ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING STUDENT VACATION PLACEMENT REPORT

Ergon Energy – Summer 2011/12

Lee Clark

The University of Queensland

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

During the period from December 2011 to February 2012, I was employed by Ergon Energy within the Asset Management unitʼs System Development Group, in the Network Development and Forecasting team as a Vacation Student Engineer.

The role required assessing load data quality and availability from newly created analogue tags from Ergonʼs ABB SCADA system, updating the spreadsheet records of these load measurement points, and integrating them into the Energy Information Management (EIM) database system that is used by the Group to produce annual forecast reports, view historical load profiles and assist in network planning, augmentation and demand management strategies.

Additionally, I produced a work procedure outlining this process to assist subsequent administrative staff in this role following the completion of employment.

It was a challenging and rewarding period in that it gave me a greater understanding of the vital and varied roles of a Power Engineer in the Australian Electricity Supply Industry. It also afforded me to gain experience in the efficient use of essential software packages and database systems to produce usable information for network management and forecasting staff.

These experiences and skills have greatly benefited my personal development in the progression towards becoming a professional engineer. I feel that I will be better prepared to enter the workforce from this period of work and look forward to building upon the knowledge gained in the future.

I wish to thank my supervisor and colleagues for the help and guidance throughout the time with the company, as well as Ergon Energy and the API for this valuable opportunity of professional development.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS  

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................3 1. INTRODUCTION.................................................5 2. COMPANY BACKGROUND................................5

2.1 Overview ....………………………………………...5 2.2 Organisational Structure….…………………………...6 2.3 Asset Management….…………………..……………6

2.3.1 The System Group…...………………………………7 2.4 Statistical Metering & Data Management.……………….7

2.4.1 SMDB and PI Historian.............................................7

3. ROLE ...……………………………………………..8 3.1 Updating the PI Tags Workbook...……………………..8 3.2 Adding Locations in the SMDB.....……………………..9 3.3 Create a Work Procedure Document………………….10

4. ANALYSIS OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES…..10 4.1 Technical…………………………………………..10 4.2 Non-Technical……………………………………...10

5. CONCLUSIONS…………………………………..10 REFERENCES………………………………………11 APPENDIX A………………………………………...12

     

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1. INTRODUCTION  During the period from December 2011 to February 2012, I was under the employ of Ergon Energy within the Asset Management unitʼs System Development Group as a Vacation Student Engineer. The task of the role in the Network Development and Forecasting team was to assess load data quality and availability of newly created analogue tags from the Ergon Energy ABB Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system and integrate them into the Energy Information Management (EIM) system that is used by the group (as well as others across the business) to produce a variety of reports and assist in network planning strategies. The task specifics, along with a brief company background, form the main body of this report. 2. COMPANY BACKGROUND 2.1 Overview Ergon Energy is a Queensland Government-Owned Corporation, whose areas of business cover the four links of the electricity supply chain – generation, transmission, distribution and retail [1]. It is comprised of two principal operating companies:

Ergon Energy Corporation Limited, which oversees the distribution business;

The subsidiary Ergon Energy Queensland Pty Ltd, the ʻnon-competingʼ electricity retailer [1].

Along with Energex, the Stateʼs other distribution corporation, Ergon jointly owns the IT services subsidiary company SPARQ Solutions and the subsidiary company Service Essentials Pty Ltd, who ʻprovide Economies of Scale in the provision of back office services such as meter readingʼ [2]. It was formed in 1999 through the State Governmentʼs amalgamation of the six preceding regional electricity distributors and ancillary retail arms:

South West Queensland Electricity Board (SWQEB); Wide Bay - Burnett Electricity Board (WBBEB); Capricornia Electricity Board (CREB); Mackay Electricity Board (MEB); North Queensland Electricity Board (NQEB); Far North Queensland Electricity Board (FNQEB).

Ergonʼs network (the network) is operated over an area comprising 97% of the state of Queensland (approximately 1.7 million km2), providing electricity to customers both on and off the main grid. It consists of:

34 Power Stations (grid connected and isolated);

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26 bulk supply points; 378 zone substations; 686 major power transformers (33kV to 132kV); 91,500 distribution transformers; Approx. 150,000 km of power lines & 1,000,000 poles; 7,000 km of underground power cable [1].

Appendix A shows a map of Queensland with the network coverage, main service regions and locations of major infrastructure. 2.2 Organisational Structure The major business units that make up Ergon Energy Corporation and a brief description of their overall roles within Ergon Energy are:

Operations – responsible for the delivery and operational effectiveness of the program of works;

Asset Management – reviews the networkʼs performance and defines the program of works by efficient and effective management of assets;

Employee Shared Services – human resources, culture and business improvement strategies;

Customer Service – service strategies and service delivery to Ergonʼs customers;

Energy Sustainability and Market Development – promotes energy efficiency and demand reduction on the network while minimising the impact of Ergonʼs day to day operations on the environment;

Finance & Strategic Services – manages and improves the profitability and sustainability of all aspects of the business.

