The reliability environment for transmission providers has changed. NERC is now implementing legally enforceable reliability standards, and compliance has become more complicated, with penalties for noncompliance that can reach up to $1 million a day.  This paper looks at a subset of these new standards – facilities ratings, transmission planning and special protection systems – and how an advanced 3M conductor technology, 3M Aluminum Conductor Composite Reinforced (3M ACCR), can help simplify compliance and make it more cost effective, while protecting the reliability of the system.

Delivering the power that drives our economy and ensures our safety and well-being is the function of the transmission grid.  However, the industry faces a rapidly changing playing field where efforts to ensure grid reliability may be seen as constraining transactions from intermittent renewable resources and wholesale contracts.  At the same time, reliability oversight is increasing, a vocal public decries the siting of new lines, and economic conditions make investments that impact rates difficult to accept.
 Therefore, it is critical for utilities to reassess the full spectrum of tools available to them.  This white paper examines one example -- upgrading existing lines using advanced conductors – that can help optimize asset use and increase capacity quickly and cost effectively, while minimizing impacts on property owners and the environment.

American Electric Power (AEP) ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S.  AEP serves approximately 5.3 million customers in 12 states covering more than 200,000 square miles.  AEP prides itself on providing exceptional customer service and was in need on an integrated receivables processing solution that would allow them to reduce customer inquiry response time when it came to disputes over utility bills.  Learn how AEP implemented an integrated receivables solution and find out how they have improved customer service, reduced payment float time and more in this customer case study from WAUSAU Financial Systems.  

Distribution grids need data and systems to drive safe and reliable operations.  As SCADA, distribution automation, and outage management systems prove, dramatic improvement in grid efficiency and reliability can be achieved through increased real-time analytics driven by larger data volumes.  The Smart Grid increases the volume and variety of grid management data available by hundreds- potentially thousands- of orders of magnitude. Legacy applications for grid operations are generally not equipped to handle even the increase in data from today’s smart meters and sensors, much less maximize data use.  A new set of functions is emerging to respond to this challenge  - Advanced Distribution Management.  This Oracle paper reviews how Advanced Distribution Management organizes and analyzes the enormous volumes of new, near real-time data, and why it is so important for today’s utilities to leverage this mission-critical capability.

As Utilities plan new service options and programs that respond to emerging customer and community needs, questions naturally arise about the ability of existing computer hardware, technology, and software applications to handle the new demands. Can utilities move forward with the confidence that today’s information infrastructure can perform functions like prepay, demand response, and customer portal access to near real-time data without sacrificing the rapid and dependable throughput of batch bills that ensures timely revenue flow?  Currently, few utilities – even those with highly advanced billing systems—can answer that questions definitively—and with good reason.  Financial prudence dictates that utilities structure IT to accommodate current needs. Thus, a utility using a monthly billing cycle typically sizes to accommodate 21 overnight billing runs per month plus an allowance for anticipated and unanticipated delays.  This sizing is unlikely to be a helpful measure of the potential to speed up billing in order to accommodate additional customer demands.  To help utilities gain a better sense of maximum billing and customer program performance, Oracle is conducting tests that run Oracle applications on Oracle Exadata and Exalogic.  The results permit utilities to measure their own systems’ performance and gauge their estimated future requirements against hardware and software available today. The test described in this paper – the first of many planned --- demonstrates that Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing can process routine customer bills on Oracle Exadata in a fraction of the time used by most utilities today, reducing overnight billing runs to a few minutes.

Around the word, utilities are under pressure. Citizens demand energy and water that won’t undermine environmental quality.   Regulators see action on Smart Grid and Smart Metering initiatives that add intelligence to infrastructure.  Customers see  additional choice and convenience – but without additional costs.  Oracle can help. This brief summarizes how we offer utility experts, mission-critical software applications, a rock-solid operational software software suite, services, storage and world-leading middleware and technology that help address these challenges.  We understand the complexity around Smart Grid initiatives implementations and the unknown.  Oracle provides flexible, innovative technology and applications that increase efficiency, improve stakeholder satisfaction, future-proof your organization, and turn data into actionable information.

One of the most pivotal challenges electric utilities face is developing a set of comprehensive cyber security standards that will not only protect assets today, but well into the future. Our white paper “Smart Grid Security: Preparing for the Standards-Based Future Without Neglecting the Needs of Today” provides practical advice for addressing security concerns. Learn what steps to take in your organization now –– and what you can do to promote the development of stronger security standards for the industry. Read the white paper now.

An industry leader and innovator, Milliken has created this white paper to educate the reader regarding Milliken's flame resistant (FR) Amplitude fabrics.  It will also address key factors that are important to consider when selecting FR fabrics for flame resistance and arc protection garments.

Increasing competition is causing utilities companies to seek out a competitive advantage in the market. This white paper explains why analytics is the solution to gaining this advantage, by first defining analytics and examining its overall importance to businesses. The paper then provides in-depth details about how analytics can help utilities companies create smarter business processes: smarter customer care, smarter risk management, smarter operations and smarter data management.

CIP-005-5 R2 is focused on ensuring that the security of the Bulk Energy System is not compromised by remote access. This 3rd in the series whitepaper discusses the requirements and approaches to meeting the challenge of Remote Access Management for the Bulk Energy System (BES).
Understanding the Security Requirements for Remote Access Management to the Bulk Energy System”. CIP-005-5 R2 is focused on ensuring that the security of the Bulk Energy System is not compromised by remote access. The whitepaper discusses the requirements and approaches to meeting the challenge of Remote Access Management for the Bulk Energy System (BES).

Topics covered in the whitepaper include:

Discussion of key requirements of CIP-005-5 R2 and Remote Access Management

Explanation of the traditional role performed by Intermediate Devices for remote access

Discussion of the advanced role of the Intermediate Device as a single source of all remote access activity

Summary of the Best Practice for Remote Access Management