Understanding Data Management In Smart Grid Systems

Smart grids are the future innovations when it comes to sustainable energy distribution. This also involves a huge amount of data that needs processing at a constant rate. Data management here is essential to the proper running and stability of smart grids and their functionality.

What Is Data Management?

The term ‘Data Management’ refers to the process or practice of collecting, compiling and using information securely and efficiently while saving costs. This activity aims to enable the analysis of information when needed to make sense of the very vast quantities of data at our disposal today. However, data management is streamlined to just the information required to run the grids effectively when it has to do with intelligent grid systems.

Another reason for proper data management in grid systems is for corrective actions to be taken when the need presents itself so that grid participators can maximize benefits within the energy sector. The scope of data management is vast but can be understood within the following factors:

1. To create, access, and update data across a differing data tier
2. Store data across numerous platforms
3. Provide high availability and disaster recovery
4. Use data in a growing variety of apps, analytics, and algorithms
5. Ensure the privacy and security of data
6. Archive and destroy data following retention schedules and compliance requirements

To get the most out of data management, organizations and administrators need data management systems that are peculiar to their requirements. The point is to find the necessary information for analysis.

Data Management In Smart Grid Systems

Smart grids come with their peculiar advantages and changes that involve the information and communication technologies systems sector. These new changes include:

1. New forms of information flow coming from the electricity grid
2. New players like decentralized producers of renewable energies, prosumers and involved consumers
3. New uses linked with DERs such as electric vehicles and connected houses
4. New communicating equipment such as smart meters, sensors and remote-control points

These changes will bring a huge amount of information to grid operators and administrators due to the many variables involved in energy production, distribution and consumption. Smart grids are seen as a concrete solution to the concurrent changes hitting the electrical energy sector, and they help with the efficient integration of the entire network. So, because smart grids ensure high integration of the electric grid from production to consumption, large amounts of data are expected to pass through.This data is not sorted as in conventional grids that would, for example, have one meter reading total consumption in a month. With a feature such as a smart meter that could be set to send consumer readings every 15 minutes, smart grids get larger amounts of data per time set, which means more information to sort through, with higher analysis thresholds. This is why data management is required; intelligent grids need to deal with high-velocity data, storage capacity and advanced data analytics.

There are two main data systems linked with smart grids that we will discuss here; Communication systems and Information systems.

Communication systems in smart grid data management

Communication is a crucial factor in any relationship, even between computer components. In smart grids, maintaining that connection so that data can be relayed between components is essential. This system needs to be secure and capable of high bandwidth and speed. Three types of networks fall under this system, Home Area Networks (HANs), Business Area Networks (BANs) and Neighbourhood Area Networks (NANs). These network types can further be classified into two broad categories, which are wired and wireless technologies.

Information systems in smart grid data management

These are components of the smart grids that communicate together for scalability and flexibility of the grid. They control and load data from the field then use it to extract values and understand the condition of the lines, equipment, energy use etc. There are several components within the information system such as:

• Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) is a safe and reliable system of software and hardware elements used for monitoring control within the grid. The system controls energy distribution processes, monitors and collects real-time data, keeps records of events and interacts with devices through a human-machine interface. SCADA can also be applied in industrial sectors like energy, oil and gas, transportation and recycling. These systems are essential because they help to maintain efficiency, process data more intelligent and mitigate downtime with system issues.

• Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) helps with cost and time efficiency by compiling data about energy consumption and production. AMI creates two-way communication meters between consumers and utility operators that enable high-frequency data collection of energy consumption within intelligent grids. This gives utility operators the ability to modify the different service level parameters for customers and gather data on usage frequencies and fluctuations.

• Outage management system (OMS) is vital in minimizing the effects and diagnosing the causes of power outages, and improving the system's availability and reliability. This system is capable of restoring network models after an outage has occurred. They are also capable of tracking, displaying and grouping outages.

• Customer information system (CIS) is needed to develop and understand the relationship between the utilities and consumers. It is a complete customer relationship management system that assists in obtaining customer information efficiently. It helps to provide quality services to consumers by utilizing their collected data.

• Geographic information system (GIS) is considered a visualization tool to gather information about the grid, consumers and technologies. It captures, stores, checks and displays seemingly unrelated data concerning positions on Earth's surface, which helps to solve real-world problems through understanding spatial patterns.

• Demand response management system (DRMS) gives the utilities the ability to create automated, flexible and integrated platforms to manage demand response solutions efficiently and speedily. It is the critical link between the demand response side of the grid and the utility operators. It helps with the integration of the much-needed two-way communication between consumers and grid operators.

Daki, H., El Hannani, A., Aqqal, A. et al. Big Data management in smart grid: concepts, requirements and implementation. J Big Data 4, 13 (2017).

Data management systems maintain the effectiveness of smart grids, lower costs where necessary, increase response time, and reduce the cumbersome nature of data collection by managing them efficiently. Just as the future is catching up with far-reaching innovations, the Hive Power platform makes various technical options available, especially with robust data analytics and management tools.