Systems and the Intelligent

April 11, 2012

Integrity
-

Initiative
-

Accountability
-

Respect

Proven Smart Grid
Communication Network
Solutions For Advanced Meter
Systems and the Intelligent
Grid

Theo Woodard

Agenda


CenterPoint Energy Smart Grid Communication
Network


Overview


Technology Decision


Solution Architecture


Deployment and Operation Lessons Learned


Deployment Considerations


Keys to Success



Question and Answer

2

CenterPoint Energy, Inc.,

Houston •

• Little Rock

• Minneapolis

Electric Transmission & Distribution

Interstate Gas Pipelines

Natural Gas Distribution


Public company traded on the New York
Stock Exchange (CNP)


Headquartered in Houston, TX


Operating 6 business segments in six
states


Electric transmission and distribution


Natural gas distribution


Interstate pipelines and natural gas
gathering


Serving 5.4 million electric & gas customers


$22 billion in assets


$8.5 billion in revenue


8,827 employees


Over 130 years of service to our
communities

3


5,000 square mile service area


Approximately 2.2 million electric
meters


Houston Electric


Delivers 77
Gigawatt

hours yearly for about
115 certified Retail Electric Providers



Transmission and Distribution System


3,742 miles of transmission lines


48,733 miles of distribution lines


232 substations




Houston
Electric Division (CEHE)

Houston
(
4th largest
city in the US)

Houston Metro Area (6th largest in US)

Who is CenterPoint Energy
–

Electric?

4

Smart Grid Project Updates


Deployment Milestones


2.0 Million meters deployed and being read
remotely


5,200 Meter Data Collector (Cell Relay) and 112
Take
-
Out
-
Points deployed


Successful systems deployment and upgrades


Smart Meter Texas Portal functionally provided to
the market place


Developed processes and training to support new
operational requirements


System Performance


2011 End of Year: 97.4% Service Orders
completed electronically and completed
approximately 30 minutes after receipt


99.5% register read rate on accepted and
approved production meters


Achievements


1.9 Million service orders completed electronically


5,200 pole
-
mounted cell relays and 112
WiMax

tower antenna sites installed.


3,391 HAN devices provisioned over AMS
network


200 Intelligent Grid switches installed


Reduced billing estimation rate by 88.92%


Over 2 billion intervals of usage data are
transmitted to the market each week


5

CenterPoint
Energy
Established a Project
Management Office

Risk /
Issue

Technology Arch
&
Security


Metering


Communications


AMS

Systems


Integrated

Services


Financial



Utility
Operations
Committee



Program Management
Office

Executive Steering
Committee

Key Support Areas

Legal

Corporate Communications

Human Resources

Safety

Customer Service

GIS

IT

Retail

Market


Production Support


Planning, Tracking, Reporting


Program
Work
Streams

Risk Oversight Committee

Process Change &

Benefits Realization

Procurement & Logistics


12.5 (4)
-
2
-
0

IG Systems


IG Systems

Development


IG

Infrastructure


Provides project management expertise and governance to the deployment of
Smart Grid systems.

6


Provide wireless coverage to CNP’s entire
5,000
sq. mile electric
service area:


Estimate 95% GE Radio coverage and 5%
GSM coverage (remote rural areas) to the
meters


Install
approximately
6,000
Itron

cell relays /
radios and
130
GE tower access points


Provide redundant two
-
way communications to end
points, i.e.,
meters


Utilize a dual
-
path architecture
scalable
both in size
and technology to meet Smart Grid communication
needs


Provide required data throughput capacity


Perform reliably, i.e., storm
conditions


Comply with cyber security standards


Insure scalability to meet Smart Grid needs

Purpose:


Architect and build an end
-
to
-
end

Communications

Network to provide

service for Advanced
Metering
System and Intelligent Grid system.

