Development of optimum utilization of communication infrastructure in the ceylon electricity board

Abstract

Telecommunication plays a vital role in any business activity and is also so in the case of an electric power utility. The availability and reliability of a telecommunication system is most essential in carrying out the coordination of the Generation, Transmission and Distribution of electrical energy in the country. This thesis describes the current status of the telecommunication facilities available in the Sri Lankan power system, its usage in day-to-day operation, its limitation in monitoring of the power system and other inherent problems. The latest technology adopted in most parts of the world for utility communications is the OPGW. The golden opportunity of readily available right of way to the last mile can be used very effectively using this telecommunication practice at competitive prices. Hence the CEB also embarked on this technology and has installed a few OPGW on some High Voltage lines. As the communication capacity is almost unlimited in this type of technology, it is essential to maximize the usage more economically and effectively to solve the communication requirements of CEB. This reports further analyzes the Communication requirements of CEB (Objective 2) Furthermore, this thesis also describes various areas where one could utilize the technology to resolve System Operations, SCADA, customer related issues, billing & metering etc in a most cost effective manner. The finding has justified the ways and means of utilizing these assets to venture into non-core business activities in the field of telecommunications. (Objective 3) A commercial licence is required for entering into a telecommunication business. Partnering with the market leader in the telecommunication industry would create a good image among the public. Investing on fiber optic based telecommunication is the best option for today and even tommorrow. In this study Optical Ground Wire (OPGW), single mode with 1550nm window is selected. It is proposed to have four STM fiber optic rings together with some radial links for the use in the CEB. The extra capacities can be used for doing telecommunication business. Marketting E-l links has been considered in this study and 10% of the available capacity is the threshold point of project viability. But it is seen that even with low capacity demands for bandwidth (<10%) the indirect benfits are higher than the project cost. Hence the implementation of OPGW project is in any case viable and profitable. Developing a OPGW network would benefit the CEB in many ways while giving quality service to the public. It is expected that 50% of present telecommunication costs paid to other operators can be drastically reduced together with reduction in Total Energy requirement to the country which would save millions of rupees to the CEB and to the countrry using sophisticated software. The broadband over power line (BPL) technology has been selected to access the last mile to provide VoiP, video and data, together with other utility requirements in this study. Although the BPL Standard is yet to be published by the authorities, since the basic costs are identified, it is suggested that a pilot project be implemented to see if it is viable. From the available CEB database, the total potential of customers has been identified. The questionaire results have justified the hypothesis that BPL is the low cost solution to provide Internet to the rural sector. Good marketing strategy and early adaptation of OPGW & BPL can perform better than competitors and at a competitive price. The public sector, Government ministries like Health, Education, Defense and the Agriculture sector etc. can grab the services offered through this technology for the betterment of the country.