2. STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
"I have read the report and agree that it is basically and factually correct record of the
student’s employment. Further, I give approval on behalf of Powerlink Queensland, for
the report to be made available to interested stakeholders, such as other bursary spon-
sor companies and other bursary holders via the Australian Power Institute’s website."
Wayne Haak - Digital Asset
Strategies Manager
Signature
Date
ii
3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
From November 2014 through to February 2015 I was employed by Powerlink Queens-
land within the Investment & Planning division as a Vacation Student Engineer in the
Digital Asset Strategies team.
The role’s objective was to provide a number analytical reports and tools on Sec-
ondary Systems in service across Powerlink’s Network to aid the team in achieving
their objectives of planning strategies that manage the Secondary Systems digital as-
sets in service across Powerlink’s Network. These strategies work together with the
strategies of other teams within Powerlink to ensure that the Network provides a safe,
secure and economical means of transporting bulk electricity across Queensland.
Each report produced required different approaches and workflows due to the required
report outcomes, differences in the data being operated on and differences in the dig-
ital assets associated with that data. A range of software packages and tools were
used:
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
• SAP Enterprise Resource Planning
• Objective Document Management system
The role presented significant technical challenges through which I gained a deeper
understanding and respect for the need of for the level of monitoring and control in
electrical power networks to provide a secure, economical service. Noteworthy chal-
lenges included:
• programming to automate data processing with wide varieties of source data;
• managing assets from a reliability standpoint;
• using statistical data and methods to derive real results; and
• learning new programming languages.
Additionally I developed in my understanding of the various regulations and authorities
that govern the work of an entity such as Powerlink, especially with regards to the me-
tering requirements of the National Electricity Rules.
The experiences and work during my time with Powerlink have given me insight into a
different facet of the Electricity Supply Industry and Power Engineering. I have learned
that Digital assets play a vital role in ensuring the safe, secure and economical delivery
of electricity and developed an understanding of how separate branches of Engineering
and business departments work together in large systems to achieve common goals. I
look forward to expanding my knowledge and experience in other areas of the Industry
in the future.
iii
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank everyone at Powerlink and the Australian Power Institute for providing
me with this invaluable opportunity for professional development. I also wish to thank
my supervisor, Wayne Haak, and all of the team in Digital Asset Strategies for their
guidance, patience and willingness to pass on their knowledge during my time with
them.
v
6. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AER — The Australian Energy Regulator
AMT — Asset Monitoring Team
DAS — Digital Asset Strategies team
DDR — Digital Disturbance Recorder
GOC — Government Owned Corporation
IED — Intelligent Electronic Device
I&P — Investment and Planning division
NEM — The National Electricity Market
NER — The National Electricity Rules
the Network — The Powerlink Transmission Network
PLC — Programmable Logic Controller
RP — Responsible Person
S&P — Strategies and Planning group
TNSP — Transmission Network Service Provider
VBA — Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications
vi
7. 1 INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES
From November 2014 through to February 2015 I was employed by Powerlink Queens-
land within the Investment & Planning (I&P) division as a Vacation Student Engineer
in the Digital Asset Strategies team. The role’s main objective was to develop spread-
sheet tools and reports that would aid the team in assessing the current condition of
the Secondary Systems assets across Powerlink’s network (the Network). These as-
sessments will aid the team in planning future maintenance and projects by highlighting
areas of need among the assets, thereby allowing more efficacious use of resources.
Specific details of these tasks and a brief discussion of the company and its organisa-
tional structure make up the main body of the report.
2 BACKGROUND
2.1 Company Overview
Powerlink Queensland is a Queensland Government Owned Corporation (GOC) that
owns and operates Queensland’s high voltage electricity transmission network. Their
role in the National Electricity Market (NEM) is as a Transmission Network Service
Provider (TNSP), serving as the bulk electricity transport medium between participants
in the NEM [1]:
• Power generators
• Large industrial consumers such as mines, smelters and rail
• Regional distribution network operators - Energex, Ergon Energy and Essential
Energy
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) governs Powerlink’s revenues, gained by charg-
ing users of the Network according to the National Electricity Rules’ (NER) price guide-
lines.
