Volue and Elvia Release White Paper on Implementing ArcGIS Utility Network for Balanced Three Phase Distribution Grid

Commentary by Jens Dalsgaard, Principle Product Owner, Power Grid, Volue.

Electric utilities are facing significant challenges due to the ongoing energy transition.  

The move from fossil fuel energy to electric energy in transportation, production, and heating, and the implementation of rooftop solar panels, household windmills, local batteries (including EV chargers), and more, leads to a situation where the electric grid must transport much more energy while managing volatile energy production and consumption patterns. 

This will lead to a drastic increase in customer connection requests, endless projects needed to reinforce the grid, and operating the grid closer to its limit rather than with the large margins often applied today. 

The IT solutions of today do not bring the answers needed in a future which has already started, meaning grid operations must be reinvented. 

In this scenario, ArcGIS Utility Network offers the right foundation. With Utility Network, Esri has delivered a foundation that allows utilities to much better address the challenges. 

 Based on more than thirty years in business and extensive experience at Elvia, Norway’s largest electric utility serving 1 million meters, our white paper aims to deliver the arguments for establishing a true digital twin of the grid as well as detailed guidance on exactly how to do so. 

The white paper argues what to document, why to document it, and exactly how to tailor the ArcGIS Utility Network model released by Esri to optimally serve requirements. It also addresses implementation for DSOs serving a balanced three-phase grid.  

It is our hope that by releasing this white paper we may allow many electric utilities to jumpstart their journey to ArcGIS UN. By following the recommendations described and plug-and-play implementation, we hope to see the electric utility business reach more unified activity, facilitating collaboration in the process.  

This document and its recommendations are provided as a valuable resource for our customers, any DSO heading towards ArcGIS UN, and Esri partners. 

We have invested significant time, energy, and resources into developing this document, and we believe that it will be a valuable resource for all stakeholders. 

The white paper is provided as a gesture of goodwill to a market that must collaborate if we are to succeed in transitioning our societies away from fossil fuels. The white paper is released together with a data set that we hope will improve the understanding of the recommendations.