Introduction
The green transition will require significant investment in utility infrastructure. Many countries have restrictive income caps or fixed tariffs that do not allow for investment to support the electrification of transport, heating and agricultural processes. Incentive-based revenue caps are the answer, and will likely be adopted in many countries over the next decade.
This website documents the open-source R package, available on Github and on CRAN, that allows regulators, data scientists and researchers to calculate and understand:
- Asset lifetimes
- Economic consequences of asset failures, both minor and major
- Monetary risk
- Probability of failure parameter estimates based on fault statistics
Why R?
Many regulators use R to perform benchmarking to compare the efficiency of utilities today. To ensure regulators adopt CNAIM (Common Network Asset Indices Methodology) as quickly as possible, we have focused our efforts on an R package, but we are also in the process of developing a Python implementation.
Background
RIIO (Revenue = Incentives + Innovation + Output) price controls were introduced in Great Britain in 2013 by Ofgem, the regulator, as a way determining allowed revenue for electric and gas utilities. The implementation for Distribution Network Operators (DNOs), RIIO-ED2, uses CNAIM to asses the cost of maintaining each DNO’s grid, with respect to asset health. From a basic perspective, DNOs with transformers and power lines that are old and in poor health should be able to invest more than DNOs with assets in better condition.
CNAIM is a freely available standard, ratified by Ofgem, which can be read on their website.
Our motivation
In the process of implementing CNAIM for Danish utilities, and after several discussions with Ofgem and British DNOs, it is clear that:
- No open-source software exists for regulators to verify CNAIM calculations on bigger (i.e. non-Excel) datasets
- CNAIM is missing important asset classes prevalent in other countries
- Additional explanatory variables beyond corrosion, temperature etc. will be required in other geographies
- There is no public documentation or tooling for probability of failure parameter estimates
Statisticians reading the CNAIM standard will note that parameter estimates for explanatory variables such as duty factor and corrosion are unlikely to be based on statistical methods, but are instead rules-of-thumb. The CNAIM Github package aims to resolve the issues listed above and reduce the barriers to adoption of RIIO-type price controls in countries outside of Great Britain.
The R-package contains the following Health Index Asset Categories and the Asset Register Categories from CNAIM v2.1:
Health Index Asset Category | Asset Register Category |
|---|---|
LV OHL Support | LV Poles |
LV UGB | LV UGB |
LV Switchgear and Other | LV Board (WM) |
LV Switchgear and Other | LV Board (X-type Network) (WM) |
LV Switchgear and Other | LV Circuit Breaker |
LV Switchgear and Other | LV Pillar (ID) |
LV Switchgear and Other | LV Pillar (OD at Substation) |
LV Switchgear and Other | LV Pillar (OD not at a Substation) |
HV OHL Support - Poles | 6.6/11kV Poles |
HV OHL Support - Poles | 20kV Poles |
HV Switchgear (GM) - Primary | 6.6/11kV CB (GM) Primary |
