ESB Networks is responsible for building, operating and maintaining Ireland's electricity distribution network. They focus on excellent customer service and their 2027 strategy prioritizes safety, efficiency and reliable energy supply. The document discusses the roles and responsibilities of ESB's Outage Management System (OMS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, which monitor the network infrastructure in real-time. It also outlines the author's work developing applications in Oracle Application Express to support OMS upgrades, custom data analysis, and network operations.

1. The contribution of my work placement to my engineering degree
About ESB Networks
ESB Networks are “operators of the electricity distribution system in the Republic of Ireland. Their main respon-
sibility is building, operating, maintaining and developing the electricity network and serving all electricity cus-
tomers across the country”. They are responsible for constructing, operating and maintaining the medium and low
voltage electricity network (overhead electricity lines, poles and underground cables) infrastructures in the coun-
try.
ESB Networks thrives on excellent customer services, which focuses on achieving service excellence in all aspects
of their business and increasing network reliability for its customers. Their main strategy is the ESB Networks
2027 strategy, which “focuses on having a world class Electricity Network prioritising safety, efficiency and secu-
rity of supply while supporting economic growth and meeting our sustainability targets - a Smart Network.”
IT vs. OT
Data Analysis
OMS provides data for many stakeholders
• Commission for Energy Regulation
• Group Finance
• Operations
• Asset Management
My role involved
• Custom analysis of Fault Out-
age Duration for Com-Reg
• Identifying Fault Trends
• Custom business reports
OMS Upgrade
The primary objective of the OMS Upgrade is to
• Ensure all elements of the system are fully supported
• To benefit from the latest functions and features in responding to mas-
sive weather events
• To ensure the system solution is scalable to meet Future Smart Network
needs
My role in the upgrade involved
• Identifying application functionality requirements
• Preparing of training materials
• PC Management & Administration
• Product Testing
Operations System Support
The primary OT systems supported by the team are OMS and SCADA. OMS is a specialised OT application that is used to assist the manage-
ment and operations of High/Medium/low voltage networks. It also delivers information about planned and fault outages and provides benefits
such as outage management, customer service information, regulatory and performance reports and safety to the users. The system is main-
tained within real-time operations. The OMS system is linked in with the SCADA system (Supervised Control & Data Acquisition) which en-
ables a real-time view of the Distribution Network.
SCADA plays a role in the safe and effective operation of a network. Its primary role is “rapid response to fault isolation and restoration of
supply to customers”. It is used to “monitor and control more than 680 110kV and 38kV substations on the system and ESB Networks has de-
veloped and extended SCADA to control 2,500 switches on the 10kV and 20kV overhead networks”. It plays a crucial part in helping the net-
work technicians with faults and isolations operations by giving them detailed information about faults, outlets and network pre-sectionalizing.
Both the OMS & SCADA systems are considered to be part of the national critical infrastructure.
Oracle Application Express enables you to design, develop and deploy beautiful, responsive,
database-driven applications using only your web browser.
Application Development
I was involved in developing
• Fault Call Entry System
• Arc Suppression Coil Database
• EURO 2016 Competition
• Call-centre performance moni-
toring
Helga Pearline