Learning Consortia

Substation Best Practices Consortium

2022 Substation Best Practices Collaborative Conference at the
Ambassador Hotel, Kansas City – October 11th through Thursday, October 13th, 2022 › Learn more!

Q

Substation Best Practices Program Consortium

Welcome to UMS Group’s eighth annual Best Practices Conference for the Substation Collaborative, hosted by Evergy.

The conference will be held on Tuesday, October 11th through Thursday, October 13th, 2022. Our focal points will be on substation construction, maintenance and asset management policies and practices. The objective of this group is to identify how companies are able to improve performance (both efficiency and effectiveness) of their substation personnel and assets. Our conference will be comprised of a detailed look into the Asset Management and Risk Leaderboard, Operational and Asset Analytics, Impact of Distributed Energy Resources on Substation, Work and Workforce Management and Condition Monitoring.

Registration Fee includes:

- Attendance at all conference sessions and participation in all breakout groups. Two to Three Tours – TBD

- Meals during conference sessions (breakfast all three days, and lunch on Tuesday and Wednesday)

- Evergy Hosted Dinner and UMS Hosted Dinner/Event

FAQs

What are my transportation options for getting to and from the conference center and various events?

All transportation will be provided to and from the tour locations and nightly events throughout the conference.

Conference Hotel: Ambassador Hotel Kansas City, Autograph Collection1111 Grand Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, 64106Tel: +1 816-298-7700 Kansas City International Airport Distance From Property: 19.5 Miles Phone Number: +1 816-243-5237

Kansas City Airport Website: Kansas City Airport

Hotel Airport Shuttle: This hotel does not provide shuttle service.

Alternate Airport Transportation: Super Shuttle

What is the preferred hotel for the conference?

The preferred hotel for the conference is the Ambassador Hotel Kanas City, Autograph Collection. A room block has been reserved and special rates are available from 10/10 to 10/13. The hotel is located about 19 miles from the Airport. Hotel rooms can be booked through the following link: (preferred booking link coming soon) Marriott Ambassador Hotel Kansas City

Is there a limit on the attendees from each utility?

3 attendees can attend from each utility. However, if you would like more to attend reach out to the conference coordinator, Kate Tancke to discuss.

Can attendees bring guests?

Yes, attendees can bring guests. There is a separate ticket that can be purchased for those individuals.

Tickets

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

Program Objective

The Substation Best Practices Consortium’s objective is to build a “community” of industry professionals with similar interests exchanging ideas and working together to share innovative and leading-edge practices from across the electric utility industry.

UMS Group will serve in a coordination and facilitation role for the collaborative, including administering the program, conducting on-site interviews with members, performing analysis and development of collaborative deliverables, facilitating collaborative gatherings, and providing support to utility-led community working groups.

In addition, a Steering Group made up of member representatives will provide oversight and guidance for the program and will ensure that the collaborative provides quality and value to its members.

A Leader in Driving Best Practice

There is a pressing need for meaningful best practice sharing across utilities today. This program is led by knowledgeable leaders among the best North American utilities and facilitated by UMS Group’s operational experts.
Together, we have crafted a program that is focused on how top performers are achieving superior outcomes, and the underlying enablers in areas such as technology, people (training, safety, and productivity), innovation, regulation, and execution.

Vision

The Substation Best Practices Consortium strives to bring utilities together that can work to solve common industry problems and understand how to achieve superior business outcomes through technology, analysis, people (training, safety, and productivity), innovation, and execution.

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

2019

Facts & Figures

Years of Service – 8 years
Steering Group Members – 5 including AES, PG&E, SCE, Evergy and BG&E

Number of Participants – 25 to 30 annually
Number of Participants at Conference – 50 to 60

Substation Best Practices Consortium User Community

THE ANSWER LIES IN COLLABORATION – in a forum of like-minded organizations and people banded together to share knowledge and learn from one another and foster peer relationships.

The group provides many ways for people to get together before, during, and after collaborative activities for continued knowledge sharing.

Substation Best Practices Program Conference

NEXT CONFERENCE COMING SOON!

The Substation Best Practices Consortium 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 Activities

Deep Dive Studies
Facilitated Site Visits
Workshops
Webexs

Technology

Touchless Substation/Wireless Sensors
Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence
Drones and Other Robotics

Operational Analytics

Automating Decision Support
Using Data to Identify Risks
BI Platforms

Asset Management

Prescriptive Analytics
Risk Management
Precision Maintenance Procedures
Asset Replacement Strategies

Workforce

Labor Management/O&M Cost Reduction/Productivity Management
Managing Capital Efficiently
Skills Required for the Digital Future
Measuring and Improving Training Effectiveness

IT/OT Integration

Role/Responsibility Split
Ownership of Risk
Decision-making Process

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.

Client Feedback

“Anytime you can get representatives from various utilities to engage in discussion around process, productivity initiatives, innovations, and impacts to the business, it’s a plus.”

Client Feedback

“We attended the Substation Best Practices Consortium for the first time this past year. For the two of us, this was the one of the best conferences we have attended in our combined 70 years of attending events. We were very impressed with the overall content and open sharing of information!”