Substation integration pilot project

The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) has been automating its power system operations and corporate business procedures for some time. OPPD is a medium-sized electric utility of approximately 2400 employees, 302000 electric customers, and a 2000 MW system peak load. Traditionally, departments have automated their own systems, creating islands of information. Therefore, a need to integrate systems to make information available at the corporate level required consideration. In 2000, an OPPD Automation Plan was initiated to coordinate and integrate systems on a corporate-wide basis. As a result of this plan, initiatives were recommended for a new energy management system (EMS), automatic meter reading, mobile computing, distribution automation (DA), and substation automation (SA). In June 2000, a consultant was hired to assist in developing a substation automation plan and to assist in implementing the Utility Communications Architecture (UCA) in the plan for a pilot project. This article addresses this pilot project, including its objectives, overview, issues, and evaluation.