Advanced Distribution Management System for Electric Utility Companies

Huntsville, Alabama, December 21, 2016 – Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure now offers a fully integrated advanced distribution management system (ADMS) solution to better enable utilities to manage their complex electrical distribution infrastructure and take advantage of real-time operational data. The ADMS solution will aid utilities in improving their network reliability and resilience by streamlining operations and expediting critical actions and decisions.

Leveraging Hexagon’s strategic alliance with ETAP, the single-vendor ADMS solution features Hexagon’s Intergraph InService with embedded distribution management system (DMS) engine from ETAP. The solution includes comprehensive network analysis tools to perform distribution state estimation, dispatcher power flow and fault calculations; the ability to operate telemetered and non-telemetered devices for ad-hoc operations or planned switching; fault location identification, volt-var control and fault-isolation service restoration; and increased efficiency of field crews and restoration activities.

“The ADMS solution is scalable to provide smart grid capabilities to any sized utility, from the largest investor-owned company to small municipal utilities,” said Anna Throneberry, vice president, Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure. “The flexibility of the underlying configurable, off-the-shelf system enables utilities to deploy an ADMS that is unique to their operational procedures without requiring costly customizations.”

The integration between Hexagon’s and ETAP’s products is built upon common information model (CIM) and other industry standards, which have been proven in production environments, linking together outage management systems (OMS), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and DMS.

“Integrating real-time situational awareness, event management and online electrical network analysis capabilities allows utility distribution operators to better visualize, analyze and optimize smart grid operations,” said Tanuj Khandelwal, chief technology officer, ETAP. “A single user interface for outage management, dispatching and advanced analytics brings together situational intelligence utilities need to operate their distribution networks more efficiently and at reduced cost.”

Any successful real-time operation requires a functional electrical model that is detailed, accurate and current. By further leveraging Hexagon’s network model management solution, utilities can create and maintain a complete and reliable ADMS master network model – from supply points to individual meters – supplying relevant network model data to all the systems that need it.

Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure helps utilities and communications companies achieve greater reliability, increase efficiency and fulfill the expectations of customers, shareholders and regulators. A pioneer in the development and application of location-based technology, Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure has provided solutions to hundreds of utilities and communications customers around the globe for 40 years, supporting network engineering, network operations, customer services, sales and marketing and physical security.