Bentley Substation Launch

The launch of Bentley Substation today was the result of the efforts of a cross discipline, cross organizational, and geographically distributed team of people working toward a common vision and goal. I had the distinct honor of coordinating some of the collective efforts of users and Bentley employees who contributed knowledge, experience, hard work and innovation to bring Bentley Substation to market. A team composed of a group of experts from China, Spain, Sweden, England, the USA and other locations found common focus in the efforts to define and develop the product and we all learned a lot in the process. Bentley Substation is the cornerstone of a comprehensive solution for substation engineers around the world. There is a wealth of information about the new product on Bentley's website.

Smart Grid Thoughts.

One of our team members shared his thoughts on the role intelligent substation design plays in smart grid initiatives here.


3D, Long Overdue?

I'm a mapper from way back. Maps provide a frame of reference to 2D representations of pipes and wires that make up utility networks. 3D representations of distribution networks are compelling and can help solve problems, but 2D intelligent pipes and wires in a GIS can work pretty well for visualizing a utility network. However, in designing the general arrangement for substations, 2D is a far less satisfactory and the widespread use of 3D seems long overdue.

 

The time is ripe for the utility industry to embrace new substation design strategies. 3D modeling and content management technologies, combined with new implementation strategies that take advantage of other technologies, shaping a new generation of power delivery systems engineering for the coming decades