In March 2008, Baltimore Gas and Electric Converted from a Paper-Based System for planning, tracking and managing electric distribution switching operations and safety permitting to a state-of-the-art paperless system. Electronic switching enhances the utility's ability to safely and reliably operate its electric system, through the addition of real-time modeling of electric distribution system equipment and permits associated with planned and unplanned switching operations.

Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE; Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.) uses the Oracle (Redwood Shores, California, U.S.) Utilities Network Management System for its outage management system (OMS).

PRIOR TO OMS SWITCHING

Like many utilities, BGE's legacy tools for documenting switching operations in the control room consisted of paper switching logs and permits, feeder prints, ink pens and highlighters.

During forced switching operations, typically resulting from unplanned outages, control room operators handwrote their switching operations on paper switching logs. For planned switching operations, outage schedulers preplanned the jobs by typing switching operations into a makeshift switching log (a spreadsheet template designed to look like a switching log). The spreadsheet steps — along with the original request, marked-up drawings and paper copies of the safety permits — were then forwarded to the control room as a switching package to be executed on the scheduled date.

Managing daily work required balancing manpower needs for planned switching operations, which were still being done in paper form, with the daily outage and non-outage customer calls that were being managed electronically by the OMS. As switching operations were executed, operators marked up copies of the feeder prints to reflect the equipment status and then modeled those conditions in the OMS viewer when possible. At any time, the determination of actual system equipment conditions required reconciliation of the OMS model with the marked-up copies of the feeder prints.

In the field, service operators (troublemen), working under the direction of the control room system operators, performed the manual equipment operations, oftentimes referencing hard copies of the switching plan — faxed to them days in advance — as the instructions were verbally communicated over the radio.

When the conditions or actions necessary to safely execute the planned job changed, any faxed instructions became outdated. But with the implementation of OMS switching in March 2008, all of this changed.

AFTER IMPLEMENTING OMS SWITCHING

BGE first introduced its employees to OMS in June 2003. As staff became more familiar with the functionality of the OMS, the timing was right to move to the next step in modernizing operations by implementing electronic switching. In December 2004, BGE signed a contract to upgrade its OMS and add OMS switching and Web outage request applications to its suite of OMS products already being used by employees.

BGE transitioned to the upgraded OMS in August 2007 and added the OMS switching and Web outage request applications in March 2008.

Today, when a planned outage is required for work on the system, employees access the OMS Web outage request application, completing the required fields prior to submitting the request to the outage scheduling unit.

All the fields in the Web outage request form are mapped directly to the corresponding fields of the switch sheet editor located in the OMS. Outage schedulers monitoring an index in the OMS called the request/log list locate new requests, and then start the review and planning process for the planned job. Once the outage scheduler has all the required information, planning begins on the switching steps needed for the job to be worked.

The outage scheduler reviews the system model in the OMS to determine the safest way to switch the system for the request. With the OMS in study mode (so real-time operations are not recorded in the production system), the outage scheduler writes each step by selecting the desired operation (open, closed, ground and tag). This is accomplished by clicking or selecting any one of the many operation options available on each piece of equipment's specifically designed control tool.

BGE designed control tools and the control tool actions for each of the various types of equipment on its system. Outage schedulers step through the switching process in study mode, operating, grounding and tagging equipment as required by the job. Each unique operation is recorded in the switch sheet editor and modeled in the OMS viewer where impacts to the distribution system and expected results, including customer interruptions, can be viewed and reviewed. Once the steps to safely isolate the equipment are written, the outage scheduler then adds necessary safety permits and tags using the permitting functionality also housed in the OMS.

SYSTEM IMPACTS

The outage scheduler can run through the steps of a plan in study mode as many times as needed, each time reviewing impacts to the system to determine if alternative switching options are available that would provide a safer alternative and result in fewer customer service interruptions. Should a customer interruption be unavoidable, the outage scheduler uses the output from the OMS customer impacted list to automatically generate customer outage notification letters.

Once satisfied the planned switching operations establish the requested system conditions, the outage scheduler then moves the plan to the “planned” status by clicking a button on the switch sheet editor. This action places the switching job on the OMS trouble event list, where it is displayed with all the other work managed by the control room.

Ten hours prior to the outage start time for a planned job, the switching job moves to the top of the control room operator's OMS work agenda, which means the operator receives notification that the system needs to be switched out for work scheduled to begin in 10 hours. System conditions permitting, the control room operator can execute the job in study mode, just as the outage scheduler did, to review the steps as written and determine if conditions have changed on the system since the job was initially written.

When the plan is ready to be executed, the control room operator moves the job to the mobile dispatch system, and then assigns a crew or crews to the job who will be instructed to perform the switching operations in the field. The crew performing the switching in the field opens an HTML copy of the switch plan on a mobile data terminal, reviews the steps and follows along with the control room operator as steps are instructed over the radio. At any time, should the original planned job be edited or changed based on system conditions, an updated HTML copy of the switch plan can be sent immediately to the crew in the field.

FORCED OPERATIONS

For forced switching operations, the system operator uses the same application in the OMS, the switch sheet editor. But instead of executing steps as for a planned job, the system operator models the switching operations in the OMS viewer using the control tool actions, which in turn records the operations on the switching log.

BGE's new OMS switching application was not designed and never intended to replace the verbal communications and repeat backs necessary to safely and accurately manage and coordinate switching operations on the electric system. Instead, the new switching application enhances the operator's knowledge of real-time system conditions through the addition of system equipment and permit modeling in the OMS.

A MEASURE OF SUCCESS

Since March 16, 2008, BGE has experienced 18 minor storms and one major storm on its electric system, with all switching, permitting and tagging managed electronically through the OMS. As of Dec. 31, 2008, more than 8000 switching jobs and 26,000 permits and tags have been successfully managed by the OMS.

While BGE does not yet fully model the transmission system in the OMS (so specific switch steps cannot be prewritten in the OMS for transmission jobs), transmission control room staff have transitioned to OMS switching as the tool for managing planned switching requests. The transmission control room, just like the distribution system operations control room, also uses the OMS for managing all permits required for the safe and reliable operation of the transmission system.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author acknowledges the contributions and support of the following in this project and in the preparation of this accounting of the project: Andy Dodge, vice president, electric system operations and planning; Frank Tiburzi Jr., principle engineer, restoration services and operations support; Ken Bowen, lead system operations analyst; and Noel Hall, co-project manager, IT.

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Chuck Willis (chuck.a.willis@bge.com) is a senior engineering analyst in system operations at Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in management from the University of Maryland. He served as co-project manager of the outage management system upgrade and switching project, representing the functional side of the business.

The work described in this article is the distribution category winner of the Industry Excellence Award by the Southeastern Electric Exchange. This award will be presented at the 2009 SEE Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., June 10-12.