More Agility in CPFL Operations Across Brazil

The Challenge

CPFL is responsible for distributing power to 9.1 million consumers across 12 of the 27 Federation Units and four of the five regions of Brazil (South, Southeast, Midwest and Northeast). To sustain this effort, network management must constantly evolve to optimize company operations and monitor processes while supporting consistent growth in consumers without comprising performance.

Electric power management is not simply about preventing or repairing household outages. It also supports the industry and local businesses, and works as a crucial element to sustain vital subdivisions of society in activities such as education, transportation and health.

Electric power management also assists with ensuring access to drinking water and sanitation and, in developing countries such as Brazil, helps to meet the heating, lighting and safety requirements in people’s homes.

To keep districts, cities and regions – which are ultimately supported by the power they receive – in full operational mode (and to keep up with growth), CPFL pays close attention to all details related to the areas it covers. The system responsible for managing the map of CPFL’s complete power grid is meticulously analyzed by the company. Streetlamps, substations, transformers, cabling – all are regularly tested and details are stored in a massive database.

To keep this amount of data up-to-date and available, the company relies on what has been internally referred to as a compression routine, a maintenance process created to organize and compress the database. With each new compression routine, everything that has been saved is reorganized in the best possible manner to optimize the space available for data storage. This intelligent organization process, where access to information is never impeded, makes room for new entries and keeps the entire company system up-to-date and operating with efficiency and agility. This translates into seamless navigation for employees, and improved research, interactions and issue resolution. This is an essential process for the company and its network’s overall sustainability.

Through this process, CPFL experienced an issue as the compression routine was taking days, or sometimes weeks, to complete. This delay affected new installations, customer service, and the efficiency and safety of company electricians who relied on information from the System Operation Center while working in the field. As a result, the slow process compromised overall sustainability, development and growth potential. This is why CPFL recognized the need to bring in a third-party vendor who can support a growing IT organization with experience in the energy sector.