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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number	NIA_SPEN0012
Title	SINE Post
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution) 100%;
Research Types	Applied Research and Development 100%
Science and Technology Fields	PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Computer Science and Informatics) 75%; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) 25%;
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator	Project Contact No email address given SP Energy Networks
Award Type	Network Innovation Allowance
Funding Source	Ofgem
Start Date	01 January 2017
End Date	01 January 2020
Duration	36 months
Total Grant Value	£1,122,620
Industrial Sectors	Power
Region	Scotland
Programme	Network Innovation Allowance
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Project Contact , SP Energy Networks (100.000%)
Web Site	http://www.smarternetworks.org/project/NIA_SPEN0012
Objectives	SINE Post has the following objectives: Development and demonstration of an IT and hardware architecture (infrastructure and interfaces) that will allow data to be gathered from remote sites, processed efficiently and used, together with data from existing systems (such as GIS), to unlock business planning and operational efficiencies; Use data sets from multiple sources corroboratively to support planning and operational decisions; Trial various communications methods to assess their reliability, compliance and performance as enablers for gathering data into the expert system; Understand and document the effectiveness of developing and demonstrating SINE Post for 11kV fault location, CB maintenance decisions and harmonic analysis. By achieving these objectives SPEN expects SINE Post to deliver customer service, financial and environmental benefits. It is expected that SINE Post will be successful if the following outcomes can be returned: A fully functional IT and hardware system facilitating the gathering of data from multiple remote sites and exchanging autonomously it between key corporate systems; Demonstrate that data for multiple sources can be use in a complementary way to support planning and operational decisions; Reliable communication channels established between the PQMs and the SINE Post system; Updated business case that outlines the performance improvements from SINE Post to inform UK DNOs of it suitability for BaU adoption.
Abstract	DNO business practices can, at present, require experts to undertake several manual activities which are time consuming labour intensive and do not always deliver performance benefits to customers. Focusing on power quality monitoring (PQM), this is exhibited in the following problem areas, in particular: Location of faults on 11kV networks, (particularly OHL); Testing of circuit breakers (CBs); and Analysis and interpretation of harmonic excursions. The accurate location of 11kV faults is currently inefficient as it requires one of SPEN’s PQM experts to (manually) link fault impedance data to network models to derive possible fault locations. This approach has been proven to generate accurate fault location results, however, due to the limited number of PQM experts and the manual interventions required, SPEN is not always able to respond to faults in a timely way. Whilst condition-based maintenance of circuit breakers (CB) is common-place throughout UK DNOs, the CB trip timing tests are labour-intensive and only provide a snapshot of the CB performance for the particular conditions under test. This may not represent the worst-case CB operation due to variation in operating conditions across the year. As a result, unnecessary outages can be caused by the unexpected slow operation of CBs to clear faults. Engineering Recommendation G5/4 (ER G5/4) sets out the acceptable limits for the harmonic content of waveform quality and the compliance requirements for equipment connected to distribution systems. DNOs face a real challenge in ensuring that distribution networks continue to be compliant with ER G5/4 whilst, at the same time, accommodating increased levels of Distributed Generation (DG) and Low Carbon Technologies (LCT) such as electric vehicles and heat pumps. In this case, the Problem is accurately assessing the harmonic data, before and after DG / LCT customers have connected to the network, and presenting this in an efficient way to SPEN’s design engineers and customers, without the need for significant manual analysis. The Problems outlined above will be addressed by the development of an expert system "SINE Post", which encompasses the gathering, processing, analysis and interpretation of data from multiple sources, and makes this information available within SPEN’s corporate systems (supporting system planning and operational decisions). These data sources already exist within SPEN’s business but are disparate and not always utilised to their full potential in the most efficient way. SINE Post will demonstrate the automation of previously time consuming and labour-intensive tasks often undertaken by valuable experts. This will give design engineers, asset managers, control room staff and field staff within SPEN timely access to processed information, allowing them to make informed decisions more quickly. Ultimately, this will deliver performance benefits to SPEN’s business (e. g. efficient data processing from multiple systems at scale) and its customers (responding to 11kV faults more quickly, enabling DG / LCT customers to connect to the network more quickly and cheaply). SINE Post will be delivered in the following interactive stages: Stage 1: Design and development; Specifying the architecture of the solution;; Offline development of system interfaces;; Investigating and selecting appropriate communications media;; Procuring equipment and services needed for the project; Stage 2: Equipment installation and trialling; Installation of the hardware and software components of the "SINE Post" system;; Trialling the use of the SINE Post system for more efficient 11kV fault location, CB maintenance decisions and harmonic analysis pre and post-connection of DG/LCTs; Stage 3: Analysis and reporting; Evaluating the performance benefits derived by "SINE Post";; Disseminating and reporting the project results;Note : Project Documents may be available via the ENA Smarter Networks Portal using the Website link above
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	11/12/18