At DISTRIBUTECH, Oracle announced new features for its Oracle Utilities Network Management System (NMS) to help control room operators and program managers manage distributed energy resources (DERs) more efficiently. These ADMS enhancements improve demand response and DER management, alleviating grid stress while optimizing performance using both front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter data. Additionally, the new innovations support utilities in addressing extreme weather events through rapid response, restoration, and decentralization.
Used by six of the top 10 U.S. utilities and supporting over 61 million customers, Oracle Utilities NMS provides a unified model to optimize grid performance and integrate renewable energy resources. Its modular and composable architecture combines outage management, distribution, DER, and SCADA system management with analytics and advanced applications, allowing utilities to deploy necessary components in a cost-effective, phased approach.
Extended DER capabilities:
New features in the Oracle Utilities Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) module of Oracle Utilities NMS enhance grid event management and optimization. This includes new forecast and trend monitoring settings that provide users with deeper insights into expected load and the impact of DER reductions for planned events. Additionally, a new 7-day forecast algorithm allows for event planning up to a week in advance with hourly forecasts, enabling faster and more efficient forecast generation with fewer resources.
“Oracle has made notable advancements with its DERMS platform since its initial release by developing grid- and edge-DERMS solutions aimed at utility-scale DER and aggregated DER portfolios, respectively,” stated Michael Kelly, associate director for market intelligence and advisory firm Guidehouse Insights. “In targeting DERMS from a grid management (grid DERMS) and customer and programs perspective (edge DERMS)—end-to-end DERMS solutions facilitate greater coverage and visibility from the customer to the network.”
Oracle Utilities DERMS also now supports grid-connected energy resources, providing new data to aid in network optimization. An expanded model for battery energy storage systems (BESS)—used by utilities to store energy from renewable sources and release it when needed—adds real-time and forward-looking data for more cost-effective resource optimization. Similarly, an enhanced model for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) includes technical data and smart charging modes to optimize EVs and charging stations. These enhancements help grid operators effectively utilize DER resources while helping better manage voltage and loading conditions.
New integrated capabilities in the Oracle Utilities Flex SCADA module enhance the Oracle NMS platform by enabling the deployment, commissioning, monitoring, and control of field devices. An enhanced interface helps users quickly access, and act on, high-level data, including historical and real-time trends, while dynamically setting or adjusting limits for devices such as feeder breakers and reclosers based on measured values. Additionally, a fully modernized calculation engine enables users to more easily create and update calculations to reflect real-time data changes. Users can customize power measurements or complex aggregations and apply them to individual devices or entire device classes.
“Control room operators and program managers need a modern, integrated ADMS platform to simplify DER management, deliver more value on both sides of the meter, and make their critical operations easier,” stated Brad Harkavy, vice president, Oracle Utilities. “Oracle Utilities NMS provides a comprehensive, data-driven approach to managing both traditional grid infrastructure and emerging DERs. The system’s modularity enables our customers to scale with ease and implement just the functionality they need at just the right time.”
Additional new features and updates in Oracle Utilities NMS include:
DER Orchestration: To optimize behind-the-meter, customer-owned DERs, an enhanced module develops demand response and DER event dispatch strategy templates. Users can leverage the templates to activate load shedding and load shaping—through economic, emergency, and reliability events—more seamlessly integrating customers, assets, and programs while reducing energy costs and supporting decarbonization initiatives.
Outage Management: To optimize safety and efficiency, the improved Oracle Utilities Outage Management System (OMS) enables toggling of all crew assignments in the viewer. Operators can quickly identify unassigned outages, deploy open crews, and track assigned locations for crews unable to provide real-time updates due to poor network coverage.
Flexible Operations: To promote work efficiency and productivity, an updated Oracle Utilities NMS Flex Operations browser client allows utilities to quickly scale and onboard call entry personnel anywhere. New outage and abnormal device status summaries also provide remote users with enhanced situational awareness to help manage events and crews more effectively during major incidents.
Power Restoration: To help improve reliability and reduce outage duration, new features enable operators to activate Oracle Fault Location, Isolation, and Service Restoration (FLISR) within substations. Utilities can benefit with more comprehensive fault response and miscoordination event handling capabilities, both inside and outside substations.
