Amr abb

©Companyname-1-
Master’s Thesis presentation Ville Salonen
AUTOMATIC METER READINGAUTOMATIC METER READING
COMMUNICATION AND POSSIBILITIES INCOMMUNICATION AND POSSIBILITIES IN
ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION AUTOMATIONELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION AUTOMATION
InstructorInstructor MattiMatti KKäärenlampirenlampi,, M.ScM.Sc ((TechTech) ABB Oy) ABB Oy DistributionDistribution AutomationAutomation
SupervisorSupervisor ProfessorProfessor HeikkiHeikki HHäämmmmääineninen

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Structure of the Presentation
n Introduction of the Thesis’Topic
n Electricity Market and Metering
n Electricity Distribution Automation
n Automatic Meter Reading
n Communication Technologies
n Communication Technology Comparison Criteria
n Communication Technology Analyses
n Results and Conclusions
COMMUNICATION
IN AMR
ANALYSIS
ELECTRICITY NETWORKS AND MARKETS
DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
AUTOMATION
AUTOMATIC METER
READING

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The Objectives of the Thesis
n (1) the specification of AMR meter-originated event and
quality data and its existing and/or potential utilization in
the distribution network management, and
n (2) the examination of the suitability of AMR
communication technologies to a large-scale meter
reading and event-based communication.

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The Methodology of the Thesis
n (1) Interviews of key stakeholders to obtain future
possibilities of the usage of AMR data in electricity
distribution automation
n (2) Case studies of the congestion in different
telecommunication networks caused by event
transmission caused by alarms of outages or
disturbances

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What is AMR: Meters
n From electromechanical energy meters to fully electronic
energy meters
n New electronic meters include advanced functions and
are connected to related information systems

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What is AMR: System
n An AMR System consists of four levels
n Meters, Communication, AMR system, Energy Company Processes
CUSTOMER
SERVICE
BILLING
METERING SITE
MANAGEMENT
BALANCE
SETTLEMENT
NETWORK
OPERATIONS
GSM/GPRS LAN PSTN PLC
HOUSEHOLD
COMMERCIAL
AND
INDUSTRIAL
GRID
AMR INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR
COLLECTING AND REFINING DATA
CUSTOMERS
COMMUNICATION
AMR SYSTEM
ENERGY COMPANY
PROCESSES
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 1

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What drives us toward AMR
(1) Regulation: E.g. Sweden
(2) Technological development:Communication technologies
and electrical meters
(3) Market Changes: Energy Market Liberation
Driving forces
MARKET
REGULATORY FRAMEWORKTECHNOLOGY

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Energy Meters and Reading
n Energy meters
n Typically a property of the distribution utility
n According to Electricity Market Act the customer or the vendor of
electricity has also the right to buy and possess the equipment
n Meter reading events
n 41 % are manual readings by distribution utilities
n 24 % are remote readings
n 24 % are customer manual readings, 10 % customer changes
READING
EVENT
READ
COUNT
PERCENTAGE READING
FREQUENCY
Manual reading 1 088 000 41,70 % 1
Remote reading 626 000 24,00 % 12
Customer reading 641 000 24,60 % 1
Customer change 255 000 9,80 % 1
Total 2 610 000

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Billing of household customers
n The billing of household customers has typically been
based on customer type-specific load profiles.
n A load profile is a graph of the variation of the electrical
load versus time.
n The Finnish customer-specific load profiles were formed
by conducting extensive measurements in the 1980s
and 1990s.
n According to the measurement results, the hourly power
variation, spread of the average hourly capacity, and
temperature dependence, have been identified for 40
different groups of electricity consumers. [LUT05]

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Quality Control in Distribution of Electricity
n The quality of the power supply is determined by the quality of the
electricity and the quality of the service
n The quality of the electricity can be divided further into the quality of
the load and the operational dependability of the electrical network
n In Finland as in other European countries, the quality of the
electricity is defined mainly from the quality of the load.
n The standards are based on the European
standard EN 50160 and its national applications.
THE QUALITY OF THE
POWER SUPPLY
Quality of the electricity Quality of services
related to the supply of
electricity, the
information for the
customers
Quality of the load
Operational
dependability of the
network, the reliability
of the production

