Since 2007, the Federal Government has invested nearly $8 billion in smart grid technology. With the passing of last year’s landmark $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, this number is expected to grow significantly. New funding will likely focus on optimizing energy delivery systems via installations of intelligent devices, current monitoring devices and smart switches, as well as utilizing monitoring data to optimize energy efficiency.
Transformers, switching devices, circuit breakers, capacitors, voltage regulators and smart meters all rely upon technology to control, monitor and communicate power flows. Massive amounts of data are generated for tracking energy usage and transmitting the data back to the utility and for managing energy profiles by ADMS or other operational systems.
However, such devices and the data they generate may be at risk of cyber security threats as well as operational effectiveness. During the manufacturing process, malicious software or substandard hardware items could be introduced, potentially impacting the control, access and useability of these devices.
How can utilities fortify their systems against these threats?
Identify and Assess Weaknesses
First, it's essential to identify any weakness in a utility's network and analyze the potential impact of unauthorized access.
For example, malware could be used to disrupt the electric distribution and transmission system, causing lengthy power outages and significant socio-economic damage. The theft of personal or financial consumer data could occur, and the identification of sensitive locations such as data centers or military sites could be compromised.
A Matter of Trust
These growing concerns have led utilities to invest additional resources into device and asset acquisition processes. The need to ensure that individual parts are created and assembled by trusted manufacturers is key.
Substandard materials could result in premature asset failure, resulting in disrupted service and exposing vulnerabilities within the electric network, which may increase the risk of cyber attacks.
During routine maintenance and repair work, defects in materials, workmanship and other quality controls are routinely identified. If systemic product or quality issues are identified and the utility must test or replace similar assets from the same manufacturer's production lot, crews and contractors are ill-equipped to locate these items due to the lack of asset traceability data. Instead, they’re forced to rely on inaccurate or incomplete data or guesswork.
Utilities have an added incentive for tracing the manufacturing and assembly of individual parts: new Federal Government requirements for the purchase or acquisition of goods produced in the United States, which includes utility distribution and transmission equipment.
A Matter of Timing
Capturing asset traceability data is never more critical than at the start of new infrastructure construction.
During asset installation, utilities must have the ability to identify specific manufacturing and place of origin data for each asset placed in service. Advanced digital construction technology can automate this process without the need to manually record data. The use of scanning technology can greatly enhance field users’ ability to capture high fidelity data at the point of installation, thus ensuring the seamless collection of asset, location and technical data in a single process. Another advantage stemming from this type of technology is the ability to populate the asset data in multiple back office applications, alleviating the need for multiple data handoffs and the elimination of data entry errors and delays.
Setting a New Industry Standard
Utilities and transmission / distribution equipment manufacturers must collaborate on methods to manage, track and report on utility equipment produced and delivered to US utilities. They must develop processes to accurately track the location of installed devices so they can be quickly located and replaced in the event of a manufacturer recall notification or if malicious components or software impeded in these devices are detected.
One of the most effective methods of achieving this is by establishing an industry standard of barcode definitions that can be incorporated into all equipment and supplies used in the electric distribution and transmission system.
At present, most utilities and manufacturers use product specific data standards established by well-known organizations such as IEEE, ASTM, etc. for providing the detailed technical data sheets to utilities for each product they provide. In addition, each manufacturer may apply a barcode to their products to meet their own inventory, production and shipping requirements. Each of these barcodes are created without the use of any industry wide standards.
To enable asset traceability, utilities and manufacturers will need to standardize information such as manufacturer name, production or lot number, manufacture date, facility and assembly details, or country of origin. By including these details, a utility can rapidly identify the location of installed assets which may be subject to a recall, reducing risk and improving asset management programs.
Recently, a multi state gas utility was notified of a manufacturing defect in a specific production run of plastic fittings. Because the utility had implemented standardized asset traceability barcodes, the utility was able to locate all of the recalled 2 inch plastic tees and completed all of the required replacement efforts in a fraction of the time it would have taken via previous methods.
Prior to the utilization of asset traceability bar coding standards, a utility would be faced with an extensive research effort to identify all of the 2-inch plastic tee installations during a range of work order completion dates. Once this population of potentially faulty products were identified, the utility would need to excavate all of these sites to confirm if the recalled plastic tees were installed. This would have resulted in extensive labor and material costs and a significant impact to Customer Satisfaction.
As the nation moves forward with the decarbonization of power generation, the expansion of the electric grid to support the transition of electrification of heating and cooking and the push towards EV’s, the need to rebuild and expand the electric infrastructure is paramount. To support this unprecedented growth of electric infrastructure, manufacturers will be forced to expand their production capabilities, potentially sub-contracting some aspects of their supply chains and outsourcing their raw material needs. This rapid expansion of supply chain sources may impact overall quality of products utilized by electric utilities throughout North America.
These rapid changes will hasten the need for utilities to maintain robust asset traceability programs. The most successful of these programs will be based on the capture of high fidelity asset data digitally captured at the time of installation.