Executive Summary

Electric Utilities operate an Electrical Grid comprised of many interconnected devices that generate, transmit, and distribute electricity from the utility to utility customers. Grid Devices are disbursed across large geographical regions (often multi-state regions), and represent enormous investment on the part of the Electric Utility; often representing Tens of Billions of Dollars of Corporate Investment. Stable, efficient operation of Grid Devices is critical to the Utility’s ability to deliver reliable electricity to customers at a reasonable cost.

The most important Electrical Grid Devices (Generators, Transmission Lines, Busses, Transformers, Switches, Batteries, etc.) are connected to RTUs (Remote Terminal Units) that transmit operational device measurements, every few seconds (typically every 2 seconds) from the Electrical Grid to Utility Operation & Control Centers that house Highly Available Computers, typically called EMS Systems (Energy Management Systems). It is from these EMS Systems that Utility Operators actually control the minute-to-minute operation of the Electrical Grid. EMS Operators are also responsible for interacting with other Electric Utilities that interconnect to the Grid, as well as coordinating restoration of the Grid after major events like Thunderstorms, Tornados, Hurricanes, and other natural disasters.

EMS Systems are typically comprised of a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) System with Layered Advanced Applications that apply advanced mathematical analysis to real-time data contained in the SCADA databases. SCADA Databases are “Real-time Databases” that store (and update-in-place) current measurements from all Electrical Grid Devices that have telemetry (that send real-time data to the EMS Host Computers). Because Electrical Grid changes occur quickly, and real-time mathematical analysis is very CPU intensive, most EMS Advanced Apps only use a very limited amount of history when performing their analysis.

SCADA Databases essentially throw-away the last scan to accommodate the current real-time scan of Electrical Grid Devices monitored by the EMS’ SCADA System. Most SCADA systems have a very limited ability to capture and store history for a very small number of Grid Devices. A few 3rd Small SCADA vendors have attempted to augment the SCADA System’s Historical data storage capability. Presently all 3rd party “Historian” solutions used by Electric Utilities in North America (to the best of our knowledge) were developed as SCADA Systems for other Vertical Industries (like Manufacturing and Process Control) with significantly different operational requirements.

For simplicity, throughout this document these 3rd Party Solutions, including Pegasus, are referred to as an RDS (Real-time Data Store). All RDSs (including Pegasus) use highly specialized techniques to store, manage, and retrieve Historical Real-time Data due to the very large quantities of data they must collect, store, and serve in near real-time. Also compounding the complexity of RDSs is the fact that they must operate in a very demanding 24x7, Unattended, Production Environments.

Relational Databases alone are not a viable solution for RDSs, no matter how much hardware is thrown at them, because they require routine maintenance by highly trained DBAs (Database Administrators), which often requires that the databases be “taken offline” while maintenance occurs. Also, due to the way Relational Databases store data, internally; the size of disk storage for an RDS comprised of only Relational Databases can easily be 100 times as large as a specialized RDS solution.

The Pegasus RDS™ was designed to be an Industrial-Quality, High Performance, Low Maintenance Real-time Data Store for EMS Systems, as well as other Vertical Markets (e.g. Refineries, Nuclear Reactors, Telecommunications, etc.). Pegasus also supports interactive user data retrieval, Reliable 7x24 Data Feeds for other “Downstream Enterprise Systems”, near real-time Data Mining, and mathematical analysis of large quantities of historical real-time data never before attempted.

Although Pegasus RDS™ has several strong suites, the 5 Primary Business Requirements the Pegasus RDS™ and Pegasus RDM™ Platforms target are

• Most RDSs require some well-defined set of SCADA Objects (e.g. devices) to be “pre-selected” for real-time data capture. Pegasus eliminates this requirement by Capturing All the Data, All the Time, insuring Utilities can retrieve historical data even for Grid Devices they may not have originally considered critical.
• RDSs typically require several dedicated Highly Trained Utility Staff to configure, operate, and maintain the RDS. This is not only costly, but challenging for Utilities that are already Resource Constrained. Having to model Grid Devices in a RDS in addition to the EMS SCADA System is also very error prone, as the Electrical Grid is very large and constantly changing. Pegasus models all Grid Devices and changes to Grid Devices automatically, typically requiring less than 1 FTE (Full-Time Equivalent employee) for Pegasus Operational Support & Maintenance.
• Because many Grid Devices are renamed, moved, upgraded, or otherwise changed, it’s critically important that the representation of each device in the RDS survive routine maintenance and expansion of the Utility’s Grid. In almost all instances, Pegasus transparently links Historical real-time data captured for a device into a single, coherent data stream as the device is moved, rename, upgraded, etc.
• Capturing ever larger quantities of data does not provide Utilities with more Business Intelligence. Utilities only gain value from historical data if data is integrated into information useful for day-to-day operations. Pegasus effectively integrates SCADA Numerical data, System Events, and a full SCADA Object Change History. The Pegasus RDM™ also performs Real-time Data Mining to identify, in near real-time, Exceptional or Unusual Operating Conditions that are occurring to Electrical Grid Devices, system-wide.
• Presentation of fully integrated Engineering Data and Business Intelligence generated from near real-time Data Mining in high performance desktop clients and via high performance, Drilldown, Engineering WebReports™. These Clients supports both Power Users as well as Engineering & Corporate Managers throughout the Enterprise, from anywhere on the Corporate WAN (including Mobile Users with VPN access to the Corporate WAN).