HV Switchgear (GM) - Primary | 20kV CB (GM) Primary |
HV Switchgear (GM) - Distribution | 6.6/11kV CB (GM) Secondary |
HV Switchgear (GM) - Distribution | 6.6/11kV RMU |
HV Switchgear (GM) - Distribution | 6.6/11kV X-type RMU |
HV Switchgear (GM) - Distribution | 6.6/11kV Switch (GM) |
HV Switchgear (GM) - Distribution | 20kV CB (GM) Secondary |
HV Switchgear (GM) - Distribution | 20kV RMU |
HV Switchgear (GM) - Distribution | 20kV Switch (GM) |
HV Transformer (GM) | 6.6/11kV Transformer (GM) |
HV Transformer (GM) | 20kV Transformer (GM) |
EHV OHL Support - Poles | 33kV Pole |
EHV OHL Support - Poles | 66kV Pole |
EHV OHL Fittings | 33kV Fittings |
EHV OHL Fittings | 66kV Fittings |
EHV OHL Conductor (Tower Lines) | 33kV OHL (Tower Line) Conductor |
EHV OHL Conductor (Tower Lines) | 66kV OHL (Tower Line) Conductor |
EHV OHL Support - Towers | 33kV Tower |
EHV OHL Support - Towers | 66kV Tower |
EHV UG Cable (Gas) | 33kV UG Cable (Gas) |
EHV UG Cable (Gas) | 66kV UG Cable (Gas) |
EHV UG Cable (Non Pressurised) | 33kV UG Cable (Non Pressurised) |
EHV UG Cable (Non Pressurised) | 66kV UG Cable (Non Pressurised) |
EHV UG Cable (Oil) | 33kV UG Cable (Oil) |
EHV UG Cable (Oil) | 66kV UG Cable (Oil) |
Submarine Cables | HV Sub Cable |
Submarine Cables | EHV Sub Cable |
Submarine Cables | 132kV Sub Cable |
EHV Switchgear (GM) | 33kV CB (Air Insulated Busbars)(ID) (GM) |
EHV Switchgear (GM) | 33kV CB (Air Insulated Busbars)(OD) (GM) |
EHV Switchgear (GM) | 33kV CB (Gas Insulated Busbars)(ID) (GM) |
EHV Switchgear (GM) | 33kV CB (Gas Insulated Busbars)(OD) (GM) |
EHV Switchgear (GM) | 33kV RMU |
EHV Switchgear (GM) | 33kV Switch (GM) |
EHV Switchgear (GM) | 66kV CB (Air Insulated Busbars)(ID) (GM) |
EHV Switchgear (GM) | 66kV CB (Air Insulated Busbars)(OD) (GM) |
EHV Switchgear (GM) | 66kV CB (Gas Insulated Busbars)(ID) (GM) |
EHV Switchgear (GM) | 66kV CB (Gas Insulated Busbars)(OD) (GM) |
EHV Transformer | 33kV Transformer (GM) |
EHV Transformer | 66kV Transformer (GM) |
132kV OHL Fittings | 132kV Fittings |
132kV OHL Conductor (Tower Lines) | 132kV OHL (Tower Line) Conductor |
132kV OHL Support - Tower | 132kV Tower |
132kV UG Cable (Gas) | 132kV UG Cable (Gas) |
132kV UG Cable (Non Pressurised) | 132kV UG Cable (Non Pressurised) |
132kV UG Cable (Oil) | 132kV UG Cable (Oil) |
132kV CBs | 132kV CB (Air Insulated Busbars)(ID) (GM) |
132kV CBs | 132kV CB (Air Insulated Busbars)(OD) (GM) |
132kV CBs | 132kV CB (Gas Insulated Busbars)(ID) (GM) |
132kV CBs | 132kV CB (Gas Insulated Busbars)(OD) (GM) |
132kV Transformer | 132kV Transformer (GM) |
400kV OHL Fittings | 400kV Fittings |
400kV OHL Conductor (Tower Lines) | 400kV OHL (Tower Line) Conductor |
400kV OHL Support - Tower | 400kV Tower |
400kV UG Cable (Gas) | 400kV UG Cable (Gas) |
400kV UG Cable (Non Pressurised) | 400kV UG Cable (Non Pressurised) |
400kV UG Cable (Oil) | 400kV UG Cable (Oil) |
400kV CBs | 400kV CB (Air Insulated Busbars)(ID) (GM) |
400kV CBs | 400kV CB (Air Insulated Busbars)(OD) (GM) |
400kV CBs | 400kV CB (Gas Insulated Busbars)(ID) (GM) |
400kV CBs | 400kV CB (Gas Insulated Busbars)(OD) (GM) |
400kV Transformer | 400kV Transformer (GM) |
Installing CNAIM
To install the newest version of the CNAIM package, run:
install.packages("CNAIM")To load CNAIM, run:
library(CNAIM)