Advanced Distribution Management System Testbed Development

This project will establish a national, vendor-neutral Advanced Distribution Management System testbed to accelerate industry development and adoption of ADMS capabilities for the next decade and beyond.  The testbed will enable utility partners, vendors, and researchers to evaluate existing and future ADMS use cases in a test setting that provides a realistic combination of multiple utility management systems and field equipment.  The testbed will allow utilities and vendors alike to evaluate: (1) the impacts of ADMS functions on system operations; (2) interoperability among ADMS system components; (3) interactions with hardware devices; (4) integration challenges of ADMS with legacy systems; and (5) ADMS vulnerability and resiliency.  The testbed will provide a less expensive and lower risk alternative to a pilot deployment, plus the ability to simulate contingency scenarios that are not practical to test using a real distribution system.