This document discusses five foundational elements that are critical for deploying a smart grid: 1) GIS data and processes must be accurate and able to provide the energy delivery network model to other systems. 2) Existing WAN and LAN networks must be analyzed for security, bandwidth, quality of service, robustness, resiliency, and required connectivity to support smart grid systems. 3) The energy delivery network topology in GIS must match the actual physical infrastructure. 4) An integration architecture is needed to integrate legacy systems with new smart grid systems. 5) Legacy IT systems may not be able to support the needs of a smart grid and may require upgrades.

1. Energy, Utilities & Chemicals the way we see it
The Smart Grid–
Where to Start
The Five Foundational Elements of the Smart Grid
in collaboration with
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2. Introduction
Deploying a Smart Grid is not a To help your company overcome
project. It’s not even a program. these potential roadblocks, Capgemini
Though it might be launched as such, will describe the five critical “behind
it quickly evolves into something far the scenes” issues that utilities will
greater. It is, in fact, a transformation. inevitably face in deploying a Smart
Grid: GIS Data and Processes,
As utility companies across the Existing WAN/LAN Networks,
world are increasingly discovering, Energy Delivery Network Topology,
the deployment of a Smart Grid Integration Architecture, and
fundamentally changes the way they Legacy IT Systems. Based on our
generate data, present information, experience in collaborating with
make decisions, execute work and leading utilities on successful Smart
relate with their customers. For this Grid deployments around the world,
reason, it is important to ensure that the this document provides our insights
foundation of your Smart Grid is solid. and recommendations for building a
strong Smart Grid foundation.
Many, if not all, of the foundational
elements are already in place at most
utilities. However, getting them to
meet the new requirements that Smart
Grid creates will present significant
challenges to those responsible for
deploying and operating them.
2

3. Energy, Utilities & Chemicals the way we see it
Element 1: GIS Data and Processes
Why is the GIS so Important to Landbase Accuracy
the Smart Grid? When passed to the OMS or a Mobile
Remember that new Geographic Workforce Management System
Information System (GIS) you put (MWM), the GIS landbase needs to
into place a decade ago? You should be accurate and consistent. This is
consider your company lucky if the typically a challenge for companies
GIS was deployed with the needs of involved in a recent merger or
passing a robust data set to an Outage acquisition, requiring them to integrate
Management System (OMS) in mind. GIS data from multiple legacy GIS
Even luckier, that GIS data has been systems with varying coordinate
rigorously maintained and updated systems and then coordinate
over the years. And luckiest of all, projections. Operationally, vehicle
that GIS adheres to an industry routing decisions are based on this
integration standard. information. From a planning and
engineering standpoint, land use
With the Smart Grid’s promises and the placement of devices, lot lines
of a more reliable, robust electric and other facilities rely on an accurate
delivery system comes the virtual GIS landbase.
representation of that system used
to make operational decisions. The Spatial Positioning Accuracy
source of the base data for this virtual Wasted time and frustration of field
representation is the GIS. If the GIS personnel can be avoided if the
data is not accurate and timely, or device they are sent to repair is (or
if the information cannot be easily in some cases was) physically at the
transferred to the other systems that coordinates the virtual system tells
require it, the decisions made based on them – or at least within sight of the
the virtual representation are flawed location. This is a significant issue
from the start. That’s why it with rear-lot construction and during
is essential that the GIS has the major restoration events.
following characteristics:
Ability to Provide As-Designed
Phasing Accuracy Energy Delivery Network Model
The phases represented in the GIS The GIS must be able to efficiently and
data need to correspond accurately effectively export the required data to
with the phases in the actual delivery the systems that need it, preferably in a
network. This is vital for any decisions format that is easily imported by those
pertaining to single phase loads. receiving systems. This is as much a
procedural challenge as a technical
Connectivity Accuracy one, requiring a quality assurance and
The line segment connectivity needs quality control process to ensure the
to be contiguous and consistent. The exported GIS data will render without
connectivity hierarchy of premise, excessive exceptions into the new
meter, transformer, primary phase(s) as-operated network model.
needs to be accurate for proper OMS
operation and reporting, demand-side
management, and any near-real-time
circuit analysis, just to name a few.
The Smart Grid–Where to Start 3