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Compensation for Supply Interruptions
n The amendment (9/2003) that was made to the
electricity market law in 2003, defines a percentual
compensation of the yearly fee to be paid for customers
in power failures
n The compensation applies for all power failures longer
than 12 hours
Table 1: Compensation for supply interruptions [LUT05]
INTERRUPTION TIME COMPENSATION
12… 24 hours 10 %
24… 72 hours 25 %
72… 120 hours 50 %
over 120 hours 100 %
*Percentage of the yearly electricity bill, at most €700 per client

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Energy Market Liberation
n Started in the Nordic Countries in 1991 from Norway.
n In Finland the sale and production of electricity was
opened for competition in 1995
n First, only bigger customers with powers of over 500 kW
n In 1997, the power limit was removed and competition became
possible for everyone
n Smallest energy users into competition when load-profiles
introduced in 1998 and need for the expensive meter removed
n Liberation regulated in the Energy Market Law

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Electricity Distribution Automation
n Monitoring and control of the electrical distribution
network
n Realized with information systems, such as
n Network Control System (NCS)
n Distribution Management System (DMS)
n Comprehends
n Substation Automation
n Network Automation and
n Customer Automation

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Electrical Network Automation
SU BSTA TION AU TO M ATIO N
PR OTE CTIO N RE LAY SUB STATION
CO NTR O L CEN TR E
ELEC TRIC STA TIO N
SU BS TATIO N
O TH ER
IN FO RM ATION
SYS TEM S A ND
W OR KS TATIO NS
CU STO M ER
INFO R M ATIO N
SY STEM (CIS )
NE TW O RK
INFO R M ATIO N
SY STEM (NIS )
20/0.4 kV
TELE CO M M UN ICA TIO N N ETW OR K
DA TA N ETW OR K
N ETW O R K
C O NTR O L
SY STEM
C OM M U NIC ATIO N
M OD ULE
DISTRIBUTION
M ANA GE M EN T
SY STEM
C US TOM E R A UTO M ATIO N

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Network Control System
n Enables centralized remote control of the electrical
network
n Network Control System includes a central information
system that is located at the control center, IEDs located
at the substations and in the distribution network, and
communication connections between these units

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Distribution Management System
n An operational planning system, which supports the
distribution network operation via different supporting
features
n Extends NCS capabilities by providing geographically
based network views
n The purpose of the system is to minimize the operational
costs of the electrical network at the same time taking
into consideration the targeted process stability (supply
level) and the limits set by technical restrictions

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Possibilities in AMR for Distribution Mngmnt
n Some AMR energy meters could generate useful data
for the distribution network management
n The AMR system data could mainly be used in the
management of the rural area distribution networks
n This data could be used in the Distribution Management
System in application areas such as
n Low voltage network fault management,
n Outage and electricity quality management and
n Network analyses

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Low Voltage Network Fault Management(1/2)
n Low voltage network fault management has been based
on customer notifications of electrical outages and
malfunctioning devices.
n AMR meters units could provide data for the low voltage
network management of events such as:
n Blown fuse for the low voltage feeder,
n Broken zero conductor to a customer meter,
n Under/over voltage at the customer location and
n LV network voltage unbalance due to broken MV network
conductor

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Low Voltage Network Fault Management(2/2)
n DMS could use the respective data in
n Localization of a low voltage fault
n Clarification of the fault magnitude,
n Clarification of the cause of the fault and (origin) and
n Faster commence of the LV fault restoration operations

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Outage and Quality Management
n The following outage and quality data could be obtained from AMR
meters:
n Outage durations,
n Voltage swells and sags,
n Over voltage and
n Harmonic waves
n This outage and quality data could be used in the distribution
network management in:
n Adjustment of the outage reports in the medium and low voltage
networks
n Customer information databases
n Network analyses

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Network Analyses
n Data obtained from AMR meters for the purpose of the
network analyses could include, besides the quality and
outage data:
n Hourly metering data of the consumption of electricity and
n Instantaneous power metering from the meter
n The application areas for this data could include
n Generation of consumer specific load profiles and
n Improved load estimation

