Enterprise Resource Planning for Effective Deployment of Smart Grid and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)

Long term success in transitioning to an intelligent or smart grid includes integration of the different elements of new information technologies with a utility’s traditional transaction systems. One of the most notable and important integration point is the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The implications of a smart grid on the ERP system include:

• Moving beyond the traditional ERP environment that focused on the finance and human resource areas to one with distributed intelligence and analytics from the corporate level all the way down to operations and individual system assets (meter, transformers, circuits, substations, etc.)
• Designing and operating information solutions that, by their very nature, are flexible and focused on eliminating waste.

There are a number of aspects of the ERP system that need to be considered when contemplating the impact of a smart grid implementation into the typical electric utility’s operating environment. These aspects include:

• Customer Interaction, particularly given the uncertainty of how customers will respond to receiving previously unavailable information once smart meters (AMI) are installed. Care needs to be taken to ensure this interaction is a positive experience for customers.
• Sustainability with respect to increased volume of information is also a factor as electric utilities will need to improve their efficiency in getting information out to their customers.
• Availability of Real-Time Information carries with it the need to reconcile in a timely fashion all critical operational sources of information (e.g. SCADA, DMS, and Micro Grids).

Properly configured ERP systems will deal with the various challenges and issues related to these factors and maintain sufficient flexibility to accommodate the inevitable expansion of new technologies to meet an ever increasing list of new functions.