August 28, 2014 – Cambridge & North Dumfries Hydro (CND)—a utility serving over 50,000 customers in a 306-km² territory in Ontario—has selected Advanced Control Systems (ACS) to deliver outage management (OMS) and distribution management (DMS) systems.

“[CND] is being quite progressive in their approach to grid reliability and customer service,” said ACS CEO Jose Barbosa.

The OMS/DMS will integrate fully into the utility’s existing PRISM supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, enabling CND’s system control operators to operate both systems on a common platform using a single-source database. Viewing OMS data in real-time will more efficiently identify, predict and address outage situations, says ACS.

The second phase of the project will deliver advanced distribution management system (ADMS) functionality. The ADMS additions will feature:

• Three-phase unbalanced load flow modelling of the system to support advanced analysis and automation applications, such as integrated volt/VAR control (IVVC) and fault detection, isolation and restoration (FDIR) to improve network efficiency and quality of service.

• A distribution system simulator for operator training and planning scenarios to help prepare the utility to effectively handle emergencies and other contingencies.