Are EMS systems mission critical? I am under the impression that they are mission critical systems that are responsible for managing the delivery of power. Am I correct in this assumption?

-- Anonymous, February 04, 1999

Answers

David:

I suggest you read the Dick Mills columns, "Another Myth, SCADA & EMS Failures Would Crash the Grid" - Parts 1 and 2, on the Westergaard Year 2000 site (www.y2ktimebomb.com). Go to the "Powerful Prognostications" section and look under the back issues for 1998.

Regards

-- Anonymous, February 04, 1999

David, one definition for the "Priority 1, Strategic" classification of systems is: The loss or degradation of which has safety implications to employees/customers/general public; and/or is required by regulatory agencies for operation; and/or will cause severe impact to operation and lost productivity. To my knowledge, EMS systems do fall into that definition.

As you can see, however, if you read the suggested article by Dick Mills, there can be variations in personal definitions of what constitutes adequate power functioning and a change in that definition can change mission critical definitions. In any situation, much depends on the basic premise a person begins with.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 1999

Thanks Peter and Bonnie,

I've read that Mills article before, but its existence slipped my mind. The EMS articles by D. Mills are a bit contradictory. The titles are "Another Myth, SCADA & EMS Failures Would Crash the Grid". Down in the Part 2 article is this statement:

So, are the AGC functions in an EMS system mission-critical or not? I say no, but a better answer is that I can't be sure.

[... a better title, "It may be a myth ..." He goes on to say]

Because of these difficulties [in training for manual operation] and lack of preparation, I believe that widespread failures in EMS or telecommunications systems would contribute greatly to the chances of grid collapse and blackout. It is one of the factors that contributed to my prediction of such an event.

[... now a better title might be, "EMS would contribute greatly to failure"]

That guy!

The reason that I ask is that our power generation company owns the EMS system that dispatches and controls power for dozens of generating units. They own some of the units and have agreements to dispatch the others. They are planning to be Y2K compliant by replacing their EMS system in September 1999. Atta boy! Nothing like being on time.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 1999

According to Wendell Ito, systems analyst at Hawaiian Electric (Honolulu), the 1996 Y2K test on their EMS system would have crashed part of their grid and caused a power surge over the other part. See "Newsweek," June 2, 1997 cover story on Y2K. Was Hawaiian Electric unique? Or were they simply more honest and open on this issue than most other power companies have been? I don't know.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 1999