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Electricity companies are looking
for ways to prioritise investment options, consider
better ways of managing resources and to link investment
to performance improvements. The analysis and information
gained from a robust approach can input into distribution
regulatory reviews.
Clearly, it is in the interests of
electricity companies to ensure that CAPEX, and OPEX
decisions are soundly based and can withstand scrutiny
on technical, economic, business, safety and security
of supply grounds. Electricity company engineers and
managers possess the traditional utility skills of running,
maintaining and procuring extensive long-life utility
infrastructures. What they lack, however, are the tools
that enable a proper, thorough and robust analysis concerning
the decisions they make and the strategies adopted that
will live with them for many years.
Solutions
EA Technology has developed a number
of modelling tools that have been used by UK electricity
companies and other electricity authorities abroad.
The consultancy is based on powerful but simple computer
modelling of future strategies in which a variety of
technical engineering and business scenarios can be
pursued and evaluated without risk to the business itself.
Recently, a UK electricity company,
working with EA Technology, wanted to optimise its use
of resources (staff, materials, sites, etc.) and associated
investment initiatives to allow them to improve their
response to overhead line faults. This was in an area
of their business that not only incurs significant costs
but has the potential to yield reductions in customer
minutes lost and operating costs. A spin-off benefit
the electricity company found was the way the modelling
and facilitation process altered management perceptions
towards investment/benefit decision-making.
eaNSF
eaNSF provides a decision support tool to assist in
comparing and evaluating a wide range of policy issues
which depend on the capacity and performance of the
distribution network. Currently, the highest priority
in most electricity companies is to be able to investigate
and cost various options to improve reliability - reducing
interruptions, reducing customer minutes lost and improving
supplies to "worst fed" customers. eaNSF can
compare refurbishment options, new configurations, the
effects of additional auto reclosers and remote switching,
etc.
eaFIRM
The eaFIRM fault replay model is a completely new system
for investigating the effect of the number of fault
response teams on the performance statistics. It also
provides a flexible way of evaluating the different
strategies that can be used for team deployment.
EQUITY
Equity is an established commercial product for prioritising
investments based on a range of business drivers. It
is different from financial modelling tools in that
it can accommodate both quantitative and qualitative
criteria and help to develop understandings of trade-offs.
To ensure the model is representative of the real business,
it is necessary to set up the model using decision conferencing
techniques into which the decision support software
is embedded.
eaBEAM
eaBeam provides an overarching or unified approach for
business evaluation and analysis in the three models
above. This involves the creation of coherent interfaces
to all of the software modules and a documented methodology
for implementation within the distribution business
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