The roles and responsibilities of the Asset Management Group and more specifically the System Development Group, of which I was a part, will be discussed in further detail. 2.3 Asset Management The Asset Management unitʼs overall task is to maximise the effective and efficient management of the network assets by being accountable for all Asset Strategy and defining the Program of Work across the distribution business. This is achieved through the output of the following groups:

Alternative Energy Solutions Asset Planning Metering Program Development Operational Technology Standards System Development Telecommunications

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2.3.1 The System Development Group This group undertakes modelling, forecasting and planning activities to establish the current and future network demands. Long-term strategies of 5+ years and shorter-term network augmentation plans for sub-transmission and distribution levels are then generated form this work. Other roles include, but are not limited to:

Develop the Strategic Management Plan Study network impacts of new major customer connections Public Regulatory testing on potential augmentation plans Determine network plant ratings Load Analysis and Network Modelling to assist other groups and

business units [3] 2.4 Statistical Metering & Data Management To enable the System Development group to perform its duties, statistical metering data from load measurement points across the entire network is collected and stored in large data warehouses. Sources for the data are:

NEM 12 – National Electricity Market (NEM) half hour interval readings; NEM 13 – NEM meter register readings; Nulec Reclosers – auto recloser readings; BOM – Bureau of Meteorology weather data; JIF – customer premise demand & consumption readings; PI Historian – SCADA interval readings; GISEP – network configuration; ECORP – Ergon Corporate Oracle data warehouse containing premise

configuration, summarised assets, including equipment/asset IDʼs; AEMO – Australian Electricity Market Operator total demand for

Queensland [4]. At present, an in-house developed database – the Statistical Metering Database (SMDB) – is used as the main EIM system, providing access to the data and useful analysis tools. The implementation of a new system is currently underway, the details of which are not in the scope of this report, except for a brief outline of the associated Dataview application in Section 3.1. An overview of the SMDB and the SCADA data repository called PI Historian is described below. 2.4.1 SMDB and PI Historian Each load metering point is given a unique Location ID and is linked with an Asset ID of the equipment it monitors. An extraction process runs each evening to obtain the previous 7 days worth of data for every location from its source and is stored in an individual file. At any time, up to date data can be viewed through a custom Microsoft Excel workbook called SMDB Profiler. Load profiles, half hourly averages and other information can be viewed for each individual location over any date range required. There are several

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versions of this workbook, each customised by the various groups that access the information. The PI Historian system is a data warehouse that stores analogue spot-delta and digital SCADA readings in four redundant computer servers – two each (running in parallel) for Northern and Central/Southern Queensland regions. Data is sent from Remote Terminal Units (RTU) attached to network assets such as:

Power Transformers; Transmission and Distribution Feeders; Circuit Breakers; Auto Reclosers (various voltage levels); Transformer Tap Changers.

They capture a range of operational data including voltage, current flow, real power, reactive power and apparent power, which are sent through individual reading channels called PI Tags. Data is converted into half hourly averages during the SMDB extraction process by custom ʻtranslatorsʼ, generated by the System Development Group, which are chosen for each location according to the available Tags. As well as providing historical data for reporting and planning, Control Officers monitor this system in real-time (through separate software) for the daily running of the network. A record of all PI Tags and the associated assets are kept in two separate Excel workbooks – one for each pair of servers. As new Tags are created, new locations are required to be setup in the SMDB to reflect the current state of the network and keep reporting accurate. 3. ROLE The duties I was required to perform were to update and maintain the PI Tags workbooks and create new locations in the SMDB, where possible, as well as produce a work instruction on this process. 3.1 Updating the PI Tags Workbook My first task was to become familiar with updating the PI Tag records (described in Section 2.4.1) with new Tags in the relevant Excel workbooks. This required me to:

Utilise existing custom Macros to import the new entries from the correct server;

Sort through new Tags to select those that would be eventually used to provide data to a translator, according to the type of operational data they provided;

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Asses if the Tags were operational by attempting to extract recorded data from the servers, using existing custom Macros;

Record if/when data were available to keep track which of the new Tags could be setup in the SMDB;

Find the relevant Asset ID and record it against the Tags.

