Electric Utility Enterprise Architecture to Support the Smart Grid
Enterprise Architecture for the Smart Grid
I. Parra, A. Rodríguez and G. Arroyo-Figueroa
Instituto de Investigaciones Electricas, Reforma 113, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
Keywords: Smart Grid, Electric Power Utility, Enterprise Architecture, Interoperability, Business Process Modelling,
Information Technologies.
Abstract: Smart grid is the new tendency for the Electric Public Utilities. The Smart Grid concept means the total
automation for all processes of the EPU. For implement Smart Grid in an EPU are necessary to define
enterprise architecture. The enterprise architecture to meet Smart Grid requirements for management
systems for EPU in México is presented in this paper. The architecture shows layers of abstraction in the
main process: generation, transmission, distribution and energy control and includes automation and control
systems at all levels, from plants and substations control systems to corporative intelligent centre, including
the operating centre and the energy trading system. Some results and experiences are discussed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays the Electric Power Utilities (EPU) are
undergoing radical changes in the way they operate,
mainly by the electric market deregulation in several
countries in the world. This means that EPU must
modernize its processes. This modernization enables
the extensive use of information technologies based
automation to maintain grid stability and to enable
modern grid features such as demand side
management, distributed generation, real-time
pricing, and automated meter activation and reading.
Smart grid is the term commonly used to refer to
an electrical grid whose operation has been
transformed from a twentieth century analog
technology base to the pervasive use of digital
technology for communications, monitoring (e.g.,
sensing), computation, and control. Smart Grid
incorporates information and communications
technology into every aspect of electricity
generation, delivery and consumption in order to
minimize environmental impact, enhance markets,
improve reliability and service, and reduce costs and
improve efficiency.
The Carnegie Mellon University has proposed a
Smart Grid Maturity Model (www.sei.cmu.edu). The
model provides a framework for understanding the
current state of smart grid deployment and capability
within an electric utility, and it provides a context
for establishing future strategies and work plans to
meet the challenges of grid modernization. The
model is composed of eight model domains that
each contain six defined levels of maturity, ranging
from Level 0 (lowest) to Level 5. The figure 1,
shows the eight domains:
Figure 1: The SGMM´s eight domains.
The Technology (TECH) domain represents the
organizational capabilities and characteristics that
enable effective strategic technology planning for
smart grid capabilities and the establishment of
rigorous engineering and business processes for the
evaluation, acquisition, integration, and testing of
new smart grid technology. In the Technology
domains raises the need for enterprise architecture.
This paper describes the design and development
of enterprise architecture to support the smart grid in
an EPU. The considers the adoption of standards and
best practice such as BSC for strategic plan, BPM
673
Parra I., Rodríguez A. and Arroyo-Figueroa G..
Electric Utility Enterprise Architecture to Support the Smart Grid - Enterprise Architecture for the Smart Grid.
DOI: 10.5220/0005014006730679
In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO-2014), pages 673-679
ISBN: 978-989-758-040-6
Copyright
c
2014 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)
for the business process, IEC 61968 and IEC 61970,
which define the common information model (CIM),
the IEC 61850 for substation automation, IEC 62351
for security information, COBIT (Control objectives
for information and related technology) and ITIL
(information technology infrastructure library) for IT
governance. Also uses the framework developed by
the National Institute of Standards Technology
(NIST) as reference for the domains and interactions
between domains; the IntelliGrid architecture
developed by Electrical Power Research Institute
(EPRI) for the functional definition (EPRI,
smartgrid.epri.com); and the interoperability
framework proposed by GridWise Architecture
Council (GWAC) (The GridWise Architecture
Council, 2008).
2 NEED FOR ENTERPRISE
ARCHITECTURE
In recent years there has been a remarkable growth
of information systems; it is common in large
companies to have hundreds of information systems
that cover a wide range of needs. This dizzy growth
over the time has resulted in what is referred as an
“accidental architecture” (Giroti, 2009), which is an
architecture that is built as they are covering specific
needs without taking into account interoperability
requirements. This accidental architecture is not
necessarily dysfunctional, may be functional to a
certain degree because there is availability of
information among some systems or even could
allow some level of integration with new systems.
