Excited to announce a couple more speakers for Big Data Analytics for Smart Power Networks:


First up is David Kirkland who will be presenting on Digitisation in the Energy Sector: from device to information in the Implementing Big Data Analytics in the Energy and Power Sector Panel

About the speaker:

David joined GE Energy as a Technical Solutions Director in February 2011 and is currently the Team Leader for the EMEA TSD Team. He is an energy sector professional with comprehensive international experience and a successful track record of asset management and continual business improvement projects. 

David is a professional Electrical Engineer and completed his MBA at Lancaster University Management School in 2003 and became a Chartered Manager in 2006.

Prior to joining GE David worked as a consultant, and directly within the industry, in the UK, Russia, Republic of Ireland, China, Netherlands, Spain and USA, he has wide ranging experience and practical implementation in a number of projects, delivering:


•    Sustainable low carbon network projects for grid modernisation

•    Research, assessment and reporting on technological innovations on energy networks worldwide

•    Implementation of Asset Management best practice, life extension and risk management solutions, procedures and organisational designs

•    Asset and Business risk management governance 

•    Due diligence and condition assessment of transmission assets prior to transfer

•    Offshore transmission asset evaluation and compliance with regulatory requirements

•    Benchmarking and cost recording methodologies to support commercial and regulatory needs and introduction of high performance maintenance strategies in support of businesses strategic objectives

Synopsis

With the proliferation of new addressable devices on the network, in addition to the already existing infrastructure, and the need for ever increasing information to support customer expectations and network management this talk will consider:

•         Managing the move to Big Data and the benefits of information v data transfer

•         A digital architecture to facilitate information acquisition, aggregation and analysis

•         Using big data analytics to drive decision support



Second speaker update is Dr P. M. Ashton, National Grid who will talk on Development of Wide Area Monitoring Systems in Great Britain

About the speaker:

Phillip Ashton received the EngD degree from Brunel University, London in 2014, whilst based in industry with National Grid, UK. Currently working as a Technical Specialist in the Future Control Strategy team, as part of the System Operator business at National Grid, developing the Wide Area Monitoring Protection and Control (WAMPAC) Strategy for the GB system. He is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the IET and IEEE.

Synopsis

In line with the UK and European parliaments’ legislation on CO2 reduction, the generation pattern in Great Britain (GB) is rapidly evolving. The GB system is accommodating an increasing volume of renewable generation, predominantly in the form of offshore wind, and solar photovoltaic (PV) embedded in the distribution networks. In addition, increasing HVDC interconnections with continental Europe and the Nordic system are planned, and a wide range of new technologies focused on network reinforcements, including power electronics, are scheduled.


This inevitable shift towards a more dynamic system, with varying power flows and significantly reduced inertia, compounds the existing challenges of system operation and network management. It is therefore deemed necessary to gain an improved understanding of both the real-time and post-event behaviour of the power system, to better inform operational tools, planning and network design practices. 


To that effect, the inclusion of Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) to the GB system, with their high-resolution, synchronised measurements and improved accuracy of data, is providing greater detail on the dynamic and transient behaviour of the power system. 


Two in flight Network Innovation Competition (NIC) projects are tasked with demonstrating some of the benefits of PMU technology to the GB system:


1.    The VISOR project (Visualisation of Real-time System Dynamics Using Enhanced Monitoring), led by Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN), is demonstrating a number of applications of PMU’s through the first Wide Area Monitoring System (WAMS) for the GB network.


2.    The Enhanced Frequency Control Capability (EFCC) project, let by National Grid, is developing a Wide Area Control System (WACS), based on PMU’s, to facilitate the provision of a tailored rapid frequency response service from a wide variety of service providers.


These devices are creating new challenges of data processing and management; with volumes of data some orders of magnitude higher than is typically created by traditional system monitoring practices. As such the requirement for Big Data Analytics in this area is increasing, with timely analysis of the ever growing datasets becoming vital in order to best utilise the synchrophasor information and deliver benefits to the GB system.


Stay tuned for further updates.