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Different Meter Reading Techniques
n Electronic Meter Reading (EMR)
n Directly from the meter
n Off-Site Meter Reading (OMR)
n From a distance
n Common in the Central Europe
and the North America
n Automatic Meter Reading (AMR)
n Via a telecommunication network
n Common in Northern and Southern Europe

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AMR System
n Consists of basically four levels Meters, Communication, AMR
information system and Energy Company Processes [Enermet]
CUSTOMER
SERVICE
BILLING
METERING SITE
MANAGEMENT
BALANCE
SETTLEMENT
NETWORK
OPERATIONS
GSM/GPRS LAN PSTN PLC
HOUSEHOLD
COMMERCIAL
AND
INDUSTRIAL
GRID
AMR INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR
COLLECTING AND REFINING DATA
CUSTOMERS
COMMUNICATION
AMR SYSTEM
ENERGY COMPANY
PROCESSES
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 1

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AMR Meters
n AMR meter consists of
n Energy meter
n Collector unit and
n Communication module
n On the right a modern electronic AMR meter developed for the
Australian market. The front panel shows the present use of
electricity, the current tariff (per hour) and the time for the next
change in the tariff.

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AMR Meter functions
n Measurement Frequency
n Regularly
n Once a month/day/hour
n On a need basis
n Consumption Measurements
n Household
n Real power with different tariffs
n Industry and real estate
n Real and reactive power and maxim powers
n Heat
n Water [EnergyIndustry05]
n Other Information
n Quality of electricity
n Voltage level
n Interruptions
n Phase errors
n Meter self diagnostic
n Customer and Vendor Offered Services
n Controls
n Tariffs
n Load
n Overload
n Remote connection and disconnection

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AMR Meter Alarm functionality
n Some existing meters include alarm functions
n The alarms can be read in conjunction with the energy
data or they can be transmitted spontaneously
n The alarm functions are based on manufacturer-specific
proprietary protocols but also is DLMS used
n Enermet has e.g. a separate Alarm management
function, which enables spontaneous alarm messages
n External inputs and internal statuses are controlled
n Is not recommended for critical alarms due to restrictions in the
meter and communication path

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AMR Interfaces
n (1) Between the Meter and the AMR System
n Meter Reading Standards (Protocols)
n (2) Between the AMR System and related Information
Systems
n Meter Information Transmission Formats

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(1) Standards in meter data exchange
n IEC standards
n IEC 62056-21 (formerly IEC 61107),
n IEC 62056-53 (DLMS) / IEC 62056-62 (COSEM),
n IEC 62056-31 (EURIDIS),
n IEC 60870-5-101, IEC 60870-5-102
n ANSI standards
n ANSI C12.18, ANSI C.19
n Other standards
n MBUS,
n LON,
n TURTLE,
n ELCOM and
n PQDIF [Internet; OPEDAD41]

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AMR Information System
n AMR information system database stores the remotely read
measurement data.
n The database is called Metered Value Data Base (MVDB)
n The database can typically act as central data storage for several
different AMR systems, or it can be the database of the only AMR
system in use.
n The data can be processed and analyzed in the MVDB or it can be
further rerouted to other information systems
n The exchange of data between the AMR information system and
other information systems is typically conducted with standardized
transmission formats or by exchanging files

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Related Information Systems
n The information systems linked with the AMR system can include,
among others
n Customer Information Systems,
n Billing Systems,
n Network Control Systems,
n Balance Settlement Systems,
n Meter Management Systems and
n Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP, SAP, etc.) [Enermet06]
n Many of the respective information systems are situated at the
distribution utility’s premises and used in the daily operation of the
distribution network business.

