A Semantically Integrated Operational Dashboard for Management of a Smart Grid

As the electric distribution system becomes increasingly complex with integrating more energy resources, existing distribution automation systems must be enhanced with functions to manage more renewable energy connected at the distribution level and provide greater control over the operation of these energy resources. Distribution management systems must automate more in monitoring and controlling operations at substations to respond quickly to problems and reduce outage times. In this project, Siemens Corporation has developed a semantically integrated management system for future secondary substations. This system provides an unprecedented level of operational automation with more reliable services, which can benefit utilities and ratepayers. This research project created an operational dashboard for future electrical distribution substations capable of downloading and installing software from a marketplace. The conceived innovative system provides grid operators with an intuitive and real-time visualization of the current state of the grid and (potential) problems. When the system detects a problem, the system suggests the grid operator download, install, and configure a specific piece of software (application) capable of fixing the problem detected on the faulty substation. Moreover, a grid operator is provided with a global view of the cluster being managed, which allows the operator to react faster to detected anomalies and prevent severe problems such as outages.