SCADA

Near-real-time substation measurements from the utility SCADA system

Texture supports ingestion of SCADA data from your hardware and displays it in-context with rich one-line and operations center diagrams mapped to the substations and grid elements critical to your organization.

SCADA data can be ingested in near real-time from your data sources and provide each of your Texture users with a detailed view of your hardware status.

Why SCADA?#

SCADA gives operators timely visibility at the head of the grid — the substation — to complement the slower, fleet-wide meter data. It lets you:

  • See substation control-system data — voltage, current, power, tap position, frequency, and power factor at substation elements.
  • Mirror the operations screens — the one-line diagrams and board views operators already use in the control room.
  • React quickly — SCADA can be ingested in near real-time, giving you an up-to-date picture of your grid hardware.

How SCADA is ingested#

SCADA data is delivered by the utility — or a party acting on its behalf, such as its transmission operator — into a location Texture monitors, commonly files written to an object store. The exact transport and provider vary by deployment; the pattern is the same:

  • Organized per substation — data is provided as per-substation files that are updated throughout the day as new readings arrive.
  • Ingested on a configurable cadence — each time the data updates, Texture ingests and processes it; the cadence is configurable and is commonly around 15 minutes.
  • Near real-time — the data is as current as the source has published; freshness depends on the upstream pipeline but is typically within about 15 minutes.

What SCADA contains#

SCADA carries the control-system data collected from devices fitted with SCADA RTUs (remote terminal units). Some of those are grid elements; others are simply parts of the substation the utility wants to monitor. Typical metrics on a substation element (for example, a voltage regulator) include power, current, voltage, tap position, frequency, and power factor.

Viewing SCADA#

SCADA is viewed at the substation level, through screens that mirror the industrial control-room displays. There are two main views:

  • One-line diagram — a schematic of the substation laid out as the control system sees it: voltage regulators, breakers, reclosers, transformers, and switches. Click any element to see its SCADA metrics.
  • Data display — the larger "board" view operators expect, showing recloser statuses, battery status, and the substation's key metrics, generalized to show whatever data is available.

Both views support light and dark mode (SCADA is conventionally dark), and the data display can be popped out into its own window that refreshes on a ~5-minute cadence for a wall display in an operations center.

SCADA hierarchy vs. the grid model#

SCADA carries its own hierarchy, defined by the structure of the source data the utility provides (the format varies by utility). Texture ingests this and builds a hierarchy from it — but it is dynamic and not necessarily a one-to-one match with the GIS-derived grid-elements hierarchy.

Substation & feeder roll-ups#

SCADA roll-ups are a convenient first source for substation and feeder peaks, because they're already aggregated. A follow-on layer rolls up AMI averages from all the meters beneath each element (a heavier, continuous-aggregate query over a year of daily averages). Where a substation has no SCADA, it simply shows what data exists.

Relationship to other concepts#

  • Meters — AMI gives fleet-wide, day-delayed interval data; SCADA gives timely substation data. They're complementary.
  • Grid Topology & GIS — SCADA elements appear in Explore and in grid-element views, subject to the mapping caveat above.
  • Transformer Loading — distribution transformers generally don't report load over SCADA, so loading is derived by aggregating downstream meters; live SCADA can support a separate simulation approach (requiring its own validation).