Top Takeaways: 2019 CIM Users Group European Meeting

This year’s CIM Users Group (CIMug) meeting in Europe was all about data integration – a global topic for our industry, as many utilities are in the process of major system replacements or adding new capabilities into operations such as: advanced distribution management systems (ADMS) or distributed energy resources (DER) monitoring.

The forum, which brought over 100 users, consultants and suppliers of the common information model (CIM) to Saclay, France, spanned an exciting few days with discussions specifically around how to use CIM for data integration.

A few takeaways from the sessions:

• Exploiting CIM for data integration and measurement: Breaking down informational siloes is still a challenge for many utilities. Establishing a data model is a foundation for overcoming this problem and supports an organization’s overall data management objective. Xtensible works on data measurement and semantic reasoning with many of our clients who are undertaking these initiatives from a data-at-rest standpoint. This includes tying it to big data within the enterprise data lake.
• Developing a grid model data management architecture for distribution: While a traditional utility model concentrates Network Connectivity Model at the transmission level, there’s a growing need within utilities to manage the Network Connectivity Model at the distribution level, mainly due to the growth of DER, including EV, PV Industrial, PV House Top, batteries and much more. Xtensible has seen tremendous growth of this demand especially with our clients in the Southwest United States. The CIM with the defined connectivity model is a tried-and-true starting point for making this shift.
• Convincing the asset manager: It’s hard to follow and enforce standards if teams aren’t on the same page due to communication barriers. The session on language localization of IEC-CIM was a practical discussion and one that the Xtensible team has first-hand experience with given our international reach.

Why Attend Users Groups?

Attending a CIM Users Group meeting is one of the best ways to learn how CIM is used within the industry and network with and learn from other utilities and vendors that have already implemented CIM-based solutions.

The CIM University conducts three parallel tracks presented by experienced staff that cover everything from introductory-level content to in-depth tutorials on how CIM is used for system integration, power system model network analysis and model exchange. Meetings are held twice a year and feature keynote speakers, utility case studies, new developments changing the CIM landscape, and presentations from vendor and utility meeting sponsors.

Xtensible is a founding member (2005) of the CIM Users Group. It has been exciting to watch the forum grow over the years and take part in solving the most important electric utility information exchange challenges. We’ve played a key role in the successful development of CIM standards, both as conveners for two of the key CIM working groups (IEC TC57 WG13 and WG14) and as technical experts within these working groups.

The next meeting will be held at MISO in Carmel, Indiana from Nov. 5 – 7, 2019. We look forward to seeing you there!

Want to get involved? The CIM Users Group website is a great tool to receive updates on the latest meeting information. Join the online community to access a wealth of additional resources, including access to draft CIM standards. Xtensible can also help you with a variety of in-house training workshops ranging from single-day to two-week offerings, along with pilot project assistance.