SMUD is the nation's sixth-largest community-owned electric utility, serving a population of 1.4 million across 900 square miles. For some time, the company has relied on paper maps -- including a 100 x 25 ft. wall map -- and the experience and knowledge of its personnel to manage the electric grid. But the recent adoption of smart grid devices generated an exponential increase in the volume of data, making manual operations infeasible and creating opportunities for real-time insight into grid performance. Now, the Space-Time Insight system quickly synthesizes numerous streams of disparate data and provides on-the-fly assessments of grid and asset health, weather, wind and fire conditions, and power supply and demand, to name a few. The system helps managers and operators respond more quickly to outages, rapidly develop switching plans, and make more-informed decisions regarding equipment maintenance and investments.
"The volume of data generated by our smart assets made it clear that we had to continue to innovate to improve the reliability and safety of service to our customers," said Paul Lau, Assistant General Manager, Power Supply and Grid Operations at SMUD. Space-Time Insight's situational intelligence system provides SMUD with unique management insight using the data afforded by the smart grid and operating environment. "With common operational views, personnel across our organization can now implement more cost-effective asset planning and maintenance practices, collaborate as one team to respond rapidly to emergency situations and outages, and more readily understand the real-time impact of weather and fires on our daily operations," said Lau.
Space-Time Insight's geospatial and visual analytics displays effortlessly merge and correlate data from sources as diverse as smart meters, switch sensors, weather reports and emergency systems, making the data easy for SMUD operators to digest and analyze. Historical and real-time data can be viewed alongside each other, and users have the flexibility to dynamically zoom in to specific parts of the grid or assets of interest for more detailed analysis. Inside SMUD's Distribution Operations Center, the visualizations can be viewed on a 30 x 8 ft. video wall and on users' desktops and mobile devices. SMUD's SAVI project is partially funded by a federal smart grid grant awarded by the Department of Energy (DOE).
"As organizations like SMUD bring smart assets into their infrastructure, the static reports, spreadsheets and tools that inform decisions based on yesterday's data are simply inadequate for running an operation," said Rob Schilling, CEO of Space-Time Insight. "The whole point of collecting all this granular data is to use it to improve service reliability and efficiency. We commend SMUD for recognizing the value of this data and for taking the initiative to extract valuable insights from the smart technologies in which they are investing."
Since its deployment, a groundswell of interest for Space-Time Insight's geospatial and visual analytics technology has arisen within SMUD, with myriad other uses identified, from neighborhood design and transformer loading, to customer demographics for new programs, vegetation analysis, and understanding the impact of electric vehicles (EV's) on single circuits. A second phase of the situational intelligence system is already underway to meet some of these demands.
About Space-Time Insight
Space-Time Insight transforms vast quantities of disparate information into intuitive visual displays that businesses can use to make informed real-time decisions. From traditional transmission, communications and transportation networks to Smart Grids and Cities, our next-generation situational intelligence solution is making critical infrastructure smarter, safer and more reliable. With Space-Time Insight, enterprises can visualize and analyze their resources across location and time, rapidly respond to disruptions in service, and lower risk while increasing customer satisfaction and profitability. Major organizations around the world rely on our high performance software to gain actionable insights into their businesses and make real-time operational decisions. Space-Time Insight's partners include Accenture, EMC, Esri, Google, IBM, OSIsoft, SAP and UST Global. Space-Time Insight is privately held and based in San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit
http://www.spacetimeinsight.com.
Acknowledgement: "This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy under Award Number OE0000214."
Disclaimer: "This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof."
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