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AMR Communication
n Divided by environments
n (1) Urban Areas
n (2) Sub-Urban Areas
n (3) Rural Areas
n And divided in parts by communication technologies
n (1)The part from the meter to the concentrator
n (2) The part from the concentrator to the AMR System
n (3) Direct communication from the meters to the IS
Measuring
equipment
Communication
Information system
Concentrator
Field bus, Radio
PLC
(1) (2)

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AMR Communication Environments
A) Remote reading via telephone or gsm network
to a single meter
B) Remote reaing via a concentrator to a certain area,
e.g. meters under one transformer
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Local
-electrical network
-radio network
-pari cable
READING AND MANAGEMENT
APPLICATION
RURAL AREAS
(Single-family houses)
SUB-URBAN AREAS
(Row houses)
URBAN AREAS
(Apartment houses)
kWh meter and
a communication module
C) Remote reading via a collector
to meters of one meter centre
Collector and
Concentrator and

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AMR Benefits for Distribution Utilities
IMPROVEMENTS IN:
n Billing
n Electricity losses
n Costs
n Balance settlement
n Tariff control
n Load shedding (control)
n Network planning
n Service control
n Load profile
n Change of the electricity seller
n Reporting
n Quality of electricity [EnergyIndustry05]

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AMR Risks for Distribution Utilities
RISKS:
n Exceeded general costs
n Communication costs
n Supplier changes
n Unfinished products
n Short life cycle of technologies
n Wrongly selected solutions
n Malfunctions
n Disturbances, viruses, etc.
n Information system risks
n Personnel risks
n Changes in legislation
n Electricity Market Legislation, EU
n Data privacy
n Consumer Protection
n Vandalism
n Bad reputation in a case of a failure [EnergyIndustry05]

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AMR Purchase
n AMR Purchase
n By outsourcing the operation and the ownership of the system to an
external solution provider,
n By outsourcing only the operation of the system,
n By purchasing and operating the system by itself
n The bigger distribution utilities tend to purchase the measurement
data collection and management as a service from mobile
operators.
n The smaller companies use smaller measurement service
companies. [VTT06]
n AMR system implementation
n Typically conducted in stages
n First, a pilot project is executed
n After the pilot, the rest of the AMR meters are implemented according
to the experiences obtained from the pilot.

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AMR Costs for Distribution Utilities
n Doctor of Technology Anssi Seppälä has estimated the cost
division of the costs of an AMR project
n Installations 50 %
n Installation and maintenance 15 %
n Telecommunications 15 %
n Reading system 10 %
n Training and development 5 %
n Other 5 %
n Total cost of an AMR system for 15 years with 5 % interest rate
n In average €20 per metering point for urban areas
n €27 per metering point for rural areas [VTT]

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Inspected Communication Technologies
n The communication can be either direct communication or a
combination of the private and public methods
n The First Part / The Private technologies
n Power Line Communications
n UHF Radio
n The Second Part / The Public technologies
n ADSL
n WiMAX (New, no applications)
n Flash-OFDM (New, no applications)
n GPRS
n Direct Communication
n GPRS, WiMAX (New, no apps), Flash-OFDM (New, no apps)

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Event based Data
n An AMR meter could generate an alarm message, e.g.
when certain object’s (e.g. voltage level) predefined
threshold is exceeded, or an abnormal event (e.g. outage)
takes place in the electrical distribution network.
n The existing meter reading protocols support the event-
generation to some degree
n Time-critical events are called alarms.
n An AMR meter could generate alarms from events such as:
n Blown fuse for LV-Feeder,
n Broken zero conductor to a customer meter,
n Under voltage at the customer location,
n Over voltage at the customer location and
n Voltage unbalance in LV network due to broken MV network conductor

©Companyname-39-
Technology parameters
n In some cases it is possible that many meters, e.g. in the
same LV transforming circuit begin to transmit alarms at
the same time.
n This sets some requirements for the communication
network regarding the network congestion
n We have decided to take into consideration the following
parameters:
n Base station connection capacity (the amount of simultaneous
connections),
n Base station reach,
n Technology data rate,
n The reliability of the communication network

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Cases
n Case I: A low voltage network outage. In the respective outage one
LV feeder at a transformer station is without electricity (e.g. due to
blown fuse for the LV feeder).
n Case II: An outage of one transformer station. This would mean that
an entire transformer station and all the LV feeders would be
without electricity.
n Case III: An outage of one MV feeder. Then, all the transformer
stations under the respective feeder would be without electricity.
n Case IV: An outage of an entire substation. As a result, all the
substation’s MV feeders would be without electricity.

