2021 In Review: Product Growth

2021 was a year of tremendous growth for our team and our software platform. At the final Camus all-hands meeting of the year, we celebrated the long list of features and supporting infrastructure that our team members launched during 2021.  

To carry that celebration forward, we wanted to share a recap of four of the product features that captured our attention in 2021.

1) Transformer Loading

Among the most exciting features launched last year, our transformer loading tool allows grid operators to analyze historical and real-time loading of distribution and substation transformers. The tool standardizes and normalizes data from a multitude of sources, including meter data, transformer ratings, geospatial (GIS) data, and interconnection applications, to accurately estimate the total load on a transformer as a percentage of its nameplate rating at regular time intervals.

This helps operators:

• Reduce failures and outages due to overloaded equipment
• Identify candidates for replacement or upgrades (e.g. top 25 transformers by hours spent above 150% of nameplate rating)
• Improve utilization and support the right-sizing of replacements
• Identify locations where new load (e.g. electric vehicle charging equipment) can be safely absorbed relative to locations that are at or near capacity

While enhanced visibility into a key set of utility assets is helpful for managing today's grid, transformer loading and related analytics will become even more valuable as customers adopt distributed, high-power assets like home EV charging stations and batteries.

2) Voltage Deviations

In parallel with transformer loading, our team heeded calls from customers who wanted to better understand which sections of the grid experience high degrees of voltage variation, our first contribution towards providing full hosting capacity analysis. 

The tool leverages meter readings, geospatial (GIS) data, and voltage information from the utility SCADA system to assess voltages at the feeder head and along the lines from the feeder to the furthest customer’s meter. By standardizing a long history of smart meter voltage data, we can display the grid zones where significant over (or under) voltage violations occur. 

This helps grid engineers:

• Track voltage violations and visualize problem locations on a map
• Provide useful insight for interconnection requests of distributed solar, EV charging stations, or other DERs
• Perform operational analysis of equipment such as voltage regulators and capacitors to see how well they are managing power quality

Identifying zones of voltage deviations by feeder and between sectionalizers is a small but important step towards managing power quality and network health as the grid becomes more dynamic. Moving forward, we’re excited to build on this foundation with new features for voltage analysis and insights – with the aim of giving utilities unparalleled awareness of local grid conditions using readily-available data. 

3) Data Warehouse Expansion: PG&E via Calpine

In support of Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) in Northern California, our team integrated several PG&E datasets into our Big Data warehouse in 2021. This included ingesting and standardizing raw interval data, settlement quality meter data, billing data, and customer data that CCAs access via Calpine’s CCA Data Portal.  

With standardized, normalized utility data, CCA program leads and data analysts can:

• Quickly analyze millions of data points to inform key decisions – from program design to disaster relief
• Correlate utility data with other data sources (e.g. census data) to direct program funding and incentives toward underserved and at-risk customers
• Visualize data using Camus or third-party business intelligence tools to enable more relevant and convenient reports

Aggregating, visualizing, and augmenting utility data has helped CCAs guide millions of dollars of community resilience funds in response to the COVID-19 crisis. As we look to 2022, expanding our Big Data warehouse to other high-value datasets will continue to support CCA power supply and program teams as they seek to provide the best experiences for their customers.

4) Web Widget: Progress To 100% Solar

Finally, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention a small but fun feature rolled out in 2021: our Kit Carson website widget.

In 2017, our pioneering customer, Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC), set a goal of procuring 100% of its peak daytime electricity from local solar generation by 2022. To help keep its members informed of KCEC's progress, the co-op and Camus have created a live web tracker that shows real-time solar output as a percentage of demand. 

When the Kit Carson team brings its final solar arrays online this summer at Angel Fire and Taos Mesa, the co-op will have 38 MW of solar capacity and 15 MW of battery storage – enough to serve 100% of its members daytime needs on sunny days.

Stay tuned to the tracker this summer to see their progress unfold. We’ll certainly be cheering them on!

Looking Ahead

We are immensely proud of the work of our teammates and customers in 2021 and excited to roll out more exciting features and capabilities in 2022.

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