Searching for equipment Asset IDʼs required four separate applications, either individually or in combination, depending on where the information was available:

Energy Analysis and Modelling (EAM) Dataview – an operational part of the new EIM system being developed, this application can display information on assets, and will eventually allow access to metering data from all sources, weather history and has various analysis tools to view the data in various combinations;

Google Earth Enterprise Edition – a custom implementation of Googleʼs geospatial information software that overlays satellite imagery of Queensland with a representation of all elements in the network;

Energy Management System (EMS) – an ASEA, Brown & Boveri (ABB) software package that displays the state of the network in real-time using Single-line Diagrams (SLDʼs). This enabled the matching of Tag names to physical equipment, as the load flow data displayed are obtained from RTUʼs;

Microsoft Access Database – design and run queries on tables containing asset information to obtain the relevant ID.

In addition to updating the workbooks with new Tags, I was also requested at times to update specific Tags in the instance that data had become available from a previously inactive RTU. 3.2 Adding Locations in the SMDB The next task assigned to me was the setup of locations in the SMDB from new Tags that had historical data available and extract them from the available date. This process involved:

Creating a blank Access database template file in a regional directory (based on the six authorities that preceded Ergon Energy) and giving it a unique Location ID to be recognisable in the Profiler;

Entering the Location ID into the Region and Location table of an Asset database, providing information such as region, asset ID, location description, asset type, voltage level etc;

Using a dedicated Excel workbook to setup data extraction, select a translator for the location and link the available Tags to the file;

Running the data extraction Macro and checking the historical data were converted to half hour averages and correctly represented graphically in the Profiler.

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3.3 Create a Work Procedure Document Near the end of my employment period, I was tasked with creating a document detailing the process of the tasks assigned to me as a reference for administrative and labour hire staff that would continue with the work. 4. ANALYSIS OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES 4.1 Technical Throughout the period of my employment with Ergon Energy, I was challenged on a daily basis by the work assigned to me. Not only did I gain a wider understanding of the complexity of large electrical power networks and the Electricity Supply Industry in Australia as a whole, I now have a greater appreciation of the variety, vitality and responsibility associated with the Power Engineerʼs role in its operations. This was highlighted by the daily interactions and inter-dependencies of the various work groups in my immediate vicinity and the tasks that I completed. In particular, I gained valuable new technical skills including:

An intermediate understanding of the structure and workings of large database systems;

The use of various software applications and insight into how to use each one to achieve desired outcomes;

The importance of data quality and the effects it can have on people outside of my immediate work sphere;

A basic understanding of the concept of Network Forecasting and its importance in the running of a large electrical power network.

4.2 Non-Technical The non-technical side to working at Ergon Energy has provided me with invaluable experience that will be of great benefit in my future as a professional engineer. Developments include:

The importance of accurate communication between colleagues; Experience in working cohesively in an office environment; An enhanced standard of professionalism in work ethic and output; Daily organisational skills to complete assigned tasks on time.

5. CONCLUSIONS My time with Ergon Energy was invaluable in the progression towards becoming a professional engineer. I am grateful for this experience as it has given me a clearer insight into the Electricity Supply Industry in Australia, knowledge of and training in essential skills and tools that I feel, with ongoing

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development, will prepare me to enter the workforce after the completion of my studies with assuredness in my abilities. I look forward to expanding on these experiences in future in other areas of the industry and wish to thank the API bursary program, Ergon Energy the people I worked alongside for the opportunities and the time of learning. REFERENCES [1] Ergon Energy Corporation Limited, Annual Stakeholder Report 2010/2011, viewed online 5 Feb 2012, http://www.ergon.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/52918/Ergo-Energy-Annual-Stakeholder-Report-2010-11.pdf [2] J Bridge, J Dyer & N Wembridge, Review of Energex FRC Cost Pass-Through Application v1-12, 2008 PB Associates, viewed online 5 Feb 2012, http://www.qca.org.au/files/E-CPass-FRCEnergex-PB-Report0508.PDF [3] G Kearney, System Development ʻAbout Usʼ, 2011 Ergon Energy Corporation Limited, viewed 6 Feb 2012, Ergon Energy intranet [4] S Clark, Energy Information Management Ergon Energy – IEE System Configuration Specification, Internal Document, 2010 SPARQ Solutions [5] Ergon Energy Corporation Limited, Our service regions & depot map, Map, downloaded 5 Feb 2012, http://www.ergon.com.au/about-us/company-information/our-service-regions-and-depot-map

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APPENDIX A – ERGON SERVICE & REGION MAP [5]

 

2/4/12 Ergon Energy - Our service regions & depot map

1/2www.ergon.com.au/about-us/company-information/our-service-regions-and-depot-map

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We service regional Queensland from coastal and rural areas to the remote communities of outback Queensland and the TorresStrait which extends across 97% of Queensland - around 1.7 million square kilometres. We operate across a diverse, inspiringlandscape, from the harshest, most demanding terrains to the most sensitive.