FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Steve Lundin/BIGfrontier Communications Group
(312) 391-8007 slundin@bigfrontier.com
For interviews with Sean Gregerson of InStep Software
Chicago, IL March 21, 2010: Southern California Edison (SCE) is one of several utilities nationwide that are developing a Smart Grid system, utilizing a series of Phasor Measurement Unit’s (PMU’s) to monitor and analyze the operation and health of the electric grid. This system provides metrics to reduce the risk of system failure and to analyze problems when an event occurs. InStep Software is providing this solution with their eDNA historian and SyncPhzr interface. Synchrophasor initiatives are specifically called out in President Obama’s 3.4 billion investments in the Smart Grid.
“SCE is working on a long term Smart Grid project, and this involves data management. The InStep solution provides more access to data than is typically available to utilities,” says Son Vo, SCE’s IT
Specialist and Engineer. According to SCE, their Smart Grid is designed to enhance utility service reliability, provide a more stable, higher quality electricity supply and shorter customer outages. Grid operators are using advanced sensors and computing systems to monitor and respond to indications of stress created by fluctuating supply-and-demand conditions at any point on the grid.
Experts at the North American Synchrophasor Initiative (NASPI) predict that by 2019 phasor data will be the backbone of the grid, routinely used to identify abnormal conditions and developments, trigger alarms and identify and guide actions.
“InStep’s solutions are designed to integrate with and expedite any Smart Grid initiative. SCE is one of the leading utilities setting benchmarks for the Smart Grid, and our work together will help to refine and define the standards for the U.S.,” says Tony Maurer, Vice President of InStep Software.
“Southern California Edison is part of group of utilities trying to set up a national standard for the Smart
Grid and eDNA is part of SCE’s equation,” adds Son Vo.
SCE installed PMU’s at most of its major 500 kilovolt and 230 kilovolt substations, technology that measures stress in the transmission grid based on the angle between the alternating current waveforms.
Currently SCE is monitoring 21 PMU’s , and each one has 10 phasors, collectively receiving 150 phasors of data, taking 30 samples per second. The amount of information collected and archived can be extreme, and the storage of this data as individual files typically makes its analysis difficult. SCE will install up to 80 PMUs in the next few years as part of the WECC Synchro-phasor project.

The system at SCE is a real time interface that talks directly with the Phasor Data concentrator (PDC) through InStep’s SyncPhzr interface then relays the information to Instep’s eDNA Data Historian. The
SyncPhzr interface derives data over TCP/IP and supports the ability to archive and integrate this information using the standard IEEE C37.118 protocol. The data is then displayed visually on displays and reports to operators and other engineers throughout the company.
The storage system of the eDNA Historian allows for three very efficient archives of the data to be stored and used simultaneously by all users:
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First archive: allows all of the data to be stored in its original collected resolution from all the PMUs on the system for a configurable period of time such as 120 days (rolling archive).
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Second archive: provides a one second snapshot of the data that can be stored online for any desired period of time.
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Third archive: provides storage of events so that a configurable amount of pre and post event data can be maintained online forever; used for determining faults in the system.
The eDNA historian can be easily interfaced with the EMS state estimator and supports the ability to seamlessly integrate time synchronized snapshots of this high fidelity data. InStep’s CHaD object database software provides for the ability to organize the Phasor information using an object oriented approach. This provides for the ability to produce templates for the graphical displays using the meta data model that CHaD provides. Data can easily be exported out of the eDNA historian into the standard IEEE Phasor file format (DST). This will allow for direct and efficient comparisons of this data with historical data from other systems that do not have an advanced real-time database solution in place.
Examples of Phasor Data Management screen:

About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California. www.sce.com
About InStep Software
InStep Software is a leading provider of real-time performance management software and solutions for the utility, process, and manufacturing industries. InStep extends the investment in modern control, monitoring and smart devices by collecting, archiving, displaying, analyzing and reporting the information provided by these systems.
Many of the world’s most successful companies use InStep’s software products to actively manage and analyze the rapidly growing amount of real-time operational and asset health related information. For more information, please visit www.instepsoftware.com
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