The Network comprises over $5 billion in assets, including transmission lines, high
voltage substations and all associated operating equipment. Servicing the state of
Queensland, it extends from north of Cairns 1700km to the New South Wales border
(see Figure A.1 in Appendix A) covering almost half of the eastern seaboard of Aus-
tralia [1].
2.2 Organisational Structure
Powerlink conducts it’s business of providing a safe, reliable and cost-effective trans-
mission network through six primary divisions:
1
8. • Finance and Business Performance - who are responsible for business planning,
improvement, efficiency and process;
• Infrastructure Delivery and Technical Services - who coordinate the design, con-
struction, delivery and refurbishment of transmission assets;
• Investment and Planning (I&P) - who plan network development, asset manage-
ment practices, customer relations, proper and regulatory requirements;
• Operations and Field Services - who deliver safe, efficient network operations
and field-related services;
• People and Culture - who provide human resource, recruitment, administrative
support, leadership and performance tools services; and
• Stakeholder Relations and Corporate Services - who focus on delivering key out-
comes to stakeholders and corporate support across the organisation [2].
Detailed explanations of all divisions are outside the scope of this report, however I&P’s
roles and divisional group breakdown are explored.
2.2.1 Investment and Planning
I&P manage Powerlink’s assets over whole-of-life in line with the business objectives
and strategies of the company by providing services such as:
• planning network development;
• capital investment decision making;
• ageing assets strategies;
• customer network and telecommunications connections;
• operation and maintenance decision making;
• optimising resources and life cycles;
• project planning and sponsorship for capital, refurbishment and maintenance
projects; and
• regulatory activities management.
These outcomes are achieved across six separate groups:
• Strategy and Planning
• Portfolio and Business Management
• Network Customers
• Network Regulation
• Network Property
• Landholder Relations [2]
2
9. 2.2.2 Strategy and Planning
Strategy and Planning’s (S&P) responsibility is to optimise the life time performance of
the Network and digital technology assets with respect to cost efficiency and reliability
by:
• developing asset strategies;
• analysing plant performance and condition to determine maintenance, refurbish-
ment and replacement needs;
• planning network requirements; and
• ensuring quality of supply.
Outcomes from these activities are analysed to identify the preferred options for the
respective projects with the goal of finding optimal solutions that underpin the delivery
of safe, reliable and cost-effective transmission services. The five teams that perform
these duties:
• Digital Asset Strategies
• HV Asset Strategies
• Main Grid and Controls Planning
• Regional Grid Planning
• Network Integration [2]
2.2.3 Digital Asset Strategies
The Digital Asset Strategies team (DAS) develops strategies to enact the aims of the
S&P group for Powerlink’s digital assets, that is Secondary Systems (or non-Primary
Plant) assets including:
• protection and control systems;
• statistical and revenue metering;
• telecommunications networks and equipment; and
• energy management systems.
Development and implementation of the strategies are a result of carefully assessing
the performance, suitability, reliability, conditions and obsolescence of the digital as-
sets. Maintenance plans are also developed and enacted through Reliability Centred
Management (RCM). Strategies are continually assessed and updated, based on as-
sessing Network performance, cost effectiveness and field auditing [2].
Figure A.2 in Appendix A shows the overall corporate structure of Powerlink, and high-
lights the place of DAS among the various divisions, groups and teams discussed.
3
10. 2.3 Metering
Chapter 7 of the NER outlines provisions governing energy metering in the NEM as
well as obligations for all parties involved in the NEM. Under the Rules, Powerlink must
nominate a Responsible Person (RP) who, under Clause 7.2.1(a)(1), is responsible for
the
"...provision, installation and maintenance of a metering installation..."
and under Clause 7.2.1(b) must do so according to
"...Chapter 7; and"
"...procedures authorised under the Rules." [3]
DAS is home to Powerlink’s nominated RP.
