GIS Transforms Ameren’s Network Model Manager for Electric Transmission

Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, Ameren provides electric and gas services to customers in Illinois and Missouri. The utility company manages 7,500 circuit miles of transmission. Implementing Esri’s network management in ArcGIS Pro was its first step toward building a “Network Model Manager” for electric transmission. The initiative included creating an ArcGIS Utility Network (UN) data model for electric transmission, migrating existing data, configuring the new data model, and integrating it with existing systems, including IBM Maximo and Oracle Primavera Project Management (OPPM).

Ameren’s prior workflow included manual data entry in multiple systems. Using a collaborative approach to data and process improvements, this first phase helped ensure high data quality with topology, relationships, and validations, and built a foundation for new geographic information system (GIS) functionality to support modern grid management.

Ameren’s legacy electric transmission GIS was built on an outdated data model and lacked the connectivity needed to support more modern network management. GIS editors had challenges with checking topology and wanted validations to ensure data quality. Ameren’s network managers aimed to eliminate siloed network models and build a single Network Model Manager for electric transmission.

Ameren staff performed in-depth research to understand the utility’s data business goals in preparation for Esri’s network management. Utility employees also wanted to play an active role in the implementation. The investigation showed that UN data models for electric transmission were limited, and most were geared toward distribution. This was primarily because there had been few prior electric transmission network management implementations within the industry. With limited examples to go by, Ameren staff would need to work to fit the utility’s data into the new model correctly. The model incorporated unique data considerations for things like dampers, cross arms, and other overhead assets.

Ameren employees partnered with Esri partner, UDC, to support building the new UN model through UDC’s industry-leading network management migration. The collaboration began with a robust analysis to learn about the source data and system from Ameren’s team and continued with mapping the schema to a UN template. Subnetwork rules and trace configurations were established through an iterative process using automation and a custom toolkit provided by UDC. In parallel, the Ameren GIS team cleaned up any data issues identified during the process and before the next iteration.

UDC team members were able to use Ameren’s structure data to set subnetwork controllers and used junction-to-junction associations to support connectivity for network tracing. Esri staff also worked closely with the migration team to address Ameren’s unique data considerations related to nonspatial elements such as dampers and splices, quickly adding the needed items to new releases.

This project enabled Ameren to move from a non-networked data model to a connected advanced network management model. The utility is now deployed on the newest releases of ArcGIS Enterprise and Pro. Ameren also upgraded its electric transmission system viewer from ArcGIS Web AppBuilder to ArcGIS Experience Builder to utilize UN tracing.

Benefits to Ameren from the project include best practices alignment, future system scalability, structured GIS data editing, better data quality and completeness, streamlined architecture, and increased security with authentication.

Ameren and the UDC team completed the network management migration, this first phase of their Network Model Manager initiative, in 10 months from kickoff to go live. Subsequent phases two and three include modeling Ameren’s internal substations within GIS and network model integration to support standard, compliant, and required data fields aligning with the systems it uses.

UDC partners with utilities and infrastructure companies, helping to navigate the complexities of migration and configuration to prepare their data for the advanced functions of Esri’s network management. Using its High-Fidelity Export Import Data Exchange (HEIDE) tool and ArcGIS Pro add-ins toolkit, UDC supports migration with an automated, iterative approach that works to reach the maximum potential for refinement to get the most value from the utility’s existing data during and after migration.

Ameren, UDC, and Esri