4. Element 2: Existing WAN/LAN Networks
Existing WAN/LAN Networks Quality of Service (QoS) on the adequate between these critical points
It is critical—at the early design existing WAN, your Smart Grid of the WAN.
stages of the Smart Grid—to perform budget just got bigger.
a thorough analysis of your existing Time Synchronization and
WAN/LAN infrastructure configuration Robustness Propagation
in relation to the physical locations of Simply put, a robust network is Time and the synchronization of
the Smart Grid systems hardware and difficult to break. This is the result it across the Smart Grid and the
backhaul connectivity locations. It may of many factors including hardware, connected systems, applications and
be necessary to rebuild or replace a software, infrastructure management, devices are
portion of this infrastructure, which is transport medium, and the physical critical. This synchronization takes
neither quick nor inexpensive. Some of path that medium takes. Redundancy place via the data network. Your
the key areas to analyze are as follows. and geographic separation are both WAN/LAN/ Field network must
key. The use of SONET or other support the propagation of a common
Security fast-failover fiber technologies is time reference, typically from a GPS
Data network security for the Smart typical. You cannot hang any part synchronized source, down to the
Grid is paramount. In the early of the Smart Grid core on a long millisecond for some field devices such
design stages of the Smart Grid the radial branch and if you don’t use as fault indicators. Do not be surprised
issue is not necessarily what security High Availability/Disaster Recovery if your legacy systems (mainframe)
capability is needed, but what architecture for Smart Grid systems cannot make use of this signal.
capability can be supported by the and applications, you are placing your And Daylight Savings Time (DST)
existing network infrastructure that operation at significant risk. will become a thorn in your side.
needs to be known. Once it is known, Operating all Smart Grid systems and
a valid gap can be determined and Resiliency applications on Coordinated Universal
the economic impact of closing that Even the most robust network can Time (UTC) is the easiest method to
gap calculated. Having half of the fail, and every second of recovery time avoid DST issues.
equation accurately determined and exacts a heavy toll on productivity.
documented can save time and money That’s why it is critical to ensure the
through the reconfiguration of existing resiliency of your network by selecting
infrastructure. The capability of your and configuring technologies and
existing network to support Virtual hardware from the back-office
LANs (VLANs) is a critical component systems, through the WAN core to the
to implementing a secure Smart Grid. end-point devices in the field (meters,
capacitor controls, etc.). It does you
Bandwidth little good to have a field RF Mesh
Do you know how much bandwidth network that can rebuild itself around
remains on your existing network? A a failure in seconds or minutes if the
Smart Grid implementation will WAN takes eight hours to rebuild,
regularly require massive, multiple- or visa versa. Resiliency is a holistic
terabyte data transfers between strategic measure and needs to be determined
points of the WAN. If you don’t want and designed that way.
these transfers to slow the performance
of your network to a crawl, you Required Connectivity
need to consider a few things: How Do you need to replace the entire
much bandwidth do you really have WAN to deploy a Smart Grid? The
available for the data packet types classic answer is: maybe. If your WAN
you will be moving around and can is configured in a ring topography,
your existing network manage or and your Smart Grid systems and
prioritize the movement of those data feed-in/out points are distributed
packets? If you have only a few Mbps around that ring, you need to ensure
remaining and cannot implement the robustness and resiliency are
4

