Distribution system operators today are facing a number of new challenges. They now play a vital role in data communications, supporting smooth supplier switching as well as daily balancing processes. At the same time, sector coupling with the power grid presents both difficulties and opportunities for DSOs that were not present in the past. Additionally, the increasing share of biogas in the gas network must be managed, with its often decentralized production adding burdens to the distribution network. And the injection of hydrogen will be a challenge for DSOs as well as all other market players on both physical and IT levels.
Meanwhile, on the IT side nearly every energy company struggles to some extent with legacy systems based on older technologies that are not up to modern IT standards or the demands of today’s energy market.
In June of 2019, Navitasoft was awarded the GEAR project (from Hungarian Gáz Elosztó Allokációs Rendszer: Gas Distribution Allocation System), which aimed to modernize MVM ÉGÁZ-DÉGÁZ Földgázhálózati Zrt.’s (formerly known as NKM ÉGÁZ-DÉGÁZ Földgázhálózati Zrt.) existing commercial allocation application with a new, modern solution that would fit in the company’s existing IT architecture while better addressing the challenges of today’s DSO. Within a few months, we concluded a framework agreement in which Navitasoft Operator Suite for DSOs (an Energy Data Management (EDM) solution) was to be customized with SCRUM methodology.
Besides higher performance guarantees and a sharp focus on service and support, the new system also provided an architecture that more efficiently manages tenant changes and the constantly increasing supplier switches at the point of deliveries. It also enables running multiple allocation processes (e.g. daily and monthly), which was an impossible task for the legacy system. Navitasoft’s solution was designed and constantly improved during the past years, and is able to address the latest market and regulatory challenges in a fast and adaptive manner, thanks to its architectural design. The increasing maintenance and upgrade costs of the legacy system clearly justified the cost of replacing it with a new system.
The customization requirements represented an exciting project for the company. The system had to be able to handle the data and processes that were to be migrated from a complex legacy system, and had to be prepared to handle a future integration of a unified measurement data collection system for the entire MVM Group. To assure this, the implemented solution was optimized to handle around 100,000 point of delivery units (PODs) with much faster performance (as per standard design the application is enabled to manage 3,000,000 PODs). Communication protocols had to be established with other internal systems and third party solutions as well.
The connection and receipt of master data from the company’s DSO SAP system proved to be the most challenging feat of all. Well into the development of the project, Navitasoft had to face the hard fact that SAP system integration according to the original project specifications would not be possible and we would have to start SAP integration from scratch. Fortunately, the team’s agility and mastery of SCRUM methodology saved the day. Through effective and continuous communication, professionalism and an iterative approach, the challenge of integration to the DSO SAP system would soon be surmounted.
On December 1, 2020, the system successfully went online without malfunctions, already performing allocations based on incoming data from two different systems. The system supplied by Navitasoft is fast and effective. In production it proved to perform an intraday/daily allocation in minutes, in which time it is able to handle the data of 850,000 individual users.
MVM ÉGÁZ-DÉGÁZ Földgázhálózati Zrt. is a part of the MVM Group and six time winner of the Energy Consumers Award. The company has been performing natural gas distribution activities since June 1, 2007, operating 23,166 km of pipelines in a service area covering Győr-Moson-Sopron, Vas, Komárom-Esztergom, Csongrád, Békés, Bács-Kiskun and Veszprém counties, and are available to customers in 668 settlements.