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Technologies in the comparison
n Communication technologies’appliance in communication comparisons.
n We will leave PSTN and ADSL out of the comparisons, because the
emphasis of our study is on wireless communication methods.
Apart
ment
Row house
Single house
Concentrator
GPRS/ADSL/WiMAX/Flash-OFDM
GPRS/ADSL/WiMAX/Flash-OFDM
AMR Information System
PLC / Radio
Network Control System
(NCS)
EM
AMR meters,
collector and
modem
EM
AMR meter and
modem
TRANSFORMER STATION ELECTRICAL COMPANY /
SERVICE PROVIDER
CUSTOMER PREMISES
RURAL AREAS
URBAN AREAS
SUB-URBAN AREAS

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Technical Parameters
n Private vs. public technology initial data
n Bottleneck in connection capacities
PRIVATE COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES PLC UHF RADIO
Data rate 3 000 bps 9 500 bps
Concentrator UPS up to the DISCo up to the DISCo
Concentrator reach 0,5 km 0,5 km
Concentrator capacity 1000 meters 1000 meters
PUBLIC COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES GPRS WIMAX FLASH-OFDM
Data rate per connection 54 000 bps 10 000 bps 300 000 bps
Base Station UPS* 3 h 2 h 1 h
Base station radius Urban Area 2 km 10 km 20 km
Base station radius Rural Area 20 km 10 km 20 km
Amount of sectors per base station - 4 3
Amount of connections per sector - 2200 125
Base station connection capacity Urban Area 30 8800 375
Base station connection capacity Rural Area 8 8800 375

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CASE I, LV Feeder Outage
n The amount of consumers behind a LV Feeder
n Urban Area 50 consumers
n Rural Area 3 consumers
n In Urban Area 25 % of the meters include alarms, in the Rural area
100 %
n Thus, in the case of an outage, 13 respective 3 meters transmits
alarms
CHARACTERISTICS: LV Feeder Line URBAN AREA RURAL AREA
Length of the LV lines 0,3 km 0,8 km
Number of consumers per LV feeder 50 3
Number of consumers per concentrator 25 -
CASE I: OUTAGE OF ONE LV FEEDER URBAN AREA RURAL AREA
Number of consumers per LV line 50 3
Percentage of the meters that include alarms 25 % 100 %
Alarming meters (i.e. direct connections) 13 3
Connections if all meters behind a concentrator 2 -
LV feeder length 0,3 km 0,8 km

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CASE I, Results
n About 40 % of the GPRS network capacity in the urban
area is used and
n only 25 % of the meters transmitted alarms.
n If 100 % of the meters had alarm function, GPRS network
would be 167% congested (1,67 times more pending
connections than capacity).
n 38 % of the GPRS network would be occupied in the rural
area
n WiMAX and Flash-OFDM would not be congested at all
CASE I: URBAN AREA GPRS WIMAX FLASH-OFDM
Amount of base stations in use 1 1 1
Base Station Degree of utilization (no concentrators) 43 % 0 % 3 %
Base Station Degree of utilization (concentrators) 7 % 0 % 1 %
CASE I: RURAL AREA GPRS WIMAX FLASH-OFDM
Aamount of base stations in use 1 1 1
Degree of utilization without concentrators 38 % 0 % 1 %

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CASE II, Transformer Station Outage
n 300 respectively 9 consumers behind a tranformer station in the urban and
rural environments
n In an outage situation 75 respectively 9 meters would start to transmit
alarm messages
n If concentrator is used in the urban area, only 12 connections needed
Table 1: Transformer station characteristics
CHARACTERISTICS: Transformer Station URBAN AREA RURAL AREA
Number of LV feeders per transformer 6 3
Number of consumers per TS 300 9
Table 2: Transformer station outage characteristics
CASE II: TRANSFORMER STATION OUTAGE URBAN AREA RURAL AREA
Number of consumers per TS 300 9
Percentage of the meters which include alarms 25 % 100 %
LV feeder length 0,3 km 0,8 km
Side length of the Area (if were regtangle) 0,6 km 1,6 km
Geographical Area covered by the Transformer station 0,28 km2 2,01 km2

