Derek Macfarlane - An Introduction to ADMS: The Operation, Command and Control of Electricity Distribution Networks

This book is intended to be read by the electricity industry staff who are looking for IT systems to improve their electricity distribution processes and network performance.

I was once challenged by a utility manager, who had as their aim to be the best distribution business in their region. How can you make us the best if you only sell us the same software you sell everyone else?

My answer used a domestic analogy. Consider a street lined with houses and front gardens. All the householders have similar garden tools, yet some gardens are much nicer than others. The differences are twofold: first, you must have a clear understanding of what tools to buy and what conditions to create to enable you to compete with the best, and secondly, it is in the skill and knowledge you apply to get the best out of your tools that makes the difference. These newly required IT skills are the modern differentiators between electricity utilities. Those who understand their IT investments, how to maintain them, how to get the best out of them and how to keep the data up to date and accurate, these are the utilities with benchmark levels of performance for their type of network.

I helped to sell ADMS to electricity companies around the world for 16 years, and from my experience many companies become confused in what they want, they may be influenced by previous investment decisions which slant their assessment of what they need for an ADMS. They are obliged to make decisions between technologies without having the prior experience of different outcomes from different solutions. Over these years, I have been involved in wins and losses of contracts and, the joys of winning apart, the most informative moments were in discovering why we lost. Sometimes, we lost for what we perceived to be good justifiable reasons and in others we were prepared to bet we would be getting a second bite at that opportunity a few more years down the track and happily we converted several of those at the second time of asking.

I have tried to prevent this book from becoming a plug for one solution. It discusses several options at various junctures through the topics and hopefully explains the differences between some of the key technology decisions, dispel some of the myths and seek practical workable solutions. I look at various options and attempt to explain my way through the technical quagmire towards the solution that is best fit for each customer.

Then, having spent millions to buy an ADMS, many utilities do not use it to its full advantage. To use another analogy, having bought a fancy sports car they only drive it in third gear. In this book, I hope to enable the power engineers with a better understanding of the IT industry, the relevant IT applications and how to get the best out of their investments.