However, the absence of planned integration
architecture increases significantly the complexity,
well as information management problems and
therefore it is logical to imagine that sooner or later
you have technical problems of integration.
There are many needs to integrate information
among different systems (CISCO Systems, 2011).
The major problems are inherent to the fact of
having a big group of information systems that meet
specific needs without covering interoperability
requirements; this situation is a normal situation in
many companies in the world. Typical problems that
distinguish most of the legacy systems of large
companies are (Mejia-Lavalle and Arroyo-Figueroa,
2010):
• Duplicity: can happen when two or more
systems contain the same data or perform the
same function or goal.
• Inconsistency: happen when the same data has
different values in two or more information
systems.
• Incompatibility: happen when information
from two systems cannot be combined by
technological, syntactic or semantic
constraints.
These problems have many consequences that
impact the company's business, duplicated
investment, lack of precision, duplicated effort in the
capture and validation, unavailable information,
difficulty to consolidate indicators, inability to relate
information to make strategic decisions, etc. In
conclusion, there is a great opportunity for
efficiency and effectiveness in managing enterprise-
level information from field devices to enterprise
architecture. Additionally, there are 3 main reasons
to propose enterprise architecture for integrating
business systems:
The need to integrate applications: There must
be a clear need to integrate business applications. It
requires more flexible management indicators,
preferably automated and avoids duplication,
inconsistencies and unavailability of information.
Heterogeneous environments: When you deal
with many different technologies, platforms and
protocols, and we need to have a central solution to
meet these challenges. According to an analysis
(The GridWise Architecture Council, 2008), an EPU
has a thousand information systems. There are
information systems that have been integrated using
tightly coupled interfaces, based on their own
platforms and technologies which they were
developed.
Cost reduction: All organizations focus their
efforts to help minimize costs to maximize profits.
The indirect cost involved to maintain unplanned
integration architecture is reflected in resources,
licenses, personnel, maintenance, support, time, etc.
An integration architecture based on an enterprise
bus have a strong impact on cost minimization, in
addition to the benefits of higher availability of
information and greater interoperability between
existing systems.
3 DESIGN OF ENTERPRISE
ARCHITECTURE
Architecture has two meanings according to TOGAF
(The Open Group, 2009): (1) “A formal description
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of a system, or a detailed plan of the system at
component level to guide its implementation” and
(2) “The structure of components, their inter-
relationships, and the principles and guidelines
governing their design and evolution over time”.
The cycle of TOGAF methodology is shown in
figure 2.
Figure 2: Enterprise architecture cycle by TOGAF.
Based on TOGAF methodology the enterprise
architecture includes business and technology
architecture, see figure 3.
Figure 3: Enterprise architecture.
The business architecture includes the strategic
plan definition and the process description. The
business architecture is a part of an enterprise
architecture related to corporate business, and the
documents and diagrams that describe the
architectural structure of that business. Architecture
reveals how an organization is structured and can
clearly demonstrate how elements such as
capabilities, processes, organization and information
fit together. The figure 4 shows the elements of a
business architecture based on balanced Scorecard
(BSC) and Business Processes Modelling.
Figure 4: Business architecture.
The technology architecture includes the
definition of the data set and data flow; the
information systems applications management, the
communication definition, the enterprise bus, the
drivers, the security system and so on. The main
component of the technology architecture is the
enterprise service bus (ESB). The figure 5, shows an
ESB based on IEC TC57 interface reference model .
Figure 5: Enterprise service bus.
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This ESB allows the interoperability of the
systems. Interoperability is the capability of two or
more networks, systems, devices, applications, or
components to exchange and readily use
information—securely, effectively, and with little or
no inconvenience to the user.
The Common Information Model (CIM),
established in IEC 61968 and IEC 61970 is a
proposal of a generic model, open and standard for
ESB based in UML (Unified Modeling Language).
In such a model real world elements are represented
as well as their relationships, with the purpose of
creating an information system which can be used
among different applications for data management
and interchange.
