POWERGRAMS

0101 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 HONORS IDMS improvements earn If Alabama Power's transmission and distribution system is the crown of its highly reliable electric grid, the company's Integrated Distribution Management System (IDMS) is an invaluable gem within the grid framework. Indeed, the company can point to its improved IDMS as one of the reasons Alabama Power hits the top of J.D. Power satisfaction studies year aer year – and has earned one of the electric industry's highest reliability rates at 99.97. The company and its employees have invested considerable time and resources to increase electric reliability through the IDMS operational platform. Those investments not only have paid off in fewer outages and less downtime for customers aer storms, but they helped earn Alabama Power the prestigious Achievement Award from the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies (AEIC). Aer a two-month delay, AEIC Executive Director Terry Waters presented the award to Pam Boyd, general manager of Power Delivery (PD) Technical Services, and Bill Mintz, manager of PD Technology. Boyd and Mintz had joined nearly 1,200 company and contract employees in restoring power aer Hurricane Michael struck the Southeast and eastern portions of Alabama on Oct. 10. Given annually to individuals or groups from among AEIC members who make significant contributions to the electric industry, the Achievement Award went to Alabama Power for its contributions to IDMS. Thanks to the company's commitment to improving this technology, there is increased situational awareness that allows operators in the Distribution Operations Centers to pinpoint what's going on with the grid, greatly benefiting customers. Before IDMS was implemented, said PD Team Leader Brock Parker, "We had a 'swivel chair technique,' basically three different systems used to control and monitor our grid. The system operator would use three separate computer applications to operate the distribution system. So, we went from three systems that didn't talk to each other to one system that does. All three applications are integrated into one seamless system." Mikel Wijayasuriya, team leader for PD Technology, described IDMS as soware that rolls together the main functions used by the operator: the geographical map board, distribution automation and outage management. "With this integrated foundation, we can layer advanced operation applications such as Fault Isolation Service Restoration, or FISR, which really helps with reliability, allowing us to get the lights back on faster for our customers," Wijayasuriya said. During a power outage, the integration of IDMS enables the system to sense the location of an outage, automatically reroute power and restore service to as many customers as possible. This is accomplished as IDMS combines mission-critical functions performed in a control center into a single platform, providing improved awareness of the grid, improving employee efficiency of managing the grid and system disturbances, and improving the grid's reliability. The system ties data from SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), distribution management systems and outage management systems into one platform, while performing data analytics and converting the data into functions for improved grid-management. The system allows grid management in the most reliable, safe and efficient manner without human intervention, in most cases. The U.S. Department of Energy endorses the IDMS cybersecurity architecture and application design for suppliers of real-time operational systems. Other companies in the electric industry are seeking to migrate to an integrated solution. by Donna Cope 9 In front: Wijayasuriya, Boyd, Mintz, Terry Waters, Robbie Benton, Joe Smith; back row, Bob Duke, Larry Clark, Matthew Leak, Justin Perry, Parker, Kyle Allison, Jake Walker, Bruce Carter.

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