April - May 2021
The challenge managing power systems
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Power systems management is one of the key issues facing industry as devices near the end of their supported life, says Steve Hodder
MANAGEMENT
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any companies have insufficient expertise to manage in house or external systems, new technologies and process adoption and multi-source generation. They are faced with the complexities of power management, including a mix of modern and legacy equipment and limited system visibility. Between 10 percent and 15 percent of devices are nearing the end of their supported life, with implications for budgets, maybe already stretched by insufficient use of energy, and asset longevity which is in turn
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affected by power quality and installation. The good news is there is extensive capacity and innovation in New Zealand infrastructure and technology to upgrade power systems management and de-risk systems for the bottom line, customer service and human health and safety. There are four key trends currently facing the industry which works in and around power systems. 1) Observe the macro trends A major one is people, with an aging work force meaning half the experi-
enced people in the industry are due to retire sometime in the next 10 years. Industry needs to invest, to build the talent pipeline and ensure the legacy continues. This trend is followed closely by renewing legacy products (hardware). Assets installed in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s are coming to the end of their useful life and need to be replaced. Then digitisation. There is unprecedented computing power storage and intelligence, with mobility, cloud and analytics combining to create an extraordinary
degree of control, insight and remote management capacity. Finally, the trend of cybersecurity overarches over all of these, with utilities needing to continually invest in and update cyber-security solutions. 2) Invest in self-healing networks This can be thought of as “adding intelligence to the grid”; smart RMUs (ring main units) can be used to accelerate grid digitisation, a modular platform of hardware and firmware which provide a single solution for control and monitoring of the distribution network. These smart RMUs are a standard product and widely available; that they don’t have to be individually designed saves time and cost and the solution can be implemented quickly. Utilities which have invested in smart RMUs are experiencing a reduction