4 ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE
FOR SMART GRID
Competitive markets for electricity have changed the
organizational structures of electricity utilities as
well as the operation of power systems.
Interoperability between different processes requires
adequate information to be brought to operators in a
timely manner (Ipakchi, 2007). All these
requirements brought about by electric market
restructuring together with unanticipated events that
may occur indicate that the communication and
information systems are becoming critically
important for reliable and economic operation
(Miller, 2014). A need exists for a better design of
the communication and information architecture
accommodating large information flow to facilitate
smoother control and efficient decision making
(Ipakchi, 2007). The main processes of an Electric
Power Utility (EPU) are shown in the figure 6.
Figure 6: Main processes of EPU.
The Smart Grid concept means the total
automation for all processes of the EPU. A Smart
Grid is an interoperable system, it means that the
Smart Grid architecture will be a composition of
many system architectures and subsystem, thus will
allow the maximum flexibility during the
implementation, but at the same time, it will demand
a high capacity of integration of the new systems
with legacy systems.
For implement a Smart Grid in an EPU is
necessary to define enterprise architecture. The
enterprise architecture to meet Smart Grid
requirements for management systems for EPU in
México is presented in the figure 7.
Figure 7: Enterprise architecture for EPU.
The proposed architecture adopts suitable
computing and communication techniques to take
into account the requirements of real-time data,
security, availability, scalability and appropriate
quality of service. The architecture considers the
adoption of standards such as IEC 61968 and IEC
61970, which define the common information model
(CIM), the IEC 61850 for substation automation,
IEC 62351 for security information, COBIT and
ITIL for IT governance.
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The architecture shows layers of abstraction the
main process: generation, transmission, distribution
and energy control and includes automation and
control systems at all levels, from substation control
system to corporative intelligent centre, include
operating centre and energy trading system.
The enterprise architecture is divided in five
sections: operational systems, tactical information
systems, corporative systems, business systems and
standards.
4.1 Operational Systems
This level de information includes the devices, the
communication network, the data acquisition
middleware and the control systems. The optimal
architecture must promote the unique sources of
information and automatic data acquisition from its
own power generation equipment, transmission and
distribution systems that minimizes human
intervention and allow different levels of
consolidation in the corporate hierarchy, for this
reason the architecture should be based on
instruments that monitor and help to control major
business assets such as generating plants,
transmission, distribution and control systems of
energy.
4.2 Tactical Information Systems
This level de information includes the automation of
the main processes of an EPU.
FMS (Power Plant Fleet Management System):
In general, these information systems help to plan
and monitor the performance of a complete system
of power plants and help to prevent problems and
resolve incidences. It’s very difficult to have a single
software infrastructure to supervise and control a
large group of power plants, so we found normal to
have several information systems that deals with
specific needs and as a whole they represent the fleet
management system. This kind of information
systems sends information to strategic systems.
TMS (Transmission Management System):
There are several subsystems that help to manage
the transmission assets in an efficient way and
holistic monitoring of the complex transmission
network. These information systems should perform
intelligent and reliable security analysis for
developing effective strategies to avert, mitigate and
cope with system emergencies.
DMS (Distribution Management System):
Perhaps is the most complex area in terms of
automating the processes. So normally there are a
large number of information subsystems dealing
with aspects like improve the reliability of electric
service delivery to homes, businesses and industrial
customers efficiently, reducing outage times,
planning, resolve incidences and perform analysis
for better distribution.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management
System): is a software infrastructure that helps to
manage the customer’s information not only for
sales but for marketing, technical support and use
patterns.
4.3 Corporate Systems
There are services that are not exclusive to the
processes of generation, transmission, distribution
and control center, but are common to all of them
such as:
MMS: Management system for maintenance,
including integral and condition-based maintenance.
ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning.
HCM: Human Capital Management. In this
category are included the systems that support the
formation and evolution of human capital, talent,
training, skills, etc.
HRM: Human Resource Management,
management of labour relations, recruitment and
payroll.
PM: Project Management, technological and
procedural infrastructure for project management.