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CASE II, Results
n In both the urban and rural environment the amount of direct
alarm connections would grow so high that GPRS network would
not be able to process all the connections at a time.
n However, the delay would be minimal
n Also, the Flash-OFDM network load increases to about 20 percent
in the urban area whereas the WiMAX network would use only
about 1 percent of its base station capacity.
Table 1: Case II results: Public technologies
CASE II: URBAN AREA GPRS WIMAX FLASH-OFDM
CASE II: RURAL AREA GPRS WIMAX FLASH-OFDM
Degree of utilization without concentrators 113 % 0 % 2 %

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CASE III, MV Feeder Outage
n An urban MV feeder line is about 4 km and the rural MV feeder line about
40 km long in the example network structure.
n A MV feeder contains 12 respective 30 transformer stations (TS) and the
number of consumers per MV feeder rises up to 3600 respectively 270.
n In the respective MV feeder outage 900 respectively 270 meters would
transmit alarms. The concentrators would decrease the urban area number
down to 144
Table 1: MV feeder line characteristics
CHARACTERISTICS: MV Feeder Line URBAN AREA RURAL AREA
Length of the MV lines 4 km 40 km
Number of TS per MV feeder 12 30
Number of consumers per MV feeder 3600 270
Table 2: MV feeder outage characteristics
CASE III: OUTAGE OF ONE MV FEEDER URBAN AREA RURAL AREA
Number of consumers per MV feeder 3600 270
Percentage of the meters with alarms 25 % 100 %
Length of MV feeder line 4 km 40 km

©Companyname-48-
CASE III, Results
n GPRS network base stations are congested. In both areas the
load would be over 1500 %.
n This means that there would be 15 times more pending alarm
connections than connection capacity in the network.
n WiMAX and Flash-OFDM would do better than GPRS due to
greater capacity.
n However, the Flash-OFDM base station in the urban area would
also slightly exceed its capacity.
n As can be seen from Table 22, in the loads would be spread on
several base stations
Table 1: Case III results: Public technologies
CASE III: URBAN AREA GPRS WIMAX FLASH-OFDM
Amount of base stations in use 2 1 1
CASE III: RURAL AREA GPRS WIMAX FLASH-OFDM

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CASE IV, Substation Outage
Table 1: Substation Characteristics
CHARACTERISTICS: Substation URBAN AREA RURAL AREA
Number of MV feeder lines per substation 30 10
Number of consumers per substation 108000 2700
Table 1: Substation outage characteristics
CASE IV: SUBSTATION OUTAGE (ALL MV FEEDERS) URBAN AREA RURAL AREA
Number of consumers per substation 108000 2700
Percentage of the meters with alarms 25 % 100 %
Length of MV feeder line plus LV feeder line 4 km 41 km
Side length of the Area (if were regtangle) 8,6 km 81,6 km
Geographical Area covered by the substation 58,06 km2 5226,97 km2
n If an entire substation would be without electricity, approximately 108000
respectively 2700 households would be affected.
n These households would be in the 30 respectively 10 MV feeders starting from the
substation.
n In the urban area the length of MV electric wires exceeds up to 4000 meters and in
the rural areas even up to 40 000 meters.
n The amount of meters with alarm functionality would sum up to 27000 respectively
2700 meters.
n The geographical area covered by the substation in the urban environment would be
approximately 58 km2 and in the rural area 5230 km2.

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CASE IV, Results
n In the urban area, the connection load would be spread at least between 10
GPRS base stations.
n Also the WiMAX and Flash-OFDM networks would be severely congested
but would be using the same base station.
n In the rural area, the load is spread between 9 GPRS or Flash-OFDM base
stations and 34 WiMAX base stations.
n WiMAX and Flash-OFDM networks would be able to handle all the
incoming alarm connections immediately, while GPRS network would be
congested and the transmission would take more time.
Table 1: Case IV results: Private technologies
CASE IV: URBAN AREA GPRS WIMAX FLASH-OFDM
CASE IV: RURAL AREA GPRS WIMAX FLASH-OFDM

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Case Interpretation
n GPRS network’s capacity to transmit several alarm connections at
the same time can be limited.
n The network can in average handle the alarms coming from an
outage of one LV feeder when 25 percent of the meters include
the alarm function and form a direct connection between the
meter and the AMR information system.
n If the percentage of the alarming meters was increased, or if the
outage covered e.g. the whole transformer station or more, GPRS
network’s capacity to transmit simultaneous connections at the
same time would insufficient.
n The alarms would then be delayed for a certain period of time and
the messages would get through after several connection
establishment efforts.
n In this respect, Flash-OFDM and especially WiMAX clearly beat
GPRS network.