Due to the significant bulk energy readings processed by each metering installation,
and therefore used extensively in pricing the energy usage, the requirement for meter-
ing accuracy is critical. Chapter 7 thus imposes strict accuracy tolerances for metering
equipment as well as defined test and inspection periods. These factors highlight the
importance and of the role of the RP and any work undertaken in the metering sphere.
3 ROLE
The work performed throughout the vacation employment falls under the broad cat-
egory of producing reports and tools using spreadsheet applications. The outcomes
of these reports were to aid the DAS team in managing Powerlink’s digital assets in
accordance with their operational procedures and strategies, outlined in the previous
section.
3.1 Tools
Each report produced required different approaches and workflows due to the required
report outcomes, differences in the data being operated on and differences in the digital
assets associated with that data. As such, a range of software packages and tools were
used:
• Microsoft Excel - a spreadsheet publishing and editing package.
• Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) - a programming language based
on Microsoft’s Visual Basic 6 that is integrated into Excel and enables advanced
control and automation of the host application through user-defined macros and
functions.
• SAP Enterprise Resource Planning - Powerlink’s business management software
that features a range of applications that handles tasks from project planning and
maintenance scheduling through to inventory management and payroll process-
ing.
4
11. • Objective - electronic record and document management system used by Pow-
erlink to adhere to the Public Records Act 2002 (Qld) under its obligations as a
GOC [4].
3.2 Work Performed & Outcomes
3.2.1 Allen-Bradley Programmable Logic Controller Assessment
A number of this brand of programmable logic controller (PLC) are in service in the
Network for monitoring and control of transformers i.e. on-line tap change, temperature
control and alarms etc. Failures occurring over time coupled with a lack of availability of
replacements (units are currently refurbished) led to an investigation of these devices.
The report generated required:
• the number and location of all of the Allen-Bradley PLC’s currently in service;
• the age of the transformer to which each device is attached;
• the failure rate of each device over a ten year period; and
• the number of spares in inventory.
The results from this investigation were presented in a meeting which led to a replace-
ment program for the PLC’s being initiated.
3.2.2 Intelligent Electronic Device Business Requirements
There are a significant number of protection system intelligent electronic devices (IED)
used by the Asset Monitoring Team (AMT) as digital disturbance recorders (DDR)
within substations in service. These devices vary in brand, type and data retrieval
method. A project was initiated with the objective of centralising the data retrieval from
across the operational network, increasing the data accuracy and its availability to the
AMT. The work required creating a complete list of the variety IED’s in service, specifi-
cally to show:
• brand, model and number in service;
• functionality;
• communication protocol; and
• data format and retrieval method.
This allowed the project team to outline the requirements of the proposed centralised
system.
3.2.3 Secondary Systems Risk Analysis
The purpose of this work was to do a basic risk assessment on the individual types of
Secondary Systems equipment in service in order to better allocate resources. Achiev-
ing this required merging data from two separate sources - Secondary Systems equip-
ment in service and equipment stock - in order to asses the level of availability of
spares, followed by obtaining the number of failures per year for each type of equip-
ment and allocating a risk score based on the information.
5
12. 3.2.4 Asset Condition Assessment Tool
A major piece of work that involved building on previous tools built by other staff. The
condition assessment tool is an Excel workbook with VBA Macros that serve three
main functions:
• aggregate the number and types of Secondary System equipment installed under
the various assets across the Network;
• use this data to produce a Condition Assessment form for Secondary Systems at
each substation/site in the Network; and
• retain the assessment scores of completed forms against the assets and give an
overall Health Index for each substation/site.
The layout and some functionality of the tool was already completed when work com-
menced, however significant re-work and additions were required that improved the
efficiency and speed of operation of the tool as well as the accuracy of the source data
i.e. reliability scores for equipment were changed from average to normalised reliability
values per year for each type of equipment according to the function
R(t) = e−λt
,
where λ = equipment failure rate,
t = time period [5].
