ETAP: Simplifying Power System Operations

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ETAP

Farrokh Shokooh, Chairman and CEO and Tanuj Khandelwal, CTO, ETAPFarrokh Shokooh, Chairman and CEO and Tanuj Khandelwal, CTO
Founded in 1986, ETAP offers the most comprehensive and widely-used solutions for the design, analysis, optimization, monitoring, control, and automation of electrical power systems for missioncritical environments such as data centers. ETAP Digital Twin is the active blueprint of any electrical system and enables digitization at every stage of the power system lifecycle by connecting the platform to a larger ecosystem of complementary and collaborative solutions.

From generation, transmission, distribution, industrial, and low voltage systems to transportation, thousands of companies across all sectors and regions rely upon ETAP on a daily basis. With more than 250 engineers, scientists, and experts in over 50 global offices, the company provides unmatched software and engineering support. Further, ETAP Software is thoroughly verified & validated, and its stringent quality assurance program ensures its software meets the highest standards and regulations for mission-critical infrastructure.

Following is the conversation that CIO Applications had with Dr. Farrokh Shokooh, CEO of ETAP and Tanuj Khandelwal, CTO of ETAP.

What are the challenges that your clients face today? How is ETAP effectively addressing these issues?

The first challenge pertains to the heat generated by data center equipment. The required cooling devices and running servers account for the greatest share in electricity usage. Data center engineers rely on software technology to optimize energy usage and support energy efficiency strategies, while reducing operating expenses. Another challenge is about maintaining availability and uptime. Power outages are a major source of data center disruptions. To this end, predictive simulation models detect issues before they occur and deliver forecasted system responses in time to take action.

ETAP’s open architecture allows seamless integration with metering devices, data acquisition, and archiving systems, all of which are essential capabilities for a power management system.


Typically, consultants design, engineering teams analyze, document and construct, and operation teams manage and maintain the data center work sequentially in silos, using various tools at different stages. The data transfer from one group to the other costs time and is a source of errors and omissions, especially if there are re-iterations such as design changes in the construction phase. The integrated, model-driven approach by ETAP combines the digital twin model with network model analysis, intelligent visualization and provides real-time as well as historical data. The unified platform allows designing with automation knowledge, conceptualizing with accurate device characteristics, analyzing with renewable and microgrid controllers, and further optimizing the design by correctly sizing the components based on the behavior of those controllers. Operating, monitoring, and managing with design knowledge is essential, not only when commissioning the system, as validating the system behavior before energizing components avoids costly disruptions, but also allows for optimal control.

Conventional SCADA systems have been considered the industry standard for monitoring, controlling, and managing power systems, including data centers. Operators have accepted the manual process of defining monitoring signals, setting alarms, and reacting to problems after they occur. ETAP’s Digital Twin Data Center Solution represents a paradigm shift where actionable information leads to intelligent decision-making support. Predictive simulation models detect issues before they happen and provide efficient, context-specific information, delivering forecasted system responses.

Identifying potential hidden problems, predicting, and resolving the cause of operation alarms, validating possible solutions, and ensuring accurate predictability throughout the facility lifecycle reduces validation time, operation costs and risks. ETAP customers report electricity grid CapEx reductions of up to 20 percent through optimized design, operation, and performance.

In a recently conducted survey amongst data center engineers, nearly 90 percent agreed that implementing a unified solution for engineering and operations significantly improves the team’s ability to ensure data center objectives are met. Only ETAP offers a full suite of electrical engineering software solutions integrating a graphical, user-friendly power system design and a modeling platform with an advanced suite of realtime power applications. Following are some of its components:

Asset and Protective Relay Settings Management:ETAP eprotect™ is a centralized enterprise protection asset management solution that communicates with field protection relays, as well as ETAP Protection & Coordination modules to manage the location, information, and settings throughout the lifecycle of protective relays and electrical assets.

Advanced Monitoring with State Estimation: Intuitive, intelligent, and integrated real-time monitoring via a state-of-the-art interface; ETAP’s open architecture allows seamless integration with metering devices, data acquisition, and archiving systems, all of which are essential capabilities for a power management system.

Operator Training Simulator:

Predicts system behavior in response to operator actions using configurable scenarios. In comparison to traditional training methods, ETAP Operator Training is accelerated by dynamic graphical simulation of the real-world power system, making training an ongoing process.

Switching Management:

Dispatchers can build, simulate, and verify a complete switching program while being compliant to safety and security procedures, using a graphicaluser interface to execute the approved switching programs in one step.

Predictive Simulation:

Analytical modules predict system behavior in response to operator actions and events using real-time and archived data.

Event Playback:

This is especially valuable for root cause-and-effect investigations, improvement of system operations, exploration of alternative actions, and replay of “What If” scenarios. Playback of previously recorded monitored data, calculated system parameters, sequence of events, and message logs provide a complete picture of the electrical system from the stored data.

Energy Tracking & Accounting:

Energy usage and cost analysis provide insights on energy consumption of critical loads, UPS connected loads, Power Distribution Panels, Power Distribution Units (PDUs), based on zones as well as total energy consumption. Energy reporting can be augmented with data center performance metrics; such as DCiE, and PUE for the entire system. Energy-related costs are tracked based on user-definable cost functions and tariffs, especially for colocated or co-hosted data centers.

Can you elaborate on a case study where ETAP has enabled clients to overcome hurdles and attain desired outcomes?

A multinational Emirati-based telecommunications services provider, currently operating in 15 countries across Asia, the Middle East & Africa had the vision to build the largest stateof-the-art data center in the Middle East, host mission-critical applications delivering high availability & business continuity, while adhering to tough environmental standards and reducing the cost of ownership of IT systems for its global customers.

In order to meet those goals, the company required an integrated solution to monitor, control, optimize and manage the electrical network, including a training simulator. ETAP was selected for modelbased SCADA & Power Management System operations in a single platform. Utilizing the integrated Digital Twin, their SCADA solution was enriched with network modeling, simulation, analysis, and operation tools for the design, control, and optimization of their power networks. Relying on ETAP from design to automation ensures critical 24/7 power availability, smooth operations, and business continuity.

World-renowned technology firms such as HP, Microsoft, Amazon, and Dell trust ETAP with their data center design, operations, and automation.

  • World-renowned technology firms such as HP, Microsoft, Amazon, and Dell trust ETAP with their data center design, operations, and automation.


What does the future hold for ETAP?

Earlier this year, ETAP joined forces with Schneider Electric. While ETAP continues to operate independently, the partnership makes it possible to deliver a combined end-to-end lifecycle digital offering, therefore providing solutions to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and resiliency to a broader audience and customer base.

The collaboration paves the way for green data centers, accelerating and improving the integration of renewables, microgrids, fuel cells, and battery storage technologies.

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