ESTA along with guest electric utilities presented – DER-Enabled ADMS Solutions for Modern Distribution Systems at DistribuTECH Utility University in Orlando February 2024. The course provided information necessary for electric utilities to plan, integrate, and commission an advanced distribution management system (ADMS) including functions for electrical optimization (VVO, FLISR, Distribution Powerflow, etc.), DER Management, Outage Management, and other advanced applications. The course also covered strategies to ensure that the ADMS applications model and account for all types of DERs and, where possible, leverage the DERs for optimal distribution system performance and future retail and wholesale markets, with support for FERC Order 2222. There were 32 in attendance for this full-day course.
Speakers included Robert Uluski, Executive Consultant - ESTA, Manuel Atanacio, Executive Consultant – ESTA, Stipe Fustar Executive Consultant- ESTA, Grant Cochenour, Manager Advanced Grid Operations and Planning - OGE Energy Corp, Chris Anderson, Director, Customer Delivery Technology Programs ADMS - Duke Energy, Tony Bruton, Director, T&D Services - Oncor.
Mr. Coyle is an Electrical Engineer with 19 years of dedicated experience advancing
real-time operational technology (OT) software for the power utility industry. He is a proficient and versatile professional specializing in SCADA, EMS, GMS, ADMS/OMS, DERMS, Situational Awareness and Historian Systems. His expertise spans a wide array of technical domains, including operational use cases, system design, implementation, and maintenance, with a keen focus on optimizing operational efficiency and reliability. Additionally, he brings knowledge in the underlying system architecture designs, such as servers, operating systems, virtualization, networking, cloud, and cybersecurity.
Implementing Fault Location Isolation and Service Restoration (FLISR) on Distribution Circuits with High DER Penetration – Strategies for Success
For several decades, electric distribution utilities have been able to achieve significant reliability improvements by quickly isolating faulted feeder sections and restoring power to healthy sections using FLISR on their distribution feeders. The growing penetration of DERs presents new challenges, such as load masking and incorrect fault location due to DER fault current contributions, that may impact the performance of these legacy systems. DER presence also provides opportunities for improved FLISR performance such as freeing capacity to permit load transfers on heavily loaded feeders and supporting islanded microgrids on isolated feeders that lack backup sources. The proposed tutorial will provide basic information on how FLISR works, equipment requirements, reliability improvement benefits obtained, and strategies for addressing the new challenges posed by DER presences and opportunities to leverage DERs for optimal performance.
The proposed tutorial targets distribution control center operators and field operation staff who are responsible for managing the electric distribution system, engineers who are responsible for distribution circuit design and DER connections, distribution automation and communication specialists, and other stakeholders that are focused on achieving high service reliability for the benefit of the utility’s customers.