04/16/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/16/2024 09:36
The global electric utility system is in the midst of an historic clean energy transition away from traditional fossil fuels, making the management of an unprecedented volume of new and dynamic grid asset data from varying sources imperative to maintaining grid reliability.
For decades the power grid operated as a hub-and-spoke model with large fossil fuel power plants dispatching power to consumers. This provided remarkable reliability and was hailed as the pinnacle of the 20th century's innovations by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
However, the focus to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by these solutions, coupled with the transition to renewables and distributed energy resources (DERs), is posing significant challenges to conventional methods of grid management. There is a mountain of data associated with this transition to sort through and stay ahead of.
In its first ever DER outlook in 2020, Wood Mackenzie projected staggering growth in capacity to the United States cumulative DER to 387 gigawatts by 2025, necessitating significant investments in DERs and the electric grid. Depending on the diversity of the individual DER, the data generated by these solutions can reach petabytes. Types of data include:
The DER grid needs constant access to vast amounts of data from various sources for proper distribution and to adapt to outages
This data deluge presents both opportunities and challenges for utilities looking to maintain a reliable grid at scale. It enables predictive maintenance, fault detection and precise localization, all crucial for preventing outages and ensuring rapid response to grid problems. Data-driven insights enabled by data historian solutions are also key to support decision-making, optimizing asset management and facilitating progress towards sustainability goals. The types of data handled by these solutions include:
By now, I hope you see what I mean by a "data deluge." However, by identifying patterns or extracting insights from large volumes of structured and unstructured data (known as "Big Data"), utilities can ensure secure, detailed and real-time data access necessary for operating resilient and reliable grids.
For example, the adaptive approach of AspenTech OSI CHRONUS™ offers scalability, data integrity and resiliency. At the IT level, data is ingested by AspenTech Inmation™, providing context and aggregation for the CHRONUS data necessary for enterprise analytics and exploratory analysis. By providing reliable data for monitoring progress and identifying cost-efficient decarbonization strategies, operators are provided support for key performance metrics. It also integrates with existing infrastructure to ensure a smooth transition, safeguarding legacy data while future-proofing grid management.
The clean energy transition presents unprecedented challenges and opportunities for the electric power utility system. Renewables and DERs offer a myriad of benefits, from emissions reduction to providing customers revolutionary revenue streams through virtual power plants (VPP) and enabling participation in demand response. However, they also introduce complexities, such as bidirectional power flow and the processing of enormous amounts of grid data. Navigating this transformation requires a modernized approach to data management. Visibility into these vital components of the grid empowers utilities to embrace the future of grid management with confidence and resilience.