In the context of Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Operations, an outage is an event causing one or more elements of the electrical grid to lose primary voltage. During the outage, the electrical grid, in whole or in part, cannot perform one or more of the primary functions of generating, transporting or delivering electrical energy. The outage definitions are set down by the IEEE standards 762 – Generation, 859 – Transmission, and 1366 – Distribution. Depending on the regulatory agency you are dealing with, there are different reporting mandates, but every electrical utility has a need to track and manage system outages.
An effective Outage Management System (OMS) can assist system operators in providing quicker response times for outage events, faster restoration leading to reduced outage durations, which leads to greater reliability for the entire Grid
The IPS-OMS™ is specifically designed to perform the outage planning function of power system utilities, including the management of all outages. The main features and vocabulary used in the system are driven by the existing processes and terminology currently used by power system transmission operators in Europe, North America, and Australia. The system is designed to interface with all external and internal systems which require information exchange (including Outage Coordination with Interconnects), manage work permits and work requests related to scheduled outage plans, and manage forced outages as well.
The Outage Browser allows you to view outages in 3 different ways.
- A system diagram view highlighting the outage
- A list view allowing full filtering
- A Gantt view for outage information
The IPS-OMS™ provides full support of the entire Outage Management Process.
- For Planned (Scheduled) outages, this includes managing the Outage Requests, assigning the requests to an outage plan, managing the approval process, and allowing full Outage Reporting and Scheduling.
- For Unplanned (Maintenance) outages, this includes managing the Outage Requests, managing the approval process, and allowing full Outage Reporting and Scheduling.
- For Forced outages, the system supports outage event management, root cause investigation, the fault clearance process, complete protection operation investigations, COMTRADE management, CB Operation Analyses by COMTRADE Analytics, and Forced Outage Reporting.
The overall goal is to simplify the Outage Process and to reduce the number of Planned Outages, as well as their duration. Having a single system to coordinate information reduces work related to outage management by increasing data quality. By using modern CIM compliant Topological Connectivity Model as well as the Asset Hierarchical Model, you can optimize the Outage Management Process by mapping and correlating all related information. The system uses powerful algorithms and calculations to provide analytics to assist in predicting outage effects and estimated time to restoration when outages occur. As an additional benefit, the system allows you to optimize maintenance by grouping all connected network assets to be maintained by one outage.
For more information, visit our Solutions Page.