To achieve the desired outcome, significant amounts of programming in VBA were
undertaken as well as extracting and analysing source data from SAP to ensure that it
was the most up to date and accurate.
3.2.5 Metering Maintenance Planning
DAS coordinate metering maintenance in accordance with Chapter 7 of the NER,
specifically, planning testing and inspections for metering equipment every:
• 2.5 years for metering inspections;
• 5 years for metering accuracy testing;
• 10 years for overall accuracy calculations; and
• 10 years for core accuracy testing of metering current and voltage transformers.
[6].
Maintenance plans are created in SAP and work orders are automatically generated
500 days in advance of the scheduled test/inspection date. Sometimes however, due
dates for testing compliance are before the scheduled work order date and thus the
equipment could become non-compliant according to the NER time frames. The re-
port generated required projecting future test due dates from current test records of
all metering equipment and test types for comparison with the future planned mainte-
nance dates to highlight equipment that required the scheduled dates to be altered to
ensure future testing compliance. VBA automation was used here due to the quantity
of metering equipment and of the data sources used.
6
13. 4 ANALYSIS & CONCLUSION
4.1 Technical
During my time at Powerlink I was challenged by many technical aspects of the tasks
that were assigned to me. Overall, I gained a deeper understanding and respect for the
need of for the level of monitoring and control in electrical power networks to provide a
secure, economical service. Particular technical challenges of note include:
• the challenge in programming to automate data processing with wide varieties of
data, often with inconsistencies between similar cases;
• managing assets from a reliability standpoint and using statistical data and meth-
ods to derive real results; and
• learning a new programming language (VBA).
Additionally I developed in my understanding of the various regulations and authorities
that govern the work of an entity such as Powerlink, especially with regards to the
metering requirements of the NER.
4.2 Non-technical
Powerlink is a performance-driven and thoroughly professional business that has af-
forded me the opportunity to further develop in the areas of:
• accurate and professional communication;
• work ethic and professional conduct;
• organisation and meeting deadlines;
• understanding corporate structure and its value in achieving shared goals; and
• understanding the economic effects of engineering decisions.
Having developed in these areas, and with further practice, I feel that I will be in a good
position to enter the professional workforce upon completion of my studies.
4.3 Conclusion
The experiences and work during my time with Powerlink have given me insight into
a facet of the Electricity Supply Industry and Power Engineering of which I have had
little experience or knowledge. Despite having the moniker of Secondary Systems,
digital assets play a vital role in ensuring the safe, secure and economical delivery of
electricity across an area as large as Queensland. I consider this further knowledge
of how separate branches of Engineering and business departments work together
in large systems essential for becoming an effective Engineer and I look forward to
expanding my knowledge and experience in other areas of the Industry in the future.
7
14. 5 Bibliography
[1] Powerlink Queensland. Powerlink Queensland Corporate Profile. Company Book-
let, 2014.
[2] Powerlink Queensland. Corporate divisions. Company Private Intranet Portal,
2014. Last accessed February 26 2015.
[3] Australian Electricity Market Commission. NATIONAL ELECTRICITY RULES
VERSION 68. http://www.aemc.gov.au/getattachment/2d5b7ced-3d06-4eac-
ad15-38f34ec32a32/National-Electricity-Rule-Version-68.aspx, 2015. Ch.7
p. 915-916. Last accessed February 26 2015.
[4] N. Symonds. Powerlink record keeping policy version 2.1. Internal company docu-
ment, October 2010.
[5] Inc. ITEM Software. Reliability Prediction Basics. http://www.reliabilityedu
cation.com/ReliabilityPredictionBasics.pdf, 2007. Web document. Last ac-
cessed February 26 2015.
[6] Australian Electricity Market Commission. NATIONAL ELECTRICITY RULES
VERSION 68. http://www.aemc.gov.au/getattachment/2d5b7ced-3d06-4eac-
ad15-38f34ec32a32/National-Electricity-Rule-Version-68.aspx, 2015. Ch.7
p. 983. Last accessed February 26 2015.
8
