ENMAX, located in Calgary, Alberta, provides power for the city and surrounding Calgary area. The company had a focused initiative for increasing the ability to manage its downtown underground electric assets. ENMAX field located their assets within Calgary’s manholes and vaults and UDC converted collected information to the GIS System. The effort included both primary and secondary network as well as third party cabling and fiber optic networks. As a member of the Esri Canada team, UDC worked with the ENMAX Team to extend the existing GIS system data and software.
Challenges of Secondary Outage
As many utilities with dense city centers know, outages resulting from the secondary grid can be problematic because they may be unmapped and lack the asset information required for management. Underground secondary outages can lead to fires and other issues. In 2014, ENMAX experienced a major outage within its secondary grid that resulted in vault fires for downtown Calgary. Over 2,100 businesses and 5,000 residents were affected in the core of the city. The fire damage required significant rebuild of system infrastructure.
A key step in managing the secondary and downtown grid is to be able to locate and identify the type and location of the assets in relation to both the secondary and primary networks. This provides the base system “as operating view” of the network and its assets in a manner that is connected and will allow updates reflecting maintenance of the system. Previously, ENMAX data was stored in individual engineering design files which don’t reflect a connected system view and don’t lend themselves to network management.
In addition to their extensive infrastructure improvement work, ENMAX was determined to increase visibility and management capabilities for their downtown underground network to decrease the likelihood of outages and other issues which affect the local businesses. Similar initiatives have taken place in other cities such as San Francisco.
Automating System Management
UDC joined the Esri Canada Team working in unison with ENMAX to design, develop, and implement the automation of the downtown underground system built on GIS to provide visualization of the system and support its long-term maintenance.
ENMAX conducted an extensive field survey of its downtown Calgary primary and secondary networks, third-party cabling, and fiber. The inspection provided an up-to-date, accurate inventory of underground assets in their manholes and ducts. The inventory effort supplied detailed information about the duct occupancy and duct locations – including butterfly diagrams.
Information collected by ENMAX was then transmitted to UDC who converted it to digital form so that it can be utilized by GIS technology. This information became the new standardized digital base of assets for the applications which manage the network.
The new underground network system consisting of primary, secondary, cable, and fiber utilizes Esri ArcGIS with Schneider Electric software products including ArcFM, ArcFM Web, Underground Facilities Manager (UFM), Fiber Manager, and ArcFM Mobile. UDC adapted and configured the UFM software to utilize the full extent of Calgary’s underground network data.
Leveraging the Downtown Network
ENMAX’s downtown network initiative has created a fully connected and manageable view of services occupying their underground Calgary ducts and manholes. Collecting and digitally transforming all asset information related to the underground network within the GIS has provided an opportunity for the utility to expand its capabilities for offering commercial fiber to local businesses and retailers. They now have a clear picture of third-party assets occupying their vaults and are able to manage existing and new requests for occupancy with greater visibility.
Project Benefits/ROI
The Downtown Grid Enhancement project has provided multiple benefits for ENMAX in terms of overall safety, maintenance and management.
Safety – Major considerations include knowing what assets are located in manholes and vaults which provides information needed by the ENMAX crews working in the manholes.
Maintenance – Knowing assets’ presence and location provides a platform for maintenance and management of the assets in terms of age, condition and reliability.
Duct Management – Having their ducts mapped provides a platform for managing and commissioning third party cable and fiber. ENMAX can easily determine how much space is left within the duct and if additional cabling can be run into the ducts. This knowledge ensures accurate rent charges for duct occupancy.
Learn more about Secondary Network Enablement and Underground Facilities Management. Hear about ENAMX’s journey to modern grid management in the utility’s own words – Technology Leadership and Execution at ENMAX Power.