Smart Analytics Solution delivers results for Transpower
Custom Analytics + Software Solutions
Central to electricity transmission grid monitoring and operating, is the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) communications network which generates enormous amounts of data. In this case study, we see how analytics can work alongside SCADA to improve information visibility, providing intelligent decision making input to operators and stakeholders.
Transpower owns and manages New Zealand's high voltage electricity transmission grid. They play a central role in New Zealand's electricity industry, providing delivery of bulk electricity to towns, cities and major industries.
The Challenge
Transpower has large volumes of time-critical data in their SCADA network and needed confidence that the data was concise and reliable to enable rapid and effective decision making. Effective SCADA network performance analysis was proving difficult and root-cause problem analysis was very time-consuming. Transpower also wanted to know what would happen to network performance when they made necessary configuration changes.
The Solution
Harmonic’s goal was to help Transpower understand their critical performance drivers and to mitigate risk through access to concise and reliable information for decision making.
Using applied analytics and statistical modelling techniques, Harmonic developed an innovative software solution that would help measure performance and optimise the SCADA network, manage risk and predict future capacity needs.
The solution provided near real-time business impact views and a technology platform. A dashboard, capacity analysis and planning tool, and a sophisticated predictive model were also developed. The predictive model enabled network configuration changes to be tested to see what the impact would be before implementation.
The Result
- Greater insights into the demand drivers on their network
- Informed decision making – access to timely, reliable data
- Improved service performance by improving reliability and mitigating risk
- Faster root cause problem analysis and improved response times to events
- Efficiency gains through improving resource allocation
- Proactively manage additional demand and ease network load
- Assists with future investment options (e.g. how to get more out of existing assets (RTU’s).
"The initial investment in the solution has already been paid back several times over by extending the life of the current RTU Fleet – in less than five months."
— Jim Tocher, GM Grid Performance