Integrating realtime weather data into the GIS enterprise
Paul Hastings
Industry Manager, Energy Division
Meteorlogix, LLC
11400 Rupp Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55337
Phone: (952) 882-4581
Email: Paul.Hastings@meteorlogix.com
Clive Reece
MxInsight GIS Products Manager
Meteorlogix, LLC
11400 Rupp Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55337
Phone: (952) 882-4599
Email: Clive.Reece@meteorlogix.com
Abstract
Weather is an important variable that impacts energy companies. The impact of weather, though,
affects various areas of a utility differently. Combining realtime and forecast weather
information into the GIS Enterprise has significant potential for improving weather related
decision-support. Energy companies must be prepared to increase or decrease the production of
electricity or gas to keep up with existing demand. Bringing forecast temperature, precipitation,
and winds into GIS analysis can improve energy load forecasts to help avoid power shortages
and allow utilities to be more competitive when buying/selling excess power on the open market.
Similarly, distribution engineers monitor radar and lightning to manage field crews. As storms
move into the service area, dispatchers need to know where to be prepared to send repair crews
and whether or not to pull them off jobs or put off-duty crews on standby. By overlaying
realtime storm and lightning data with transmission and distribution assets in a GIS, engineers
can better determine the cause and location of system failures and dispatch service crews more
efficiently. This paper reviews the benefits of weather-enabling GIS-based decsion support in
contrast to utilizing standalone weather display systems. Sources and types of available GIS
weather data are also discussed.
Introduction
The most important variable that impacts a utility is the amount of demand for energy. Utilities
must be prepared to increase or decrease the production of energy or gas to keep up with existing
demand. Over-producing or under-producing can cost a utility millions of dollars. On the other
hand, a utility’s primary responsibility is to ensure the delivery of energy or gas to their
customers and to control or reduce the number of interruptions in service.
The primary driving factor of demand is, quite simply, the weather. During summer, the hotter it
is above normal, the more electricity is demanded for cooling and the less natural gas is needed
for heating by the utility customer. Conversely, during winter, the cooler it is that trend is
reversed. To the uninitiated, this seems like an easy formula to manage. That couldn’t be farther
from the truth. Weather can be as unpredictable as the Stock Market. That is why utilities
depend on many advanced technologies to monitor and forecast the weather. In fact, larger
utilities are beginning to employ their own staff of meteorologists.
