Orion Substation Automation Platform to Provide Distribution Automation, Other Smart RTU Functions

 

Pepco Holdings Inc. (PHI) recently awarded NovaTech a project for the design, supply, installation, and start-up of eight Smart RTUs for distribution substations in their Washington, D.C. service territory as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funded initiative.  The project will deploy distribution automation and communication infrastructure technology to reduce peak load demand and improve grid efficiency. (download the Distribution Automation Orion Application Document in our Documentation Library)

The new Smart RTUs are designed around the NovaTech OrionLX Substation Automation Platform and will replace existing hard-wired RTUs of 30+ year-old vintage with a modern and Cyber Secure substation LAN-based distributed RTU solution.

Orion Product Manager Eric Schultz explains, "the Smart RTUs consist of three different types of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) integrated via DNP serial and DNP/IP communications links, and interrogated by the OrionLX.  The IED data is then concentrated in the OrionLX and served to a local HMI, running on a solid-state, fanless PC, and to PHI’s SCADA control center via DNP serial and DNP/IP.  The system is designed with full accommodations for NERC CIP compliance, with the ability to serve DNP data over an encrypted link to the SCADA host."

NovaTech’s scope of responsibility for the project includes:

• Equipment procurement
• RTU cabinet layout, design, assembly and wiring
• OrionLX configuration
• HMI design and configuration
• Factory testing
• Removal of existing RTUs
• Installation of new RTUs, including interconnecting wiring
• Documentation
• Assistance for PHI commissioning activities with new RTUs

Within NovaTech, the project was executed in a compressed schedule - the first two of the eight RTU units are expected to be fully commissioned and in service at the time of printing, only eight weeks after project award. "This responsive delivery was enabled by coordinated effort from all three NovaTech divisions in Lenexa, KS, Bethlehem, PA and Owings Mills, MD,” notes CEO Volker Oakey.

Joe Tilton, Production Manager of the Lenexa, KS Orion division explains, "the OrionLX ISA and communication boards were populated and tested at our Bethlehem, PA Bitronics facility. All design, fabrication, assembly, and testing of the OrionLX and RTU cabinet components were completed by personnel in our Lenexa, KS facility.  The on-site installation and commissioning assistance is being completed in a coordinated effort between NovaTech personnel in the Lenexa and Owings Mills, MD facilities."