IEC 62439) was reported by 14% of the subgroup, while 10% were using Parallel Redundancy (also IEC 62439) at year-end 2013.

For more information or to order a copy of “The Worldwide Market for Substation Automation and Integration programs in Electric Utilities: 2014-2016” visit our reports page.

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U.S. Sales of Distribution Automation Components, Including Equipment, Systems and Services, Estimated at more than $700 Million in 2013, Forecast to Increase to $950 Million by 2016

Newton-Evans Research Publishes New Edition of Nine Market Snapshot Reports on Distribution Automation Topics Covering the Electric Power Industry in the United States.

June 4, 2014. Ellicott City, Maryland. The Newton-Evans Research Company has announced its latest publication of a set of 9 U.S. distribution automation market two-page summaries. The new series of market overview reports (executive market summaries) includes supplier listings, representative products, and estimated market size for each topic, vendor market share estimates and market outlook through 2016. Electric utilities accounted for about 91% of all purchases of distribution automation related goods and services. A majority of distribution automation equipment purchased by American utilities and industrial firms is produced or assembled in the United States.

The Distribution Automation series ($975.00) includes U.S. 2013 market size, market share estimates and 2014-2016 market outlook for these product and service categories:
DA01 – Automatic Circuit Recloser Controls
DA02 – DA/DMS System Components (including distribution network analysis; distribution network condition monitoring and fault location and characterization)
DA03 – Voltage Regulators
DA04 – Capacitor Bank Controllers
DA05 – Fault Indicators (covering both fault current indicators and faulted circuit indicators)
DA06 – Pole Top RTUs
DA07 – Line Mounted Monitoring Devices
DA08 – Communications Components for DA (covering PLC/DLC; cellular and 900Mhz)
DA09 – Engineering Services for Distribution Automation Projects (covering consulting engineering services, related services provided by manufacturers; DA services provided by smart grid consulting specialists).

Other topical series currently available include: the 2014-2016 series on medium voltage equipment (18 market overviews).

Additional series to be released during June-August 2014 cover high voltage equipment (16 market segment overviews), T&D control systems (11 market segment overviews), substation automation (13 market segment snapshots), power transformers (11 market segment snapshots), and protective relays (8 market segment snapshots).

Further information on this new series of U.S. T&D market snapshots is available from Newton-Evans Research Company, 10176 Baltimore National Pike, Suite 204, Ellicott City, Maryland 21042. Phone: 410-465-7316 or visit www.newton-evans.com/our-reports for a brochure or to order any of the related report series or more than 85 planned individual report summaries online. For those interested in subscriptions to multiple report series, please call or email us for special introductory pricing offers. For more information send an inquiry to info@newton-evans.com