Brazil's CPFL Energia makes another move to digitize processes

Brazilian energy company CPFL Energia, which is controlled by China's State Grid, invested 47mn reais (US$8.76mn) in a new integrated system for network operation as part of a broader strategy to digitize its processes.

Supplied by Schneider Electric, the Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) platform was activated this month at the power distributor's CPFL Piratinininga unit, which operates in 27 municipalities in São Paulo state, serving approximately 1.8mn consumers, the company reported.

Later this year, CPFL intends to activate the platform at the CPFL Paulista unit, which covers 234 municipalities in the interior of São Paulo state, serving 4.6mn consumers; and CPFL Santa Cruz, which serves municipalities in São Paulo, Paraná and Minas Gerais states, serving approximately 457,000 consumers. 

For 2021, the goal is to take the system to distributor RGE, which is responsible for distributing 65% of the electricity consumed in Rio Grande do Sul state, serving 2.9mn residential and corporate customers.

Schneider Electric’s system integrates into a single platform various software programs previously used individually, such as SCADA, for supervision and remote control of devices, and WHO, for managing interruptions and restoring energy supplies.

ADMS also includes DMS, for analysis and optimization of the distribution system, and EMS, for analysis and optimization of the sub-transmission system.

“This new system gives us information in real time on a series of technical variables that influence the quality of the energy supply, optimizing and providing more efficiency for the entire management of the distribution network in 696 cities and for 9.8mn customers served by CPFL,” said Thiago Guth, operations director at CPFL Energia.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

In addition to centralizing its management, CPFL Energia is adopting big data and analytics to extract results from power outages, field teams, commercial services, programming and sensor information.

Artificial intelligence is being employed to reduce the movement of employees and for its Weather Translator System (WETS). Developed in partnership with weather service Climatempo, WETS anticipates impacts from adverse climatic conditions on the electricity grid. The system has been up and running since October 2019 in the operations centers of CPFL’s four distributors.

CPFL is also adopting new technology for fleet control, where a sensor system developed by Creare Sistemas provides information on vehicle use such as acceleration, braking and speeds, and even who is behind the wheel.

INVESTMENTS

CPFL Energia intends to invest 88mn reais in innovation, automation and standardization of operation processes for the distribution network of its four distributors between 2018 and 2023.

Of that total, 17mn reais will come from power regulator Aneel's technological research and development program, and the remainder from CPFL’s own resources.

In terms of the company's total capex, CPFL Energia previously said it planned to invest 13.5bn reais by 2024, with 3bn reais projected to be be spent this year alone. Of the total, 11.6bn reais will be allocated to distribution, 1bn reais to generation and 564mn reais to transmission.

CPFL Energia has a 14% share of the energy distribution market in Brazil and 4% of sales in the free market. It is also the country’s third largest private company in energy generation.