GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Hydro One Decides to Standardize Its GIS Platform

Hydro One, one of the largest utilities in North America is standardizing its geographic information system (GIS) platform.

After an extensive evaluation process to select an enterprise solution that would enable the creation, management, and dissemination of information found in its Enterprise Data Warehouse, Hydro One elected to used technology developed by ESRI. One of the deciding factors was that since it is based on open standards, ESRI's ArcGIS is capable of integrating with Hydro One's other enterprise systems.

Hydro One
Hydro One transports electricity to large industrial customers, municipal utilities, and over one million smaller end-users across Ontario.

Hydro One was formed as part of the major restructuring of Ontario's electricity industry, and acquired the transmission, distribution and energy services businesses of the former Ontario Hydro.

Hydro One's transmission business owns and operates approximately $6.7 billion of assets, comprised primarily of Ontario's high-voltage transmission system. In 1999, approximately 144.1 TWh of electricity was transmitted through a 28,900-kilometre network to distributors and large industrial customers. It serves local distribution utilities, its own distribution system and over 50 large industrial customers. The transmission business also owns and operates 17 interconnection facilites that connect its transmission system with systems in neighbouring provinces and U.S. states.

Hydro One's distribution business owns and operates an approximately 113,400-kilometres low-voltage distribution network. Customers of this network include small municipal electric utilities, a few large industrial customers and retail consumers consisting of primarily seasonal, rural and northern customers.

Long Time GIS User
A long time user of GIS, Hydro One first implemented the technology more than 20 years ago. Since then, it has developed sophisticated applications, and is currently upgrading its GIS to leverage spatial information and technology across the Hydro One organization.

As well as historical AM/FM and engineering purposes, GIS will continue to be integrated enterprise-wide, explains Geoffrey Cameron, Senior IT Analyst for GIS, Hydro One.

The main benefit of GIS to any organization comes when spatial data can be shared and leveraged amongst all business units. By viewing spatial information as another attribute in a data warehouse, business applications can now benefit from the additional functionality of GIS.

A fundamental component of Hydro One's Enterprise Data Warehouse is spatial information. Whether it is customer, asset, environmental, or competitor related data, geography will become the integration framework for all of its business-related databases.

Various business units in Hydro One will drive the GIS requirements. For example, the Asset Management departments will utilize the GIS infrastructure and data to support various spatial business needs, including Outage Manage-ment. Hydro One expects this system to greatly expedite the implementation of enterprise-wide projects and project management.

"With the largest utility in Ontario selecting ArcGIS as their standard, it is further evidence that ESRI has the tools and functionality within the core GIS suite to satisfy the diverse requirements of the utility market", said John Houweling, Ontario Regional Manager, ESRI Canada.

Hydro One will begin to standardize its GIS platform by using the ArcGIS product suite. ESRI's ArcIMS Internet technology will play a pivotal role enabling Hydro One to disseminate information stored in the utility's geographic data warehouse through a one-window portal.