What's all the buzz about electricity network models?

What’s all the buzz about electricity network models?

Put simply, they’re the backbone of how a Network Operator runs its network. A digital network model underpins everything — from highlighting constraints, managing power flows, and identifying faults, to ensuring safe and reliable service. Having spent enough time in the industry, the subject of network models has come to dominate the space in my brain between business strategy and technical delivery.

So, what exactly is a network model?

At its core, a network model is a digital twin of the grid. It brings together asset data, connectivity, electrical characteristics, operational states, and often geospatial data. This digital model, when used in advance distribution management apps, enables electricity distribution companies to plan, operate, and optimise the flow of electricity across their networks.

It sounds straightforward to build a model, but in practice it takes significant effort. Data has to be pulled from multiple enterprise systems, transformed into a Common Electricity Network Model (CENM), and then integrated into the tools used to manage the network — tools like PSCAD, PSS SinCAL, Hosting Capacity Maps, and an Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS).

What am I working on?

Like most distribution companies, my employer has many touchpoints with customers — from handling new residential connections and managing outages, to supporting those with large-scale distributed energy resources (DER) connected to the grid.

A crucial foundation for all of this is having a Common Electricity Network Model. It ensures the data we use to connect customers, operate the network, and share information is consistent across the business. To achieve this, we’ve developed a Network Modelling System: a customised software solution built with the support of Boreas Group. This system draws on data from across our enterprise warehouses and generates a Common Electricity Network Model that serves as the foundation for our suite of network management applications.

The system isn’t perfect — there are still data gaps and refinements underway — but we’ve already seen positive results. The different software tools it supports now produce network views that are largely consistent with one another, something that wasn’t possible before.

What’s next?

This is only the first step in a long journey. Over the next 12-18 months, one of my main focuses is refining the model to support:

• A fully autonomous Fault Location, Isolation, and Service Restoration (FLISR) capability.
• A self-service DER connection and generation capacity portal for customers.
• An integrated DER management system, in alignment with the Electricity Authority’s and industries views.

It may not be a sprint, but like every marathon, the progress starts with putting one foot in front of the other