Case study: utility discovers data solution

Western Power Distribution provides electricity to 7.8 million customers across an area that encompasses the Midlands, South West England and South Wales.

Its network consists of 220,000km of overhead lines and underground cables and 185,000 transformers.

For almost a decade Western Power Distribution has worked alongside Simoco, which provides digital mobile radio (DMR) and Private Mobile Radio (PMR) solutions, to install one of the largest analogue MPT1327 PMR voice networks in Europe, based on the Simoco Xfin system.

The network was expanded in 2012 as Western Power Distribution wanted to develop value added services such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technology

The network was expanded in 2012 as Western Power Distribution wanted to develop value added services such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technology.

Meanwhile, issues with poor coverage, interference and reliability in the Midlands also forced Western Power Distribution to move away from its general packet radio service (GPRS) system.

Mission critical

Following a number of lab and field-based trials, Simoco developed a new system that uses a DMR network to transmit missioncritical low-band data.

The DMR Tier III trunked solution utilises a fully-integrated IP network to connect information sent from data modems or remote terminal units (RTUs) to SCADA masters.

This functionality makes it easy to scale the solution to include more modems, RTUs or even voice transmission to the same network, Western Power Distribution says. And because the company already had existing RTUs in place, it was supplied with a Simoco Pulse Air data modem.

The modem uses the DNP3 protocol when communicating across the DMR network. It is designed provide a robust connection to the SCADA master using reliable digital radio over licensed very high frequency (VHF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio channels and is also capable of directly interacting to any RTU that uses this telemetry protocol, Simoco says.

Going live

As part of a programme to further upgrade the network and introduce 100 new sites with DMR infrastructure, a roll out of 8,000 data modems across the Midlands region was scheduled.

Delivery of the infrastructure and first 2,000 Pulse Air Data Modem units was completed in November 2015, with the first sites expected to go live this year. On completion of the roll out in the Midlands region, the solution will be expanded into the South West and Wales regions, Western Power Distribution says.

In the areas where the Pulse solution has already been installed, Western Power Distribution’s target of restoring power within 60 minutes of an outage is well on the way to being achieved

Kevan Scott, manager, Surf Telecoms manager

According to Simoco, its Pulse solution has enabled Western Power Distribution to add smart grid management and control functionality to its operations. This includes real-time monitoring, network optimisation, delivery of proactive maintenance programmes and the remote implementation of commands and updates.

If a problem on the network occurs, Western Power Distribution can save time and costs by knowing exactly where the problem is located rather than having to dispatch teams to manually search areas of the grid.

Surf Telecoms, a bandwidth facilities provider owned by Western Power Distribution, is responsible for monitoring and maintaining the utility network.

Kevan Scott, Surf Telecoms’ manager, says: “In the areas where the Simoco Pulse solution has already been installed, Western Power Distribution’s target of restoring power within 60 minutes of an outage is well on the way to being achieved, meaning we are well placed to meet the demands of today and the future.”