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Customer application

Distribution Network in Real Time

SWO Netz GmbH, an incorporation of the Osnabrück municipal utility, is preparing for electrical distribution in the future by establishing a cloud project. The company, which is based in Lower-Saxony, uses WAGO technology to manage and analyze their data.

Utilities must currently prepare for the reality that will exist 20 or 30 years in the future – a task that SWO Netz GmbH also faces. Hand wringing won’t help. SWO Netz, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Osnabrück municipal utility’s infrastructure provider, has embarked on a journey into the future of power distribution – starting with a smart grid, to which they added a cloud system, in order to utilize the measurement data in multiple ways. “For the first time, we are able to observe the status of the network in real time, and to analyze it in detail,” says Project Manager Christian Drecksträter.

Keeping Network Expansion Costs in Check

The measurement data all originates in a small smart grid, located in the Wüste district of Osnabrück. SWO Netz operated an intelligent network here as a pilot project from 2013 to 2016. “We wanted to use modern technologies to explore how we can manage the addition of decentralized energy producers, like PV arrays, and additional consumers, like eVehicles, in the network. At the same time, we wanted to keep network expansion costs in check,” explains Drecksträter. The project encompassed 60 buildings with 125 apartments. One peculiarity is that seven PV systems produce electricity in this small area. Drecksträter explains, “A decisive criterion for the selection was that, in terms of the the load profile, was transferable to about 90 % of the Osnabrück supply area.” With only a few deviations, the load profile in the area matches the German average. Electrical consumption increases rapidly in the morning, levels off to a moderate level during the day, rises to another peak in the evening and then drops off overnight.

The data about consumers and producers, as well as other relevant values, like active and reactive power in the project area, are collected at a local network station and five cable distribution cabinets that were equipped for intelligence using WAGO components. In addition, one resident who agreed to participate allowed his PV array to be fitted with measurement devices. At the core of the automation is a 750 Series Ethernet I/O Controller (750-880), combined with 3-Phase Power Measurement Modules (750-494) and 855 Series Current Transformers. In all, the components detect more than 215 measured values.

Enormous Gains in Knowledge

Shortly before the end of the smart grid project, in Fall 2016, a suggestion was made from Minden to evaluate more than just a fraction of the data. Instead, all of the data could be utilized in a targeted way through a cloud application. “The potential for tracking load data and other variables virtually in real time and for analyzing it in depth was certainly enticing,” states Ulrich Clausmeyer, Grid Control Manager at SWO Netz. The Osnabrück utility implemented the cloud connection using WAGO’s Engineering Software. They rely on the PFC200 Controller (750-8207/025/001) with an integrated VPN modem as their controller. The software reflects all physically present components of the smart grid one-to-one. These include the WAGO components installed in the local network station and in the distribution cabinets, which are represented in the user interface. A mouse-click on an individual component opens lists with current measurement values, which the software can then convert into graphs. In addition to the measurement values from the intelligent network components, the utility also receives detailed information from one of the PV systems. “We can thus link specific output values to the weather data,” explains Drecksträter.