Modernizing electrical substations for remote maintenance

Since the dawn of the electric grid, energy companies have dispatched trained technicians and engineers to perform maintenance on their substations. Having workers at the physical site was the only way to prevent and fix problems for many years.

But rapidly emerging technologies and business processes are removing the need for on-location technicians in most instances. In particular, the advent of intelligent digital virtual protection, automation, and control technology allows electrical substations to mostly monitor themselves and have workers perform maintenance remotely if necessary.

An integrated energy corporation that provides electricity to three million customers throughout the Deep South sees the transformative potential of modernizing its roughly 1,800 electrical substations. With the help of Capgemini’s innovative intelligent digital substation solution, the company has begun this process – keeping ahead of competitors and poised to reach new heights of grid resilience and safety.

Substations

Transmission substations are a vital part of the electricity distribution system. A substation collects power from a variety of sources, including homes and buildings, and decides where it will be directed – whether back to the source or to another part of the system.

Traditionally, a worker would go to the pipes transmitting the electricity and use on-site switches to redirect the current manually. The Fortune 500 company was still sending electrical engineers and technicians to various substation sites for maintenance and repairs.

Without the ability to diagnose and fix routine issues remotely, the company would spend thousands on these trips. The time and energy of the workforce could be better used elsewhere as well, such as ensuring the end user receives the best experience possible and developing skills for new renewable energy systems – only intervening for advanced troubleshooting.

But the worst part about running this outdated technology is dealing with power outages when a specific substation malfunction spreads to other parts of the system.

“This is mainly about three things: safety, reliability, and cost savings,” said Bill Brooks, Vice President and US Account Executive for Energy, Utilities & Chemicals at Capgemini.

Combining information and operational tech

Whereas information technology (IT) has changed rapidly over the last ten years, operational technology (OT) hasn’t changed much in the past 75 years.

“We’re bringing these two worlds together for the substations themselves,” said Stephen Lurie, Global Energy Transition and Utilities Industrial Consultant at Capgemini. “We’re first to the market on all this smart grid substation.”

Capgemini has a plan for modernizing these substations: digitalizing their processes and operations with our ecosystem partners’ tools and technologies, which includes servers, switching capabilities, virtual protections and controls, and software for advanced data and predictive analytics.

Capgemini brought these disparate technologies and resources together on a new platform and integrated it with the rest of the utility company’s systems. With smart technology imbedded throughout the entire grid, the company has visibility into its entire energy network.

“All the polls are talking to each other, all the meters are talking to each other, and all the substations are talking to each other,” Lurie said. “That’s how that predictive analysis takes place.”

The level of monitoring and analysis will strengthen cyber security by detecting and stopping or redirecting threats before they become problems.  

Essentially, this project is providing the company with the information that they need to do their jobs daily. Whereas they used to do this mechanically, the solution gathers the information and predicts future events and circumstances much faster and more accurately.

Real-time information is presented via intuitive dashboards while highlights are compiled routinely in reports. All this information makes their jobs easier.

Optimization through digital twins

Capgemini and the company will build a digital twin, or virtual model, of the substation so they can experiment with various scenarios to ensure each is running safely and efficiently. This can help optimize access control systems (e.g., managing access points, authenticating personnel) and support mission-critical communication across SD-WAN (software-defined wide-area network) technology.

A cloud-enabled digital twin also backs up all the data. So, if something catastrophic were to happen, such as someone smashing all the meters hypothetically, the company could relaunch the substation without missing a beat – knowing exactly how much electricity had been used, where the power should be routed next, and so on.

The journey: From idea to evolution

Capgemini is guiding the energy company through six distinct phases:

1. Assessment and design – We define the key features that need to be developed and identify the gaps that need to be bridged.
2. Configuration readiness – We finalize the network design and installation requirements.
3. Integration and testing – We deploy the pilot, verify the results, and build the fundamentals for scaling up.
4. Training and deployment – We execute the training plans and deliver the solution via agile and waterfall project management.
5. Business transformation – We implement our organizational change management (OCM) plan and gauge our success against previously established key performance indicators (KPIs).
6. Run, support, and evolve – We provide integrated managed service support, security and patch management, data modeling and analysis, and financial and operational benefits tracking.

Business outcomes

We are building this solution together. Capgemini understands how to execute the IT perfectly, but will stay engaged throughout, as a business transformation partner, to help the company navigate whatever may arise.

Over the past three years, various consultancies have deployed aspects of these technologies in similar ways. Never have all these technologies and methodologies been harnessed in exactly this way. Capgemini is the first to present to the marketplace this type of substation modernization as a repeatable business solution.

“You’re able to manage where your power is flowing so when there’s an outage you can protect your people in the field,” Brooks said.

This solution sets IT on a path toward a digitally enabled, elevated future state, while simultaneously giving OT the tools for dealing with immediate concerns and possibilities, such as preparing the best response to a blown transformer or something similar.

“Technology-wise, the pieces and components are put together. Now we’re building structure around that with smart grid,” Lurie said.