Substation Best Practices Consortium
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Facilitating Communication and Collaboration
The Substation Best Practices Consortium is a community of industry professionals led by a Utility Steering Group for exchanging ideas and sharing innovative and leading edge practices across the industry.
It brings together the leading North American electric utilities to solve common industry problems and understand how to achieve superior business outcomes.
The program promotes a web of working and networking channels between members to support ongoing sharing of data, information, technology and practices.
For more information, contact us by email at substation@umsgroup.com or by phone at +1-973-335-3555
Background of the Consortium
In 2013, UMS Group was engaged by PG&E to conduct an industry study on Substation Inspection practices. The intent behind the study was to understand the opportunities that existed for more efficient and effective inspections in order to drive change in practices at the utility. The results of the study were compelling enough that UMS Group was further engaged to facilitate a two-day forum in which the participants were brought together to share their practices and discuss issues related to driving performance improvement.
The following year, UMS Group performed a similar effort around circuit breaker and power transformer maintenance. At the conclusion of the forum for this study, several of the other utilities, who had participated in both studies, expressed a desire to form an ongoing group focused on sharing around Substation Maintenance, Construction, and Asset Management. This resulted in the establishment of what is now known as the Substation Best Practices Consortium.
Substation Best Practices Conference
Annual Conference: Save the Date! September 25th – September 27th
The Substation Best Practices Consortium Conference is the cornerstone of our program. This is where sharing and collaboration are at its best. The standard program starts with on-site interviews of the Member to identify practices, processes and technology that members are using to address the below topic areas. These interviews are used to create an agenda for the conference. During the conference the members will select follow-up activities or the rest of the year including the identification of three topics be included in a more Detailed Study to be part of the program report.
Program Components of Our Yearly Cycle:
The Substation Best Practices Consortium (SBPC) is a community of industry professionals led by a Utility Steering Group for exchanging ideas and sharing innovative and leading edge practices across the industry.
The program has been operating for now 10 years, bringing together the leading American electric utilities to solve common industry problems and understand how to achieve superior business outcomes.
Webinars
March 21, 2023
Computer Vision + IR Substation Scanning With Wireless Alerts – Complimentary
May 15, 2023
Substation Security: Utility Case Studies and Mitigations – Complimentary
June 14, 2023
July 18, 2023
TBD
Endeavor Substation Technology
- Maturity Model Development: Continued development of the Substation maturity model, modeled after leading competency models used in several industry frameworks such as ISO 55000 (Asset Management), and IWRMC (wildfire risk mitigation consortium).
- Best Practice Interest Groups: Groups convened on a periodic basis to share best practices around key use-cases faced by the industry such as: Touchless Substations, SF6 Breakers, Maturity Model Development and Best Practice Sharing.
- Benchmarking and Surveys: Annual Benchmarks covering: O&M Cost per Asset, Asset Performance, Maintenance Hrs by Type, Staffing Analysis, Asset Age analysis, etc. Topics and surveys are created and modeled withing the participants.
– Breaker Deep Dive in Development - Technology Leaderboard: Utility-driven assessments of technologies employed, containing several elements that highlight: Available technologies, Relative ranking by use-case, Detailed usage by sup-process and TechTruth Talks.
- News & Research Web Portal updated and curated with the latest substation related news, academic research, new technologies, and xxx from utilities around the world.
In addition, we have also have the ability to facilitate Optional Opt-In Projects: Projects can include Detailed research and reports, Joint development of technology products and platforms, and new technology/ tool evaluation.
2023 Topic Overview
We have been working with the program Sponsoring Members to develop the prioritized topics for this year’s cycle and conference:
Asset and Risk Management:
1. More immediately supports calls for Digitalization of the business
2. Better addresses key risks in the business
3. Supports the push by many utilities for “Touchless” strategies, to reduce / eliminate field work
Workforce Enablement Leaderboard
1. Workforce mobility solutions
2. Work planning, scheduling, and productivity optimization
3. New workforce skills, training, recruiting, incentives / motivation, etc.
Specific Topics will include (these were results from polling of webinar participants/wider population then just SG Members):
- New Sensor Technology
- Asset Failure for Main Substation Equipment
- Evaluation and Investment for Maintenance Projects
- Aerial Inspections
- Offshore Substations
- Asset Risk Management
- Regional Transmission Planning
- Decarbonization – Climate Change
- Workforce Management – Retention and Attraction of Employees
Member Engagement
Networking and Information Sharing
A key benefit to program participation is the ability to leverage the experience and knowledge of our utility subject matter experts
Industry Practice Sharing
Industry benchmarking is a significant component of the model, allowing participants to stay informed of the latest developments and issues in the industry
Collaborative Deep Dive Projects
Collaborative projects bring participating utilities together to work across all phases of the deep dives project from study ideas creation to submission of final report and results review
Portal and Electronic Library
Knowledge Management. The Substation Best Practices Consortium supports the exchange and management of experience and data via secure, effective program tools:
• Reports Database – Reports library, advisories, and alerts, lessons learned
• Metrics and Analytics – Metrics database, reports, peer benchmarking
• Surveys – Formal, member-wide questions and responses
Participating Companies
Facts & Figures
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Years of Service – 10 years
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Steering Group Members – 5 including AES, PG&E, SCE, and Evergy
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Number of Participants – 30 annually
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Number of Participants at Conference – 50 to 60
Resources
Substation Best Practices Consortium Tear Sheet
Webinars
Learn more about the Substation Best Practices Consortium
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