Enhancing Today’s Power Grids with Futuristic Asset Management Solutions

Now with SCOPE – OrxaGrid’s asset management portfolio, you can do so much more.

Introduction

Growing distributed generation and the need to have optimal asset management capabilities is leading to new challenges for electricity networks. Electricity networks have transformed from being centralized to distributed, while adapting to the growing needs of customers and service providers. Monitoring these networks and communicating issues and potential faults in real time to avoid outages and learn from the occurred events has become more important. Thus, making way for the development of smart grids and optimizing analytics platforms to monitor, supervise and control the entire network in real-time and avoid outages. Not to mention, endearing the capabilities of a utility to effectively maintain assets and perform necessary actions proactively to avoid outages.

Challenges in Asset Management

The power grid network and its installed assets are aging with legacy equipment that require replacement. As per research, around 40% of the assets in the power grid are over the age of 40 years relating to ~30% increase in the volume of defects, thereby requiring refurbishment by 40% to avoid failures [i]. Further, this would lead to increased planned and unplanned outages and hike in electricity tariffs, forcing the consumers to be left agitated. Having a solution that is quick, accurate, automated, on time and on-the-go can help (technically) utility operation and maintenance (O&M) personnel to take necessary actions in time. Further, a prescriptive solution always enhances economics of the business by increasing return of investments and reducing payback period (and, levelized cost of electricity). In lieu of which, utilities are moving towards incorporation of asset management solutions and portfolios. Thus, in a digital world with evolution to smart grids, an analytics solution with asset management is always a good techno-commercial value proposition.

OrxaGrid’s Asset Management Solution

OrxaGrid (a SCOPE venture) provides Grid Analytics Platform (GAP), which is an analytics (and an asset management) solution to monitor and assess electricity grid assets in real-time. Its value proposition is for electricity networks, developers, independent power producers (IPPs) and utility service providers looking for optimizing the power flow in a demand-supply chain.  OrxaGrid enables taking instant decisions and plan future actions that can help optimize power (and hence reduce tariffs), reduce faults (and, hence outages) and allow room for expansion (I.e., inclusion of ancillary services like electric vehicles, smart buildings, etc., and renewable energy sources). Further, now with GAP’s asset management solution, 

1. CXOs can take business decisions proactively maintaining their annual spends whereas O&M personnels can manage their asset reliabilities. 
2. GAP provides key performance indicators (KPIs) like asset health indexing, remaining useful life, fault/failure predictions, prescriptive analytics and more.
3. With GAP’s computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), now O&M officials can book, manage, and review tickets lodged in real-time allowing assignments to engineers and event-closure in system time.
4. Asset management portal also allows O&M to schedule their maintenance activities before time to avoid last minute hassles and toolkit unavailabilities.
5. And, much more.

Seamless Integration of Offline and Online Data

OrxaGrid’s uniqueness lies in its seamless integration of offline testing and measurement (T&M) data with real-time measurements on their online platform. This powerful combination is bolstered by the parent company SCOPE’s expertise in the T&M instruments market, enabling customers to understand and correlate asset health parameters via actual field investigations and real-time data measurements.

The single canopy approach of SCOPE – OrxaGrid provides customers with both online and offline asset management data, empowering them to take necessary actions proactively and resolve asset issues promptly. This integration bridges the gap between traditional asset management practices and the digital transformation of smart grids, creating a holistic solution for electricity distribution networks.

Insights

Conclusion

As the world moves towards cleaner and more decentralised energy systems, electricity distribution networks must adapt to the changing landscape. SCOPE – OrxaGrid’s Grid Analytics Platform (GAP) addresses the challenges of growing distributed generation and aging infrastructure with its cutting-edge asset management solution. By enabling real-time monitoring, prompt issue resolution, and optimisation of power flow, GAP paves the way for efficient smart grids and elevated customer satisfaction.

With the seamless integration of offline and online asset management data, SCOPE – OrxaGrid empowers utility O&M personnel to make informed decisions and take timely actions. This techno-commercial value proposition ensures that electricity distribution businesses can maximize their return on investments and deliver reliable and cost-effective services to their customers, thus shaping a sustainable energy future for generations to come.

SCOPE – Youtube channel reference

References:

SP Energy Networks 2015–2023 Business Plan https://www.spenergynetworks.co.uk/userfiles/file/201403_SPENBusinessPlan2015_23UpdatedMar14.pdf