5. Energy, Utilities & Chemicals the way we see it
Element 3: Energy Delivery
Network Topology
Because the Energy Delivery Network cannot restore power to customers Construction Standards
(EDN) is at the core of utility beyond the cause of the outage via an The Smart Grid brings with it new
distribution operations, it is the most alternate path. field hardware from RF Mesh
pervasive – and the most exposed repeaters to three-phase, peer-to-
– system that utilities own. The Substation Capacity peer communicating, automatic load
ability to effectively reconfigure the Having a grid topology does you little break switches. How are these devices
EDN to reduce the time customers good if the substation transformers installed in the field? Where do the
experience power outages depends on are at maximum capacity. Adding communications devices attach to
the topology of that network. How additional customers to a feeder the pole? How are they grounded?
close is your grid to an actual grid powered by a transformer already Are the bypasses fused or solid? The
of intersecting or crossing circuits operating at or over-capacity puts the list goes on and on – and needs to
of diverse sources? If you are in the highest cost device (the substation be completed to provide adequate
U.S. and not in an urban center, the transformer) at greater risk of construction standards for designers
odds are pretty slim the EDN around degradation and failure. Do you and construction crews.
you is anywhere close to a grid in its know the real-time loading of your
topology. Much of the EDN in the substation transformers? Including the Logistics
U.S. has a radial star topology and VAR loading? Could the addition of The addition of communications
circuits from different substation utility owned storage or distributed configuration and control
sources rarely cross paths. To realize a generation provide the needed programming, both specific to devices’
major consumer benefit of the Smart capacity without changing the physical and electrical locations,
Grid, fewer or shorter outages, this transformer? These factors need to be adds new installation steps to the
needs to change. carefully understood before feeders deployment of previously “dumb”
and substations begin relying on each devices. Who will perform these new
Design Practices other to mitigate outages and to tasks? When will they be done? How
Do you design your circuits to achieve provide load relief. will the configuration information
a predetermined Customer Average be recorded, documented, and
Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI)? Circuit Capacity maintained? To ensure the right
Do you consider the proliferation of The move to a true grid topology device is readily available whenever
residential distributed energy resources EDN requires the removal of circuit and wherever it’s needed in the
(DERs) such as photovoltaic (PV) or capacity and voltage level constraints network, you must closely coordinate
plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to normalize power flow paths and purchasing management, materials
in your designs? Do you consider provide the required operational management and device preparation.
nearly 100-percent reverse power flow flexibility. Standardizing on as few
a normal occurrence on distribution voltages and conductor sizes as
circuits? Do you require feeders to possible is necessary to achieve this.
tie with other feeders from different
substations? These are only a few of the Physical Field Asset Capacity
design challenges your engineers need Poles, cross arms, brackets, insulators,
to overcome to deploy and extend the and down guys all have physical
Smart Grid EDN. constraints. Do not underestimate
the impact that the new Smart Grid
Alternate Paths EDN will have on these. New, larger
Reducing CAIDI boils down to conductor sizes may require the
two critical variables: the number wholesale replacement of cross arms,
of customers out of service and the insulators, brackets, and down guys
minutes they are out. The reduction – possibly even poles – due to the
of either relies on the isolation of the additional weight of the conductor. And
fewest customers and the restoration if you need to increase voltage levels,
of power to the remainder. Without the same may be required to ensure
a diverse source grid topology, you adequate conductor height and spacing.
The Smart Grid–Where to Start 5

