Implementation of Online ABT monitoring System In The Tata Power Co. Ltd.

Mumbai
S. G. Patki, S. C. Dhapre, S. G. Joshi, S. A. Wangade

Introduction TATA Power Company is the largest private sector utility in the field of generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. It owns and operates thermal generating stations at Trombay in Mumbai,Jojobera in Jharkhand, and Belgaum in Karnataka with combined installed capacity of 1858 MW. It has also set up hydro generating plants at Bhira,Bhivpuri and Khopoli in the Raigad district of Maharashtra with combined installed capacity of 480 MW.TPC is responsible for distribution of electricity in Mumbai and has set up extensive transmission and distribution network in its Mumbai operations. TPC network is interconnected with MSETCL at Trombay,Kalwa & Borivli. In addition to the above interconnecting points, TPC has provided several 22 KV outlets to MSETCL from its receiving stations at Kalyan, Ambarnath, Salsette, Kolshet and Panvel. MSETCL partly caters to the loads in above areas by wheeling power through 22 KV outlets provided by TPC. Also, some direct customers of MSETCL are fed through TPC network in Saki and Khopoli area. Thus, in all there are about 24 metering points between MSETCL and TPC at different geographic locations spread over a distance of 100 KM. Static, HT Trivector meters with TOD features are installed at these metering points. The meters are jointly read every month to arrive at the net interchange between TPC and MSETCL during the month in each TOD slot. Need for change in metering scheme In May, 2004 TPC decided to supply power to utilities outside Maharashtra, as per availability, using transmission network of MSETCL. In view of ABT tariff being applicable for such transactions, TPC was required to monitor net interchange with MSETCL on fifteen-minute basis and also provide schedule of power Sale on fifteen-minute time slot

basis, in advance. Existing TOD tariff would continue to apply for normal power transactions between TPC and MSETCL. Existing TOD meters were not suitable for this application and it was necessary to install new meters. Also, it was decided to install a scheme for remote communication with the meters and monitor the net exchange between TPC and MSETCL on a real time basis to avoid excessive unscheduled interchange during periods of wheeling. Procurement of meters and software The salient points included in the specifications for meters and on line monitoring software were 1. The meters should be compatible for TOD as well as ABT. 2.Meter should have two independent auxiliary supplies, one DC and one AC for better reliability. 3.Meter should be suitable for remote communication on a real time basis. 4.On line monitoring software should be capable of collecting and collating data from all the connected meters on a real time basis and compute net exchange between MSETCL and TPC once in a minute. 5. On line monitoring System should provide userfriendly screens for continuous monitoring of net exchange. 6. Monitoring screen should change the color when unscheduled interchange is resulting into net loss to TPC. 7.Communication failure should be annunciated immediately. 8. It should be possible to prepare daily schedule and e-mail or FAX the same to RLDC. 9. System should generate user defined MIS reports such as monthly UI report highlighting periods of high-unscheduled interchange. TPC procured new meters compatible with ABT as well as TOD along with on line monitoring software

in May-2004. New meters were installed in series with the existing TVMs.The server and software installation at Trombay along with necessary set up for remote communication was completed in November-2004. Installation of Communication network. As the metering points were geographically spread, getting data at a central location on real time basis was a challenging task and required very reliable communication network. Out of the total 24 metering points, only 13 points were measuring significant interchange of power with MSETCL. Remaining 11 metering points were located in consumer premises and the combined consumption recorded by them was insignificant. It was therefore decided to include only 13 major metering points in the on linemonitoring scheme. Out of these 13 major metering points, connectivity to TPCs own Fiber optic network was available for only 8 metering points located in TPC receiving stations at Salsette, Kolshet, Saki, Kalyan and Trombay. Three metering points located at Kalwa and Borivli stations of MSETCL and two points located at Ambernath substation of TPC did not have FOP connectivity and required some other media to establish communication with the Server. Depending on the availability of communication media & geographical location, following communication configurations were chosen. 1.Leased Telephone Line was used for Meters at Kalwa as FOP network was not available here. 2.Combination of Leased telephone line and TPC Fiber network was chosen for the meter at Borivali since nearest available FOP network point was about 2 Km away from the meter. The data is transferred up to FOP point using leased line and further transfer of data to the server is through FOP. 3.Two meters at Trombay were connected directly to the Data Acquisition Server (DAS) using copper cables, as they were located very close to the server room. 4.TPC Fiber network was chosen for six meters located at Salsette, Kalyan, Saki & Kolshet.