Objectives:

Smart Grid Communication Deployment

7

Technology

Decision Considerations


Spectrum Availability


No licensed spectrum available from FCC


Unlicensed spectrum used heavily in Houston Metro


25 kHz bandwidth licensed spectrum not sufficient for throughput needs


Performance Requirements


Throughput speeds greater than 100 kbps required


99.9 % Reliability


Environmental Requirements


Ambient Temperature range:
-
30 to +60 degrees Celsius


Relative Humidity: 95% non
-
condensing Relative


Technical Requirements


Ethernet Port


Remotely managed


Product Availability


Product had to be currently available


Product had to be previously deployed


8

Evaluation Criteria


Evaluated based on:


Technical capabilities of proposed solution


Scalability of proposed network


Overall, per
-
site and performance cost basis


Longevity and market stability of proposing company


Security compliance and capability

9

Technology

Wireless

Cellular

Hardline

•
Most Geographic Coverage (typically)

•
No additional infrastructure for backhaul

•
Broadband coverage

•
Rapid deployment

•
Engineer accordingly to requirements

•
Build for the future (higher bandwidth)

•
Potential for synergies within field network

•
Rapid deployment (once in place)

•
Proven technology

•
Able to configure/size accordingly



BPL
\
PLC

•
Utilize existing infrastructure

•
The “Broadband” promise

•
Large “theoretical” geographic coverage

Benefits

Most deployments rely on multiple technologies to achieve a full
coverage cost effective solutions

•
High variable
expense cost
for data usage

•
Reliance on cellular infrastructure

•
Rapidly changing environment and
technologies

•
Infrastructure cost

•
Achieving coverage, i.e., geographies,
meter density in certain areas

•
Permitting

•
High fixed
expense cost

•
Difficult to manage individual circuits

•
Reliance on carrier infrastructure

•
Long Installation timeframes

•
Frequency interference

•
High price point

•
Limited success in the field
trials

Challenges

Communication Components Considered

10


AMS Communication Network

Components


Hybrid Backhaul Solution


AMS Backhaul (Radio/Wireless) PRIMARY Communication Path


This portion of the communication network connects the “take
-
out” points to/from the cell relay
devices in the field


Bandwidth
–

128 Kbps (minimum requirement)


Utilizes a new “purpose
-
built”
WiMAX

infrastructure (GE MDS Mercury 3650 Radio System)


Operates in the lower 3.65 GHz Band


WiMax

802.16d Standard


Redundant configuration


Ethernet Interface, 10/100BaseT,
RJ
-
45


Point
to Multi
-
Point
Design, Access
Point to Remotes


3 Sectors per
Tower


AMS Backhaul (Cellular) SECONDARY Communications Path


This portion of the communication network connects the
cell relays to the data center via the
AT&T cellular network


Bandwidth is adequate


Meter Communications


Smart meters operate in a Mesh Network


The Cell Relay is the Master Meter of the Mesh Network

11

Switch
/
Router
MPLS
Switch
Cell Relay with
Bridged Interfaces

Electric Meter with
RFLAN and
Zigbee

Network Fire Wall

HAN
–

Zigbee devices

WiMAX

&
Network L3
Switch

ONS Switch

CenterPoint Energy Dual
-
Path Communication
Specified Design Example

AMS Communications Network Specified / Logical
Diagram

Dallas Fire Wall

IT AMS
Switches

DCE

Collection

MDM

Processing

Data

Base

IT AMS
Firewalls

Cellular Data
Network

(GSM/GPRS)

IPSec
Tunnel

Atlanta Fire Wall

Internet

Cellular

Backbone

Access Point Radios

Pole Mount
Cell Relay

ONS Switch

ONS
Switches

SONET

Remote Radio

WiMAX
Network

MPLS
Switches

IP

Take Out Point

CR, WiMAX & GPRS Network


Transport Network

and Cellular backhaul

IT Network and
AMS Applications

HAN
Devices

Electric Meters

RFLAN
Network

Field Demarcation

Network Demarcation

HAN
Network

Level
-
1
Meter

Level
-
X
Meter

AMS Integrated
Systems

AMS Retail Markets

AMS Systems

AMS Metering

Switch
/
Router
MPLS
Switch
Take Out Point

PTP Microwave

IP

MPLS L3 Switch

MPLS L3 Switch

PTP Microwave

(
Pole
-
Mount Cell Relay
)
PMCR
C
12
.
22
ETH
CELL
MPLS
Switch
MPLS
Switch
SIM card