SCM: Supply Chain Management. The supply
chain can be supported by information systems used
to coordinate the various activities involved in the
interaction of business processes going from
suppliers to consumers.
AMS: Assets Management. The assets of the
company should be managed by information
systems that not only keep a record of them, but to
manage their entire life cycle.
GIS: Geographic Information System for all the
enterprise including cross-cutting process.
Collaboration services: Hardware and software
infrastructure to provide basic and advanced
collaboration at workplaces like email, chat,
videoconference, repositories, team software, etc.
Portal Services (SOA): Web software
infrastructure that provides interaction with relevant
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information assets (for example,
information/content, applications and business
processes), knowledge assets and human assets and
seeks to integrate and aggregate information from
multiple cross-enterprise applications.
Business Process Management: The systems
included in this category are the set of tools,
technologies, techniques and methods for the
identification, modelling, analysis, execution,
control and improvement automated business
processes.
Enterprise Service Bus: To complement the
interoperability of information systems at the tactical
level a platform of Enterprise Service Bus must be
adopted, to share information between the processes
of transmission, distribution, generation and national
control center. An ESB is an infrastructure normally
based on SOA whose purpose is to provide
interoperability (connectivity, data mapping and
routing) combined with some additional services
such as security and monitoring.
4.4 Business Systems
Information systems in this section are those that
allow to identify, retrieve, and analyze large
volumes of information and provide assessments and
historical, current and predictive studies as the main
support for strategic decision making through a
formal and disciplined process of exploitation of
information to monitor the company's strategies and
generate new knowledge. Business intelligence is a
matter not only of technology, it is necessary that the
company deploys a business intelligence strategy
that is executed by the BICs and this requires an
infrastructure of software and hardware as well as
organization and models.
4.5 Standards
The standards and best practice for development and
operation of the systems.
Regulation and Standardization: There should
be a governing model that covers the requirements
of the company to comply with all laws, rules and
national and international regulations. There are
information systems usually associated with the
handling of such information.
Security and Risk Management: A
comprehensive approach to security and risks
management is needed in the utility; today we have
found security issues practically in every component
in the architecture. Normally there is an
infrastructure that facilitates the management and
verification of these aspects and the strengthening of
vulnerabilities. The security strategy should include
policies, procedures and adherence to international
standards and to keep up to date on issues in areas
where there is still no definition.
Architecture Governance: The architecture of
information systems is important but more important
to have the governance necessary to allow the
architecture is feasible and successful, that is, having
the definition of responsibilities, principles, policies
and procedures establish a process cycle life of the
architecture. TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture
Framework) should be considered to define this
model.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The Smart Grid strategy calls for enterprise
architecture. Smart Grid architecture will be a
composition of many system architectures and
subsystem, thus will allow the maximum flexibility
during the implementation, but at the same time, it
will demand a high capacity of integration of the
new systems with legacy systems. The proposed
architecture provides a single, consistent view of
information of the main process and includes
automation and control systems at all levels, from
plants and substations control systems to corporative
intelligent centre, including the operating centre and
the energy trading system. The architecture
considers the adoption of standards such as IEC
61968 and IEC 61970, which define the common
information model (CIM), the IEC 61850 for
substation automation, IEC 62351 for security
information, COBIT and ITIL for IT governance.
The enterprise architecture is capable of providing
timely, secure, reliable information exchange among
various processes in the system and is also scalable.
REFERENCES
SEI-CMU, 2014. Smart Grid Maturity Model (SGMM),
Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon
University. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/smartgrid/
EPRI, 2014. Smart Grid Roadmap and Architecture,
Electric Research Institute, http://smartgrid.epri.com.
The GridWise Architecture Council, 2008. “GridWise
Interoperability Context-Setting Framework”, March
2008. p5.
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Giroti, T., 2009. “Integration Roadmap for Smart Grid:
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CISCO Systems, 2011. Smart Grid Reference
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Mejia-Lavalle, M., Arroyo-Figueroa, G., 2010.
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The Open Group, 2009. “The Open Group Architecture
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Ipakchi, A., 2007. “Implementing the Smart Grid:
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