©Companyname-52-
Example Data Transmission
n We have used the following data estimating the duration or an
alarm transfer
n Connection establishment time 5 s
n Alarm transmission 1 s
n Connection busy-detection time 2,5 s
n Retransmission time 10 s
Table 1: Example data of alarm transmission
ALARM TRANSMISSION DATA Seconds
GPRS average connection capacity per base station 30
GPRS connection establishment time 5,0 s
Alarm transmission 1,0 s
Successfull alarm transmission in average 6,0 s
Connection busy- detection time 2,5 s
Retransmission after 10,0 s

©Companyname-53-
GPRS network congestion
n When the load of the base station is fewer than 100% of the
capacity, the alarms are transmitted in about 6 seconds (5
seconds connection establishment and 1 second alarm data
transmission).
n If the network is congested, some meters have to wait a while
and then try to retransmit the data.
n We have used 10-second delay between retransmission attempts.
This way the transmission time for 360 direct alarm connections
is calculated to be 144 seconds.
n The WiMAX and Flash-OFDM networks have a better theoretical
capacity for transmission of several connections at the same time
n However, the respective networks do not have total coverage in
Finland, nor any products for the AMR systems.
Table 1: Alarm transmission times in GPRS network with congestion
ALARM TRANSMISSION TIMES
Alarming connections 10 20 40 80 160 360
GPRS base station congestion 33 % 67 % 133 % 267 % 533 % 1200 %
Alarms transmitted in 6,0 s 6,0 s 18,5 s 31,0 s 68,5 s 143,5 s

©Companyname-54-
Proposals for Decreasing the Congestion
n Only the necessary meters alarm (depending on the
type of the alarm)
n Meters are polled for alarms by the concentrator or the
central system (a lot of data traffic in the network)
n Transmission of alarms is staggered in certain time
limits
n Concentrator includes intelligence and filters the alarms
(could increase delay)
n QoS mechanisms are applied to the alarms messages
(and networks)

©Companyname-55-
Direct vs. Two stage solution - Initial data
n We have tried to calculate the cost difference for the two communication solutions:
direct communication and two-stage communication.
n We have used GPRS in the direct communication and the PLC and GPRS in the
two-stage solution.
n We have discounted all costs for a 15-year investment period to the present with 5
percent discount rate.
n We have used the Urban Environment data and compared the costs of the
communication solutions by changing the amount of meters.
Table 1: Investment data
INVESTMENT INFORMATION
Interest rate 5,00 %
Investment duration (years) 15
Investment duration (months) 180
Table 2: Electrical network information for the cost comparison
ENVIRONMENT AND METER INFORMATION
Environment (Urban/Rural) Urban
The total amount of invested meters 4
Max meter count per LV feeder 50
Max meter count per TS station 300
Max meter count per ES 108000
The amount of required feeder lines 1
The amount of required TS 1
The amount of required substations 1
Distances
between the meters and TS 0,3 km
between the meters and ES 4,3 km

©Companyname-56-
Direct vs. Two stage solution - Excel sheet
Table 1: Communication costs for direct communication (incl. connections)
DIRECT COMMUNICATION
Communication technology GPRS
COSTS
CAPEX à total pv
Meters with communication modules 250 € 1000 € 1000 €
Total 1000 € 1000 €
OPEX à total pv
Monthly communication costs 3 € 2160 € 1517 €
Total 2160 € 1 517,46 €
TOTAL COMMUNICATION COSTS 3160 € 2 517,46 €
TOTAL COMMUNICATION COSTS PER METER 629,37 €
TOTAL COMMUNICATION COSTS PER METER PER YEAR 41,96 €
Table 2: Communication costs for two-stage communication (incl. connections)
TWO-STAGE COMMUNICATION
Communication technoloy 1 PLC units
Concentrators needed YES 1
Number of connections 1 units
Repeaters needed NO 0
Communication technology 2 GPRS
COSTS
CAPEX à total pv
Meters with communication modules 230 € 920 € 920 €
Concentrators with communication modules 1000 € 1000 € 1000 €
Repeaters 300 € 0 € 0 €
Total 1920 € 1920 €
OPEX à total pv
Monthly communication costs for technology 1 0 € 0 € 0 €
Monthly communication costs for technology 2 3 € 540 € 379 €
Total 540 € 379 €
TOTAL COMMUNICATION COSTS 2460 € 2 299,37 €
TOTAL COMMUNICATION COSTS PER METER 574,84 €
TOTAL COMMUNICATION COSTS PER METER PER YEAR 38,32276214

