IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2020 - 37

Since putting FLISR into place, Central Georgia EMC
has greatly improved its resilience and reduced the time
it takes to restore service to customers.
Results
Since putting FLISR into place, Central Georgia EMC has
greatly improved its resilience and reduced the time it takes
to restore service to customers. Hurricane Irma, in 2017, was
the utility's first real test of its ADMS. It was the primary
platform used to organize the restoration effort during the
first 24-36 h of the storm. The utility used FLISR in automatic mode throughout the storm and noted several instances
in which FLISR responded, and the field crew took corrective
measures to restore power to the area, with subsequent storm
conditions causing FLISR to activate again in the same area.
At the height of the storm, approximately 60% of its customers were without power. The real-time, concise nature of the
ADMS data enabled Central Georgia EMC to understand the
nature of the outages affecting the system and determine the
amounts and locations of resources to be deployed during the
early stages of the restoration effort.
Since unifying its ADMS platform, Central Georgia EMC
has made significant energy distribution and operational
efficiency improvements. The cooperative saw its SAIFI fall
by 32% in the first year of FLISR operation, and the SAIDI
also decreased dramatically. Prior to its FLISR implementation, Central Georgia EMC's SAIDI was 130 min, but two
years later, it decreased to 65.8 min. The utility estimates that
field crews now spend roughly 20% less time restoring outages, which has improved productivity during normal business hours and reduced overtime costs.
Among the intangible benefits of Central Georgia EMC's
ADMS implementation is the cultural shift toward innovation
throughout the organization. The successful adoption of automation through FLISR has provided opportunities throughout the organization to consider new and innovative ways to
improve utility operations and build value for customers.

Lessons Learned
Perhaps the primary lesson learned by the ADMS implementation is the value of starting small. The utility started
by operating communications systems with capacitor banks
and a few pole-mounted reclosers several years prior to initiating the full FLISR project. Its engineers were therefore
able to ensure they had a good communication network, and
the team developed confidence controlling the power network remotely. The utility continued building trust in new
technology with small successes, gradually adding to its
capability and knowledge base until it was ready to initiate
a complex, sophisticated project, such as FLISR. As a result
of investing the time to apply early lessons learned, Central
january/february 2020

Georgia EMC was able move much faster on the back end
of the project.
The utility also learned to be innovative in deploying
resources. Central Georgia EMC addressed resource limitations by identifying the potential time savings achieved through
process improvements. From engineering to testing and commissioning of apparatus to construction and postimplementation, all processes were closely examined. The efficiencies
gained empowered the utility to commit sufficient resources,
with some contract support, for the FLISR implementation.
Although the utility examined the FLISR installation and its
associated field equipment as a special project, Central Georgia EMC also identified operational efficiencies that could be
achieved through revisions to operating practices.

Objective 2: Addressing the
Requirements for Greater
Interoperability Between Systems
and Devices Due to the Rising
Adoption of DERs
The century-old system of centralized power generation,
with one-way power flow from the transmission network to
the distribution system serving end consumers, is transitioning to a decentralized electrical grid network (see Figure 2).
The driving force is the demand for DERs and the decreasing cost of renewable energy. Large and small utilities must
prepare for integration of DERs at the grid's edge, whether
they be in the form of customer-owned solar panels, utility-owned wind and solar plants, electric vehicles, or other
emerging technologies.
The large amount of data introduced by digital transformation has increased the need for interoperable applications,
which becomes even more critical as utilities adopt high
levels of DERs. Advanced applications will need to share
data to expand situational awareness of the system, generate
comprehensive data analytics, and allow utility operators to
coordinate with grid-edge assets. In addition to satisfying
customer demand for energy options and regional/jurisdictional requirements for clean energy, DERs can support the
operational performance of the grid for peak management,
voltage regulation, frequency response, spinning reserves,
and system optimization.
The downside for smaller utilities is the cost and risk
involved with integrating distribution system operations with
DERs in the grid. Utilities must see to it that grid operators
have access to timely data on the quantity of electricity being
fed into the grid by the DERs. A lack of information due to
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IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2020

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