Efacec Automation is pleased to announce the successful conclusion of the OUTSIDE Project (OUTage management System for Improved Distribution networks Efficiency).

Forming part of Efacec’s R&D activity, the resulting product, Efacec’s Outage Management System supports supply restoration in both planned and unplanned supply interruptions.

The product provides distribution network operators with greater awareness and observability of abnormal network situations, handling and clearly presenting the vast volume of information available, helping them to minimize the impact of planned actions, greatly reducing the probability and duration of blackouts and thus ensuring improved performance and quality of service delivered to the end consumer.

The Outage Management System provides real-time knowledge on the planning, development and completion of corrective and preventive intervention measures on the distribution network (observability), reducing distribution network unavailability levels, following the Smart Grid paradigm (efficiency and safety).

The development of such advanced features moves the operational model for distribution networks from the previous conventional model progressively towards an active network with high penetration of microgeneration, especially that based on renewable resources, with producers and consumers playing an increasingly active role in managing the electrical distribution network.

With the integration of the Outage Management System, the Efacec SCADA/DMS product was improved and enriched with several new functionalities. Most of the functions performed through the OMS are accessible to the operators via an integrated web interface. At the same time, the OMS is integrated with existing geographic and schematic network diagrams and tabular forms, allowing the dispatcher to track outages and restoration status and activity in real time. The Outage Event Simulator module is able to simulate the operation of an IVR, customer call handling or the operation of an AMI, handling last gasp events, and generating incident events.

This 2-year project was started in January 2013, and was led by Efacec Automation, having the R&D Institution Fraunhofer AICOS as technical partner. The project was granted funds by the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN). For more information about the project, please contact us at ase.eng@efacec.com.

This workshop was organized by Efacec. Besides Efacec, other reputable entities have participated, namely WaveEC/Offshore Renewables (www.wavec.org/en), LNEG (www.lneg.pt), NEWES (facebook page), REN (www.ren.pt), EASE (www.ease-storage.eu), EDP Distribuição, EDP Inovação (www.edp.pt/en), Inesc Porto (www.inesctec.pt), EnergyIn (www.energyin.com.pt) and FEUP (www.fe.up.pt).

The agenda of the event can be downloaded here [PT].

A presentation was made by Alberto Jorge Bernardo, regarding Energy Efficiency. The presentation "Energy Efficiency – Expectations, Perspectives and Prospective" addressed several aspects of energy efficiency, taking into account trends and policies, as well as system and nature modules. Moreover, several R&D projects where Efacec has been participating in were also mentioned and briefly presented, namely the following projects: e-balance, SuSTAINABLE, SmartC2Net, EnAware, Monitor BT and EFA iCharge.

Regarding the topic of energy storage, Ismael Miranda made the presentation "Energy Storage: Integration opportunities". The presentation focused on potential applications and benefits of the integration of different energy storage solutions, from pumped hydro to battery energy storage systems. Furthermore, the presentation discussed the opportunities for energy storage in islanded power systems as well as in distribution networks highlighting the areas where Efacec has been actively involved.

This workshop was organized by the Smart Grid row of EnergyIn (www.energyin.com.pt), focusing on the outcome of the InovGrid (link) project, as well as on the subsequent tasks related to this Smart Grids project. Besides Efacec, several reputable entities have participated, namely EDP Distribuição (www.edp.pt/en), Janz/Contar (www.janzce.pt), CGI/Logica (www.cgi.com.pt), Arquiled (www.arquiled.com) and Siemens (www.siemens.com/answers/pt/pt).

The agenda of the event can be downloaded here [PT].

A presentation was made by Nuno Silva, regarding the Smart Grids concept within the framework of R&D and pilot projects, including the InovGrid project. Moreover, Paulo Rodrigues also presented the Efacec perspective of the project outcome.

Moreover, the Monitor BT project was briefly presented by Nuno Silva. Monitor BT flyers were distributed among the participants in the workshop.

This seminar was organized by UAlg (www.ualg.pt), in the scope of the ENERGEIA (Energy Enterprise Generation in the MED Area) project (www.energeia-med.eu). Besides Efacec, other reputable entities have participated, namely the Algarve’s Regional Agency for Energy and Environment (www.areal-energia.pt), the Engineering Academic Institute of the Algarve’s University (www.ualg.pt), Bowen Iberia (www.bowenfr.com) and the University of Malaga (www.uma.es).

The agenda of the event can be downloaded here [PT].

A presentation was made by Alberto Jorge Bernardo, regarding the Monitor BT project, specifically addressing how the project leverages low voltage grid monitoring for enabling distributed energy sources penetration.