©Companyname-57-
Results and Conclusions (1/3)
n Automatic Meter Reading can enable the use of new the
low voltage network data in the distribution network
management. This data includes real-time alarm data,
quality data and accurate consumption data.
n Three main application areas for the respective data in the
distribution network management could be divided into the
low voltage network fault management, outage and
electricity quality management, and network analyses.
n Possible benefits from this new data include efficiency in
the clearance of the fault cause and magnitude, improved
outage reporting, improved awareness of the power
distribution situation and improved planning of the
distribution network, among others.

©Companyname-58-
n IEC 62056-53 / IEC 62056-62 (DLMS/COSEM) is one of the
few meter reading standards that is compatible with
several suppliers’meters and AMR systems. It supports
event-based communication to some detail. Proprietary
standards and systems also tend to support event-based
data, but they function only inside the respective supplier’s
systems.
n The alarm functionality of the AMR systems is developing
as we speak but the connection with the electrical network
control systems is still minor. The meters will be configured
according to the meter situation in the network to alarm of
only certain types of events. With the customized
configuration unnecessary alarm messages are avoided
and the telecommunication network congestion can be
reduced.

©Companyname-59-
n GPRS seems to be the main AMR communication technology in
the Nordic Countries, whereas PLC is the typical technology in
South Europe. In the case of a large-scale outage in the
distribution network, simultaneous alarm messages can possibly
get the GPRS network temporarily congested quite easily. In the
future, Flash-OFDM and WiMAX could be considered as
alternatives for the GPRS communication. They have better
congestion tolerance and data rates but at the moment have no
solutions for AMR and the prices are high. AMR PLC systems
enable also spontaneous alarm messages, but the PLC in general
does not seem to be very reliable communication technology. The
time that is needed for the PLC systems (1-stage or 2-stage) to
transmit various alarm messages at the same time was not
clarified and needs further studies.
n According to our calculations, the direct GPRS communication is a
cost effective alternative in transforming circuits that have 4 or
less customers. When the number of customers increases, the
two-stage alternative should become more cost-effective.
However, when excluding the connection costs the direct
communication is more economical up to 50 meters LV circuits
and from thereon the solution costs are equal.

©Companyname-60-
Assesment of Results
n Due to the nature of the input parameters (estimations)
the results obtained from the technical and economical
calculations can be considered as trendsetting. However,
the calculation sheet that acted as the basis for the
comparisons can be used in the adjustment of the results
when more accurate input data will be available.
n Even though being just trendsetting, the results show the
potentiality of the new communication technologies
(WiMAX and Flash-OFDM) and the vulnerability of GPRS
network to handle several critical connections at the same
time.

©Companyname-61-
Exploitation of Results
n This Thesis acts as a basis for the mapping of the current
situation regarding the Automatic Meter Reading and its
connection to the electrical network control. Based on the
material and results obtained from this thesis, ABB
Substation Automation and Distribution Automation can
decide more profoundly the future guidelines regarding the
integration between the advanced metering systems and
control systems of the electrical distribution network. It is
very probable, that the AMR systems will be integrated to
the electrical network control systems in the near future.

©Companyname-62-
Future Studies
n There remains a lot to study in respect to the Automatic
Meter Reading. E.g., the economical benefits of the new
services enabled by AMR for distribution utilities require
more investigation.
n At the moment at least two bigger AMR projects are
beginning in Europe. The AMR Nordic Forum and ESMA
(European Smart Metering Alliance) projects try to
gather experiences of intelligent remote readable meters
and further clarify the requirements for them. [VTT06]

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