Utility to benefit from more reliable, automated network visibility and faster, safer outage and interruption management
Dominion Energy Virginia is implementing Oracle Utilities Outage Management System and new advanced distribution management (ADMS) capabilities in Oracle Utilities Network Management System to help improve its network visibility, reliability, and outage management response. The expanded platform will also help the utility better manage increased data from distributed energy resources (DERs) and meet its regulatory requirements.
Dominion Energy Virginia provides electricity to 2.7 million homes and businesses. The utility has used Oracle Utilities Network Management System (NMS) for over a decade to plan and execute key switching activities across its network. By upgrading the solution and adding Oracle’s Fault Location Isolation and Service Restoration (FLISR) application for automated, self-healing support, Dominion Energy will be able to automatically sectionalize outage impact, enable reduction in service interruptions and help increase its service reliability.
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Additionally, the browser-based Oracle Utilities Flex Operations will help Dominion Energy securely extend outage management and dispatch capabilities beyond the control room. As such, they will be able to activate remote users to quickly respond to storms and other major outage events faster and direct restoration efforts from anywhere. Oracle’s Power Flow application will provide advanced distribution management by monitoring the real-time status of their networks.
“Delivering the highest levels of service reliability to our customers and meeting priority KPIs such as reducing service interruption minutes requires the advanced grid technologies found in Oracle’s FLISR, FlexOps, and Power Flow applications,” said Jason Holland, director of operation centers and emergency preparedness, Dominion Energy. “Our long experience with Oracle Utilities NMS and workshop assessments of their power applications convinced us that Oracle could uniquely deliver what we need. As we look ahead to the second phase of our project, their proven OMS capabilities and scalable architecture will give us a modern management path to faster restoration on a single platform.”
Oracle Utilities Outage Management System (OMS) will be deployed during the first half of 2024 to replace Dominion Energy’s existing system. With it, the utility will be able to integrate IT and business operations and easily add new components, while field crews will benefit significantly from system familiarity and interoperability with other Dominion Energy operating segments. Additionally, Oracle NMS Operations Mobile Application (OMA) will empower crews to receive and execute switching steps and communicate key activities via mobile devices with real-time changes reflected in the command centers, enabling faster responses in emergency situations to quickly assess and mitigate network damages.
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Evolving to meet complex grid needs
Oracle’s Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) is designed to help utilities meet today’s needs and prepare for future needs by monitoring, managing, and effectively optimizing the grid from distribution to customer. In addition to implementing the FLISR, FlexOperations, and Power Flow applications, Dominion Energy will benefit from Oracle Utilities Live Energy Connect (LEC), an OT-centric middleware platform that supports all major SCADA protocols (e.g., ICCP, OPC, and DNP3). The solution provides essential, technology-agnostic integration with utilities’ existing SCADA systems and can support future scaling options.
“Our longtime collaboration with Dominion Energy Virginia is the perfect example of how we constantly evolve our ADMS technologies to help utilities more confidently meet their most pressing DER, customer service, regulatory, and other business challenges,” said Brad Harkavy, vice president, Oracle Energy and Water. “With NMS, Dominion Energy can add intelligent advanced applications to meet regulatory requirements today, not in 5-10 years. Additionally, with one efficient, scalable platform for OMS, they will gain efficiencies that transcend business operations. Field crews will benefit from mobile applications that expedite their restoration activities during potentially dangerous emergency response situations and enable critical, real-time command center visibility.”
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