5.TPC Microwave system was used for two meters at Ambernath as FOP network and leased line was not available. The meter data is transferred directly to server through MW system. As some of the metering installations are in 220kV / 100 kV switchyards, it was decided to use armoured, shielded, four pair, CAT-5 cables for data communication to avoid electro-magnetic interference. To optimize the usage of fiber channels, it was decided to form a Data-Bus at Salsette for all the meters connected to FOP network. ABT Meters 1. The meter is designed to keep last minute data in memory, which is then fetched by the server in a cyclic manner from all the connected meters. 2.The bps.The meter works used on for a serial RS-232 is communication principle with a baud rate of 1200 protocol communication designed to be proprietary for data security. 3. To establish online monitoring with 13 meters at maximum interval of 58 seconds, it was necessary to virtually extend their optical ports to the server. This was achieved by installing some special devices called Net Box (NB-Repeaters) & Data Communication Unit (DCU-Amplifiers) at both meter and server end. (Refer to fig.02) 4. As the data from connected meters was to be integrated every minute between for arriving and at all net the interchange, it was absolutely essential to have time synchronization server connected meters. A GPS clock was connected to the server, which in turn synchronizes individual meter clocks with Server periodically and ensures time synchronization. Problems during commissioning 1. During communication trials, it was observed that indigenous RJ-45 & RJ-11 connectors used for terminations on NBs, DCUs & Modems were not getting latched properly resulting into loose contact and frequent communication failure. Imported connectors were then used to overcome this problem.

2.The data bus formed at Salsette for six meters was intermittently failing to communicate. Investigations revealed that the leased line modem used at Borivli and Kalwa were introducing an extra character in the data string, which was causing CRC failure & pulling the entire data bus down. To overcome this problem, a different make MODEM and DCU was connected at Borivli. 3. The leased line at Kalwa was found to be unreliable & communication used to fail frequently. It was then decided to use TPC Microwave network instead of leased line. 4.Microwave communication was found to be more reliable than the leased line. external Radio Frequency However, due to Interference (RFI),

This screen provided load dispatcher the following data on a minute-to-minute basis a) Schedule and average frequency of current interval b) Block time c) Last minute interchange d) Interchange since start of block e) Prorated interchange at the end of the block f) Desired interchange to avoid unscheduled interchange .g) UI in MW h)Loss or Gain in Rupees i) Alarms. 5.Software was designed for Generating stations and hence only export scheduling was possible. However, to meet increasing demand of Mumbai city, TPC was required to procure peak power from other utilities and thus import scheduling became necessary. This feature was added later. Conclusion. 1. Experience of TPC so far is that FOP network is the most reliable communication media for such critical schemes. It was therefore decided to extend FOP network to all the metering points. 2.If communication with one meter fails, it is not possible to generate UI report for this period. It should be possible to collect meter data manually and input the same in Integration software so that UI report is available for entire month irrespective of communication failures. 3.It should be possible to convert Integration software data and reports in EXCEL format and export the same. This will help the user to generate other MIS reports. 4. The load survey data, frozen readings, tamper events etc registered by connected meters are not captured by the Integration software. This feature should be available with Integration software. 5. Separate communication channel is required to collect billing data from connected meters using meter reading software. It is desirable to obtain this data through the same communication channels used by Integration software to avoid duplication of network.

occasional failure was observed on microwave channels also. On line monitoring Software: 1.Online monitoring scheme works on client-server architecture. The data acquisition server collects & stores data of each meter & the client machine provides online monitoring screens & user-defined reports. 2.Oracle is used for data base management & SQL is used for Server-Client communication on LAN. The server IP is defined in the database. 3. Network configuration is done in Server machine through client machine. 4.The client machine configuration contains Meter master data (Meter Sr. no, Meter IDs Multiplication Factor, etc.) Installation master data, details of Generating station, Virtual meter definitions and their master data, frequency steps, scheduling etc. 4.The software was initially designed to provide two on line monitoring screens. a) Online UI monitoring screen b) Online graphical screen. Toggling between the two screens was found to be cumbersome by our Load dispatch staff.. The software was modified to merge the two screens into a single screen, named Online UI, & graphical screen. (Ref fig 1)

Figure-1 On line monitoring screen on client machine.

ABT Meter-1 ABT Meter-2

NB NB

DCU

Modem

MW

MW

DCU FOX 20 ABT Meter-3 ABT Meter-4 NB NB DCU FOX 20 NBR

FOXU SAL

Modem GPS

FOX U LDD FOX 20 FOX 20

STAR S DAS

DCU

NBR

ABT Meter-5

NB

DCU

STAR S Client

FOX 20 ABT Meter-6 NB DCU

FOX - 20

NBR

ABT Meter-7 ABT Meter-8

NB NB

DCU

FOX - 20

NBR

FOX 20 LLM

FOX 20

NBR

LLM

Figure- 2
ABT Meter-9 LLM ABT Meter-10 DCU NB NBR DCU LLM

ABT Meter-12

NB

TPC Microwave Network

ABT Meter-13 NBR ABT Meter-11 NB

NB

Ambernath

Kalyan LAN Saki

Kolsheth

Salsette

TPC Borivali

MSETCL Borivali

Leased Line

Leased Line 100kV Trombay

100kV Kalwa

220kV Trombay 220kV Kalwa

ABT Online monitoring Network