IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2020 - 16

of the original transmission system
analysis tools; they must be designed
with an architecture that takes the customer into consideration right from
the beginning.
The need for standards related to
ADMSs becomes apparent in "Advanced Distribution Management Systems" by Alvin Razon, Tony Thomas,
and Venkat Banunarayanan. In this article, the authors describe how a focus
on interoperability and standards can
enable smaller utilities (municipalities
and cooperatives) to implement systems such as ADMSs, something that
was previously feasible only for larger
utilities that could afford large implementation teams. They focus on information modeling and its standardization as the underpinning of successful
implementations.
ADMS technology can only grow
as the benefits are revealed after successful implementations. "Investing
for the Future" focuses on success stories at three small utility cooperatives.
Authors Young Ngo, Herschel Arant,
Chris Bilby, and Amy Grice present
three case studies and their results, including the following aspects of ADMS
implementation:
1) a utility just beginning its deployment
2) a utility midway through the deployment
3) a utility that has completed its
implementation and has gained
experience running supervisory
control and data acquisition;
fault location, isolation, and service restoration (FLISR); and
other ADMS applications for
many years.
Advanced applications, such as
three-phase unbalanced power flow,
volt-var optimization, FLISR, optimal
power flow, DERs, and the distribution dispatcher training simulator, are
newer applications that can deliver
increased benefits to both planning
and the operations of the distribution
grid. In particular, the power-flow application can raise real-time operational
awareness in the grid by elevating the
operator's visibility of the power system
16

ieee power & energy magazine

from just knowing the connectivity (representation of the system through open/
closed status or as-switched state of the
network) to having full visibility into
the state of the network
(representation of the
as-switched state plus
power flows, voltages
at buses, transformer
tap positions, and so
on). These applications
can also take measurements from the field
and turn them into actionable information
and control recommendations, effectively
supplementing the system operator's role.
In "Advanced Applications in an Advanced Distribution Management System,"
Ethan Boardman shows the importance
of preparing the data and analytical models using a standard power system model
data dictionary. By doing so, utilities can
leverage their investments to define a
representation of their system and use it
to more easily develop and maintain interfaces between the various application
components that makeup an ADMS.
The transformation of distribution
operations is happening all over the
world. The changes creating the need for
improved operations include increasing
amounts of distributed renewable generation, electric vehicles, and storage.
In "Advanced Distribution Management
System," P. Devanand, Rajkumar Rastogi, Md Shadab Ahmad, Tarun Batra,
Anil Ohja, Vinod Kumar M, G. Ganesh
Das, and Mehnaz Ansari discuss the
impacts of these changes on system design and demonstrate that unifying operational and information technologies
into a common platform powered by
real-time analytics will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of outage and
restoration management.
Anamika Dubey, Anjan Bose, Michael
Liu, and Luis (Nando) Ochoa contribute the last article, "Paving the Way for
Advanced Distribution Management
Systems Applications." They investigate
advanced methods to control and coor-

dinate distribution system operations for
improved efficiency and resilience and
also present an overview of ADMS applications categorized into stages, ranging
from early research
concepts to technology in a demonstration
or early deployment
stage. Two ADMS applications are described
with the potential to be
adopted by industry in
the near term: networklevel optimization and
resilient restoration.
Recognizing the operational complexity
of future distribution
systems, the authors
discuss three areas for
research that may enable ADMS applications: control architectures, intelligent-based decision making,
and data quality and consistency.
The distribution grid is evolving.
Along with it, utilities are changing and
transforming themselves. The relationship
between utilities and their customers is
moving toward that of collaboration. This
is the focus of this issue's "In My View"
column by Eric Lightner, which discusses
changes impacting both planning and operations at utilities. While planning is the
front end of a utility's lead into the future,
operations is the here and now. The coming changes require new tools, data models, interactions, and approaches to address the impending challenges of the next
10-20 years.
We thank all the authors who contributed their articles to this issue, gave so generously of their valuable time, and willingly
shared their expertise with our readership.
We are also grateful to the IEEE Power &
Energy Society and Mike Henderson, the
editor-in-chief of this magazine, for the
opportunity and support in bringing attention to this important area and contributing the most to the transformation of the
electric utility to meet its new future in a
distributed world. We would also like to
thank Steve Widergren for his support and
counsel, which enhanced the presentation
of this material.

The
relationship
between
utilities and
their customers
is moving
toward that of
collaboration.

p&e

january/february 2020

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2020

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