New AI and automation capabilities
provide better visibility and control over distributed energy
resources and edge devices and help resolve network issues
faster
SAN
DIEGO, Feb. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --
DISTRIBUTECH -- Oracle today announced new Oracle Utilities
Network Management System features to help utilities navigate the
fast-evolving energy grid and rapidly expanding distributed energy
resources (DERs). New automated grid management and built-in AI
will enable utilities to better orchestrate and control DER and
grid-edge devices, boost network visibility with real-time
insights, and provide a unified user experience across multiple
platforms.
"...the latest version of Oracle Utilities
NMS is fueling grid evolution at scale."
New Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) alarm
triggers also alert staff to critical network information so they
can act faster to resolve issues and to commission points and
devices quickly to optimize network performance.
"Oracle Energy and Water continues to make tremendous
investments in its Network Management System (NMS) ADMS platform
and complementary solutions," said Michael
Kelly, associate director for market intelligence and
advisory firm Guidehouse Insights. "In supporting some of the
largest IOUs across North America,
Oracle is actively demonstrating the reliability and technological
sophistication of its ADMS solution."
To see these technologies in action, visit Oracle
at DISTRIBUTECH (Booth #1437) or schedule a meeting by
emailing energyandwater-events_us@oracle.com.
Optimizing grid performance
An Advanced Distribution
Management System (ADMS), Oracle Utilities NMS is designed to help
utilities meet today's needs and prepare for future needs by
monitoring, managing, and effectively optimizing the grid from
electric distribution to the edge of the grid. Used by six of the
top 10 U.S. utilities, Oracle Utilities NMS supports more than 61
million customers. New features introduced today include:
- Grid Edge DERMS: Using built-in AI and machine learning,
Oracle Utilities NMS now allows utilities to better monitor,
control, and optimize behind-the-meter devices. A new web interface
with built-in templates allows users to more easily manage
strategies and events, such as executing control over load devices
including thermostats during high peak load periods.
- AMI Meter Pinging: It is not uncommon for field
crews to restore power following an outage event, only to find that
some customers are still without power. This latest release allows
crews to ping AMI meters and quickly see if any downstream nested
outages remain, avoiding return trips and increasing customer
satisfaction.
- Common Network Viewer: Operations personnel need a
consistent user experience to more efficiently view and interact
with the distribution network map. This release provides a
performant, unified look and feel for touch-enabled map user
interaction for Oracle Utilities NMS Flex Operations and Oracle
Utilities Operations Mobile Application. This improves the
effectiveness of map interactions such as panning and zooming and
enhances the display of conductor highlights, phases, text
annotations, map backdrops, and other network information.
- Enhanced Digital Field Enablement: Dispatchers
and field supervisors need to have all relevant data at their
fingertips as they remotely manage outages and crews. Oracle
Utilities NMS Flex Operations also now offers enhanced
touch capabilities on tablet-sized devices, enabling workers to
more easily swipe and pinch to navigate tables, forms, and maps.
Device responsiveness support includes the ability to automatically
change the layout to support different screen sizes and screen
orientations, such as landscape versus portrait.
- Open Source Operational Technology Middleware: A new
Linux version of Oracle Utilities Live Energy Connect (LEC)
provides operations middleware to support fast system and device
integrations across all major communications protocols with low
integration cost and low complexity. With a field-proven
operational message bus and flexible OT architecture, the
technology supports extreme scale as a utility's needs grow. For
enhanced stability supporting expanding grids, each LEC Server is
split into different microservices that can quickly be restarted
without bringing down the server. Services also can be clustered—if
one fails it is seamlessly replaced by another—with clusters spread
across machines to help protect against hardware failure.
"Distribution operators need an integrated ADMS platform that
fully models distributed energy resources, expands automated grid
management, improves customer service, and reduces costs across
operations," said Brad Harkavy, vice
president of product, Oracle Energy and Water. "With new
features—from stronger control over surging DERs and grid devices
to more reliable confirmation of successful restoration efforts—the
latest version of Oracle Utilities NMS is fueling grid evolution at
scale. As a result, we are enabling dramatic improvements in system
stability, efficiency, and safety while driving down operating
costs with our focus on productized solutions."
Harmonizing complex distribution networks
Seamlessly
integrated with Oracle Utilities Live Energy Connect, Oracle
Utilities Flex SCADA module is delivered and supported
within Oracle Utilities NMS. The latest version includes enhanced
alarms to alert staff to critical information on the network and
improved limits capabilities to support unlimited limit bands,
hysteresis, and temporary limit overrides. Additionally, SCADA
engineers can now commission SCADA points and devices faster to
help optimize network performance and reduce operational cost.
Flex SCADA gives utilities an integrated, real-time grid ADMS
platform with a single user interface. It can easily integrate data
from existing Distribution Automation, field, consumer and IoT
devices, legacy SCADA platforms, DERs, and grid-edge sensor points
across a wide array of communications protocols. With the offering,
utilities get the core distribution SCADA capabilities required
across medium and low voltage networks.
About Oracle
Oracle offers integrated suites of
applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the
Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL),
please visit us at oracle.com
Trademarks
Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered
trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/utilities-amp-up-grid-performance-with-latest-oracle-network-management-features-301741118.html
SOURCE Oracle