Welcome Your New Expert Interview Series: Sreenivas Sudarshan Seshadri, New Expert in the Digital Utility Group – [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Expert Interview]

Sreenivas is a Senior ADMS Consultant at UDC with a rich background in power distribution and ADMS services. With over nine years of experience in the GIS industry and three years specializing in ADMS, Sreenivas has been at the forefront of key projects, collaborating with major utilities to improve the efficiency and reliability of power distribution. His deep technical expertise and hands-on experience in system integration, data analysis, and operational technologies position him as a leader in the field, especially when it comes to navigating the complexities of ADMS implementation.

Read on to learn more about Sreenivas’s areas of expertise to understand his perspective and where he’ll continue to provide valuable insights to the Energy Central Community with his Expert Network status!

Matt Chester: We’re excited to have you on as an Energy Central Expert and to introduce you to our community via this interview. Let’s start with the basics: what is your role in the world of energy and how did you find yourself there?

Sreenivas Sudarshan Seshadri: I am currently a Senior ADMS Consultant with UDC and work with electrical distribution utilities on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) initiatives.

I’m a software developer by profession and an engineer by education. I witnessed frequent power outages when I was living in India and wanted to do something about it, so I went back to electrical engineering to help solve the problem of power outages. I ultimately ended up setting up SCADA and ADMS systems, which I found I liked.

MC: Last summer you shared with Energy Central your perspective on load profiles for enhanced ADMS operations. Do you think utilities are widely taking the advice you shared in this article, or is it still an uphill battle to get that buy in?

SS: I think utilities are eager and looking to adopt this, but it all depends on the organization’s current focus and goals. For many large-scale urban distribution utilities, especially those operating in a city or a metropolis that has invested in modern infrastructure, the load profiles are useful in helping them achieve their distribution planning goals and green goals like net zero emissions. Rural cooperatives, on the other hand, may have different priorities that can delay them from readily adopting load profiles now, like keeping the lights on and upgrading their infrastructure. Regardless of the utility size, there can be challenges with building the profiles due to their data-intensive nature.

MC: Can you share some insights into your experience implementing keystone ADMS projects at major utilities, and what were some of the key challenges you encountered during these projects?

SS: I worked with a large Midwest electric utility, and one of the major challenges was converting the GIS data into a format that ADMS could consume for their electrical operations. We had to make sure that their GIS data was consistent in every place, which was challenging due to the extent of the network. Gathering all the different requirements from the various stakeholders also proved to be challenging. We had to go through several design iterations before everyone was on board. Involving all the stakeholders from the beginning was crucial.

Working on various ADMS projects, I recommend that every utility perform a data assessment first. Since ADMS is so data-intensive, the data must be correct to accurately represent the network for proper visibility. Another thing I would recommend is documenting all use cases. These should be listed and addressed in the initial project phase to achieve project goals. Lastly, address the user interface. It might sound trivial, but at the end of the day, the system needs to be intuitive for the users.

MC: Given your specialization in Power Distribution and ADMS services, what emerging trends or advancements in the utility industry do you find most exciting or promising, and how do you envision these shaping the future of grid management and operations?

SS: The first trend I see is the immersion of renewable energy into the traditional electrical grid. Previously, power companies generated and distributed the power to the consumers. Now, because of solar panels, diesel generators, and battery systems, consumers are empowered to generate their own power and send it back onto the grid. Although I see this as an advancement, it still creates many new challenges, like distribution network congestion.

The second trend is the broader adoption of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) like fault indicators. These collect and push back a lot of data to the operation center through SCADA telemetry. IEDs also bring challenges. We need a strategy for organizing and properly consuming the vast amount of data generated.

MC: What do you find to be the key to helping utilities to understand the importance of innovative technologies and the types of solutions you’re looking to implement, helping decision makers get over the hump and resist the trend of inaction or inertia?

SS: I think there is this human tendency to resist change. If something is working, why would you fix it? We can’t have this attitude all the time. Insight into what other utilities are doing can put companies in a better position to take corrective action as well as make determinations about future investments so that they can plan accordingly.

MC: What value do you hope to bring to the Energy Central community with you as an expert, and on the other side, what value do you expect to get from your participation on the Energy Central platform?

SS: As an expert, I bring to the table my power software development background, my electrical engineering background, and, most importantly, my vast experience working with many utility companies. In my career, I’ve worked with investor-based utility companies, rural opcos, municipal opcos, city-run distribution companies, and international distribution companies. Each has its own use cases and approaches for operating the electrical grid that I can present as options to other electrical distribution companies. This gives my clients alternative solutions, insights, and learnings from real-world experience.

I’m not an expert in everything. I hope to learn more about the many other components of ADMS from the Energy Central community, such as system interfacing, outage reports and metrics, and other aspects of the customer information system (CIS). I hope to learn best practices from other subject matter experts and members and apply them to my clients.

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Thanks to Sreenivas for joining me for this interview and for providing a wealth of insights and expertise to the Energy Central Community. You can trust that Sreenivas will be available for you to reach out and connect, ask questions, and more as an Energy Central member, so be sure to make him feel welcome when you see him across the platform.

The other expert interviews that we’ve completed in this series can be read here, and if you are interested in becoming an expert, you can reach out to me or you can apply here.