(Cell Relay)

Thermostat


(
Zigbee
)

Ethernet port

(
Pole
-
Mount Cell Relay
)
PMCR
C
12
.
22
ETH
CELL
RR
AP X
2
AP X
2
AP X
2
AP X
2
AP X
2
AP X
2
MPLS
Switch
Microwave
MPLS
Switch
Switch
/
Router
Switch
/
Router
(
Pole
-
Mount Cell Relay
)
PMCR
C
12
.
22
ETH
CELL
RR
AP X
2
AP X
2
AP X
2
AP X
2
AP X
2
AP X
2
MPLS
Switch
Microwave
Gas Meter


(
zigbee
)

1

2

12

Meter Mesh Network
House
House
House
House
House
House
House
AMS Details
Radio
Cell Relay

Meters form a mesh network

and
communicate with
Cell Relays (collector) at a designed

ratio of
approximately 400:1


Primary communication:
WiMax tower based Access Points
communicate with

Cell Relays/ meter data collectors


S
econdary Communications (Redundancy): Cell Relays and IG
devices can fail over to secondary network in the event of loss of
WiMax connectivity or
WiMax

maintenance.

Overview of Dual
-
Path

Smart Grid
Communications Network

WiMax

(Primary)

Secondary Network

(Cellular, satellite and
others)

IG with GSM and
WiMAX

WiMAX


Annt
.

GSM/3G/4G

IG with GSM and Satellite

IG Switch /
Recloser

Controller

Recloser

Satellite Terminal

GSM/3G/4G

IG
Details


Depends

on location and criticality, IG device may
have different secondary communication solution.

13

CenterPoint Energy Dual
-
Path Communication
Architecture for Intelligent Grid

–

Specified Design Example

IT
SG
Router/SW

IT
Firewalls

ONS Switch

ONS
Switch

SONET

MPLS
Switches

Substation IG

Comm.


Transport Network

and Redundant Networks

ECDC


Energy Control

Field
Network Demarcation

Network Demarcation

Distribution IG

Comm.

CIS, CIM, MKT. SAP
systems

Advanced Distribution
Management System

IPSec
Tunn
el

Switch
/
Router
Switch
/
Router
MPLS
Switch
MPLS
Switch
PTP Microwave

MPLS L3 Switch

PTP Microwave

Lease
d and
2/4
wires

IG with GSM and
WiMAX

Satellite
Service
NOC

Site to Site
VPN

Satellite
Provider
Network

Substation with

Mux
/modem/Microwa
ve


/Fiber & Emergency
Satellite Comm.

WiMAX


GSM/3G/4G
Providers Network

Sub
Comm
.

Sub

Control

Sub


switch

Microwave Tower and Hut

IG with GSM and
Satellite

IG Switch /
Recloser

Controller

WiMAX


Annt
.

GSM/3G/4G

Recloser

/IG

Satellite Terminal

GSM/3G/4G

Front End
Comm

Processor


Operations

EMS

VPN
Gwy
.

Firewall

VPN
Gwy
.

Fire
Wall

Distrib

Servs
.

EMS

Term
.

Distrib
.

Term.

Dispatchers

1

2

2

IG
Communications Network Specified / Logical
Diagram

14

Agenda


CenterPoint Energy Smart Grid Communication
Network


Overview


Technology Decision


Solution Architecture


Deployment and Operation Lessons Learned


Deployment Considerations


Keys to Success



Question and Answer

15

Deployment Considerations…..

The communications network deployment must be closely

coordinated with the meter deployment
.

Cell Relay Site Selection

Take Out Point Site Selection

“Network communications in place 3
months ahead of meter deployment”

Design ratio of 400:1 Meter to Cell Relay/ collector

Meter Deployment Map

16

Deployment Considerations…..

Be prepared to utilize creative design and installation
solutions to meet aggressive timelines.

