Learnings

Outcomes

The project has developed a prototype dashboard which is capable of gathering data from fault recorders/power quality monitors, online dissolved gas analysis units and SF6 gas density monitoring equipment across the SPT network. This covers the most common manufacturers of PQ/condition monitoring equipment used in SPT but does not yet provide 100% coverage across all manufacturers and device types. The project has proved that data from these devices can be processed and combined into a common format for display and analysis. 
 
Due to the failure of the project’s trial PC, the functional prototype restored as part of this project has been considered a short-term tactical solution. A long-term solution will be developed based on this by a new Big Data team within ScottishPower.

Lessons Learnt

The following lessons learnt were observed as part of the project:

• Increased redundancy in project delivery teams should be considered where project progress relies on a small number of people to ensure that expertise and project knowledge is readily available in the case of extended absence or staff changes. Where possible, backups should be automated and taken at the same time to ensure compatibility between databases, code and other files. 
• A closer working relationship with prospective suppliers should be sought to ensure they are comfortable with delivering the technical and programme aspects of the scope of works.  
• Where new power quality monitoring or condition monitoring equipment is being assessed for use on the SPT network, consideration should be given to how accessible the raw data is to allow for integration into the System Health Map. Where data can be accessed via a documented API or structured database, using these devices as a data source for other projects would be relatively simple. Data which is encoded in a proprietary format or is otherwise difficult to access may require significant development time and effort to bring the raw data into environments such as the System Health Map. Accessible data could be added as a requirement in future specifications/tenders.