Grid Management System Implementation, Cape Verde

CONTEXT

The “Energy Losses Reduction and Power Quality Improvement Programme”, had 8 main action activities, each targeting a different area with the objective of reducing energy losses and improve service quality.

One of the main issues identified, that constraint ELECTRA’s performance and service quality is the grid measurement process. The lack of an up-to-date grid management system, each in some cases, relied in manual procedures lead ELECTRA to lack the capacity of properly manage Energy Load Shedding, Energy Losses, Energy Quality, Selective Blackouts and ensure peak demand management.

To ensure that ELECTRA could enhance its operational and financial efficiency, Gesto developed GMS, an integrated tool that would allow ELECTRA to better manage its network grid and the energy the grid, resulting in a clear enhancement of service quality.

OBJECTIVES

The particular objective of this action activity was to develop a grid management system that would ensure ELECTRA the capacity to:

• Monitor and manage technical and non-technical energy losses
• Monitor energy and service quality
• Manage load shedding

To do so, Gesto develop and implement and IT integrated solution tool that provided ELECTRA with some very crucial advantages versus their current tools and procedures:

• Detect and Monitor Commercial Losses by substation influence area
• Remotely manage the distribution network grid, remotely acting on the substations and energy dispatch
• Monitor service and power quality indicators on the energy provided to the final costumer

DESCRIPTION

The Grid Management System (GMS) integrated IT tool ensures quantification of the energy and customer service quality through the storage, treatment and analysis of every technical parameter in the distribution substations. For instance, the Key indicators for energy quality are the average and minimum power factors, the minimum and maximum frequency, the voltage sags and overvoltage and the voltage and the current harmony distortion rates. GMS ensures measurement and management of all relevant indicators, because GMS as a Grid Management System provides an innovative integrated solution based on two proprietary software’s:

• SMTT: “Monitoring, Remote Control and Telemetry System”, which allows for the reading of grid parameters on the substations in real time;

• SIGR: “Electric Grid Integrated Network Management System”, which allows the collection, treatment, storage, management and analysis of every energy-quality and loss-control grid parameters, and also grants the ability to directly operate substations in order to manage loads in different grid locations.

Based on these two powerful tools (SIGR and SMTT) the Grid Management System (GMS) allows for the following advantages for different  Department of an utility:

• Planning Department
  • Optimize grid planning
  • Identification of commercial losses by grid areas
  • Remote monitoring of substation status
• Commercial Department
  • Improve billing process
  • Optimize billing routines
  • Evaluate consumption profiles
  • Operational team works & schedule optimization
• Distribution Department
  • Network remote control
  • Efficiency management of distribution network
  • Real-time controlling
  • Detailed operational reports.

SUMMARY OF SERVICES

• ELECTRA’s needs and distributions grid assessment
• Design of a IT Software tool to monitor the energy losses (both technical and non-technical), remote control and remote metering in the distribution network
• IT Software solution development
• System tests and go-live