Cell relay site selection process

In the absence of a permanent TOP



A temporary TOP was paced
on top of a 150’ “Condor”
crane at the
Dunlavy

substation to test signal
strength at proposed cell relay
sites near Memorial Park.

17


Deployment Considerations…..

Complete the design up front, integrate components into an
overall architecture, analyze/test all materials, complete
construction standards, and prove installation procedures via
testing/training

18

18

Proto
-
type:

Test fit, constructability,
parts list.

Final Construction Standard:

DSM approved. Install procedure
developed.

Installed Cell Relay Site



1

2

3

18

Deployment Considerations…..

Manage materials and multiple service suppliers closely and
establish strong field coordination along with detailed
construction and performance acceptance / testing processes.

Major equipment and long
lead items such as cell relays,
radios, network electronics,
towers and buildings need to
be specified, bid and ordered.


19

Deployment Considerations…..

Analyze, select, implement network management tools early as
they are used for both construction and operations.

20

Deployment Considerations
…..

Communication solutions developed ahead of time to address
the network coverage needs for remote and low meter density
areas.


The last 1% of meter coverage
requirement


Tools on the bag
–

communication
solutions


RFLAN range
e
xtenders
-

meter collector mesh network
extensions


900MHz systems
–

provide
extended coverage areas


WiMax

Repeaters
–

provide
additional
WiMax

coverage



Solution and combination of
solutions are selected for
application based on network
availability, environmental and
meter density

WiMax

RFLAN

RFLAN
Mesh

RFLAN Range Extenders
Example

21

Deployment Considerations…..

Leverage a common communications infrastructure. The IG
Network is built on the AMS Communications Infrastructure.

AMS

IG

Fiber backhaul

Microwave backhaul

WiMAX

(Primary)

GSM (back
-
up)

Satellite

(back
-
up)




























22

Deployment Considerations…..

Consolidate equipment in field. Communications equipment is
integrated with distribution electronics into a common
enclosure.

Communications
Equipment

23

Some Keys to our success thus far…

1.
Apply a proven network architecture method
to ensure coverage of network design issues.

2.
Develop solid
business
and technical requirements
and ensure agreements with all
stakeholders.

3.
Strong Governance processes.
A strong PMO utilizing proven governance methodology is
essential to overall success.

4.
Integration and close alignment of all project areas and support functions.
Procurement,
IT, distribution standards, systems development, communications infrastructure, meter
deployment, suppliers, etc., must all work together in a coordinated fashion and not in silos.

5.
Material contracts.
Managing material contracts closely and maintaining sufficient material
inventories is critical.

6.
Design & Installation Standards & Procedures.
Efficient, safe and cost efficient designs and
installation standards need to be in place to meet schedules, minimize costs and provide for on
-
going required maintenance.

7.
Solid Deployment Strategy.
The meter deployment strategy and schedule must be in synch
with the communications infrastructure build schedule to meet aggressive timelines and
performance expectations.

8.
Exception Management.
Even small percentages of exceptions
–

like access or design issues
can be disruptive if not handled expeditiously.

9.
Operational Strategy.
Soon after deployment begins and the first device goes into production,
a plan must be in place to operate and maintain the equipment and systems.

24

Agenda


CenterPoint Energy Smart Grid Communication
Network


Overview


Technology Decision


Solution Architecture


Deployment and Operation Lessons Learned


Deployment Considerations


Keys to Success



Question and Answer

25

Per the DOE Grant Agreement,:


“If you publish or otherwise make publicly available the results of the work
conducted under the award, an acknowledgment of Federal Support and a
disclaimer must appear in the publication of any material, whether
copyrighted or not, based on or developed under this project, as follows:”


Acknowledgment: “This material is based upon work supported by the
Department of Energy under Award Number [DE
-
OE0000210]”


Disclaimer: “This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by
an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States
Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any
warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility
for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus,
product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe
privately owned rights. Referenced herein to any specific commercial
product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or
otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement,
recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any
agency thereof. The views and opinion of authors expressed herein do not
necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any
agency thereof.”


DOE Acknowledgement and Disclaimer Requirement


26