Utilities Tech Outlook Weekly Brief
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The utility industry mitigates the challenges of managing its assets by tracking assets through digital twin solutions and other integrations.
FREMONT, CA: Utilities must have a shared understanding of their asset base to manage operations and business processes efficiently. Asset types go beyond simply knowing what you own. It is also necessary that utilities understand the attributes of each asset they manage and the relationships between them and the services they deliver.
An effective utilities asset management system involves providing solutions to challenges in the utility industry.
Database synchronization with a digital twin: Keeping an asset database up to date is imperative. When designing an asset database, careful consideration must be given to synchronizing it. In an ideal asset management system, infrastructure changes would be reflected in the database as soon as they occurred. The change control methodology should include scheduled reconciliation and real-time updates to configuration databases through the integration with different network management systems (NMS) or directly with elements. A workflow-driven change process can ensure that passive equipment databases are updated appropriately for racks and cables. It is crucial to properly time new or updated technology deployment since many infrastructure problems occur afterward. Asset databases can assist in diagnosing new faults, but only if they accurately represent the state of deployed infrastructure at the time of diagnosis.
Solutions: New technology deployments that fail in the field are one of the main challenges utilities face, even if they have been tested several times before. A digital twin can greatly simplify design and rollout plans for new technology while reducing errors. Designing around problems and addressing them before deployment is always less disruptive and expensive.
Unifying asset registers also facilitate more efficient operational processes by eliminating the need for manual steps for linking multiple asset inventory systems or departmental asset registers. It is important to consider this benefit when planning telecommunications outages that can negatively impact utility operations, such as when telecommunications have been lost to grid management devices such as relays, transformers, and voltage regulators.
Smart integrations: A digital asset register offers many benefits beyond reconciling data from the physical network, including sharing accurate and granular information with other OSS and BSS systems for day-to-day utility operations. Planning maintenance and recovery operations in the asset management system enables an accurate forecast of needs for workforce management applications during a lack of skilled staff. Managers can fill positions proactively by using the asset register to mitigate the risk of discovering additional staffing needs at the last minute.