6. Element 4: Integration Architecture
If your integration architecture is built Security ESB. However, an ESB makes a SOA
upon point-to-point interfaces, the Security must be intrinsic to your more robust and flexible. Think plug
deployment of your Smart Grid and integration architecture, as well as and play at the system level.
the systems that operate it will, at the your network infrastructure and
very least, be an interesting endeavor. applications. Integration security deals Common Information Model
This is not to say point-to-point with the separation and isolation of (CIM)
interfaces are not needed. In certain data elements in systems, data tables, IEC 61868 and IEC 61870—collectively
circumstances, they are preferred. message schemas, and ESB transport referred to as “the CIM,” enable
However, the broad spectrum of layers. It also encompasses the control interoperability between systems at
data to be collected, transformed, and of the meta-data repository associated the data level. So what does that do
managed, and the value of sharing this with the Common Information Model for you? It minimizes the need for
new information across the enterprise, (CIM) and access to that control. The data transformation between systems—
makes the use of point-to point- ability to trace and log individual i.e. the minimum data definition and
integration well, nearly pointless. data elements as they traverse the attributes are the same in all CIM
integration layers of your Smart Grid can compliant systems for the same data
provide invaluable information in the element called “CUSTOMER.” When
unfortunate event of a security incident. combined with an ESB, it becomes the
standard data set for your enterprise.
Service Oriented Architecture Powerful. You need this to realize
(SOA) the full benefits of your Smart Grid
The best mature solution to implementation.
supplant point-to-point integration
methodologies, especially with the Business Process Monitoring
number of systems in a Smart Grid or Management (BPM)
solution, is a Service Oriented How well do you know your existing
Architecture (SOA). This allows processes? Are they adequately
systems to provide data to other documented? Better yet, do you
systems that need it essentially know how your business processes
“on-demand,” enabling a one-to-many will change during and after the
integration with a high level implementation of a Smart Grid?
of standardization. The Smart Grid will transform how
employees interact with each other,
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) customers, information and the
The large number of systems, new Energy Delivery Network (EDN)
and legacy, involved in deploying a itself. All of this interaction enables
Smart Grid solution makes the most better decisions and more effective
efficient method for integration the actions. And the ESB mentioned earlier
implementation of a services-based can make use of these processes to
message bus. Commonly called an get the right information to the right
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) or just personnel and systems at the right
“The Bus,” it provides flow-related time. The ESB can also provide the
concepts such as transformation data to monitor business processes and
and routing to a SOA... An ESB also throughput to immediately identify
provides an abstraction for endpoints. process constraints and failures.
This promotes flexibility in the
transport layer and enables loose
coupling and easy connection between
services. So what does all of that
mean? The systems of a Smart Grid
can be integrated via SOA without an
6

7. Energy, Utilities & Chemicals the way we see it
Element 5: Legacy IT Systems
Few Smart Grid deployments replace spectrum may require significant work
all involved information systems in to mitigate constraints that will be
a wholesale manner. So, the odds around for many years to come.
are there will be at least one legacy
IT system integrated into your Smart Ability To Integrate
Grid solution. The prime suspect is Legacy systems typically rely on older
the Customer Information System integration methods (or none at all)
(CIS). These legacy systems typically to share data and may not be capable
have significant constraints around the of providing data in modern formats
following issues. such as XML. This does not inhibit
integration; it only reduces flexibility,
Security and increases complexity and cost. You
How secure are your legacy IT need to understand the constraints of
systems? How many personnel have each legacy system in your Smart Grid
the knowledge of the systems to detect solution and design accordingly.
malicious code? How strict are the
levels of user access, audit logging, and Data Structure
data validation/ integrity checking? Constraints in field formats, field
How are legacy systems exposed to lengths, table structures, null values,
the newer integration technologies? Be leading zeros, etc. are important
aware, as legacy systems are integrated details that can make legacy system
into the near-real time Smart Grid integration a challenge. Newer
world, their security constraints need integration layer technology makes
to be addressed. accommodating the constraints of the
legacy system possible, but no less
Place in Lifecycle tedious. As always, the devil is in the
Understand where the legacy systems details. And typically, changing these
involved in your Smart Grid solution constraints in the legacy system is not
are in their useful lifecycle. It may be an economic option.
worth the wait for an older system
to be replaced before spending the
time and money to integrate it. Also,
systems at the newer end of the legacy
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For more information about Smart Energy Services, please visit
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The Smart Grid–Where to Start 7

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About Capgemini and the
Collaborative Business Experience
®
Capgemini, one of the global revenues of EUR 8.4 billion and
world’s foremost providers employs 90,000 people worldwide.
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Capgemini provides its clients with in Energy, Utilities and Chemicals projects
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Practice Leader
Smart Energy Services
gord.reynolds@capgemini.com
+1 416.732.2200
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