ETAP

Pros

It has a large number of electrical equipment libraries that facilitate simulations. It is extremely practical when using the Star module, since when running the shortcuts it shows in a real way how they cut the protection curves, in the same way it shows in a very dynamic way the performance of the protection equipment (relays, fuses, contactors) in order and time in order to efficiently diagnose a coordination, existing or proposed.

Cons

Given the existence of several libraries, many users could be carried away by the data that has predefined the software and would not be motivated to look for the real field information, I have made simulations with both information to compare and give very similar, but can arrive tend to trust the user in case there may be data that does not match reality.
I have had several complications when updating the versions, since once I have updated the document to a latest available version, it does not allow me to open it in a previous version.

Pros

User friendly, flexibility to open. Abundant library files for each electrical components like relays, circuit breakers, etc., Running the program and easy understanding of the analysis at the finger tip of the user

Cons

Hardlock dongle makes it difficult to enter the power plant in Middle east, instead it should have be software controlled dongle. In Middle east Power plants controlled by Military team it is not allowed to enter USB or pendrive or any external harddrive devices. Hence request to look into the solution of Software opening with softlock key.

Even though some of Library files are available with ETAP team, it is not send as a whole package with the latest Software version, need to request the same through the ticket.

When Arc Flash is running it takes couple of mins to come back to normal screen. Instead an progress bar display will help user to understand the estimated time to complete calculation.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to ETAP

Pros

Flexibility, but it comes with some sever downsides

Cons

The user interface, both in getting data in to the software, and getting useable results back out.

Pros

I can make a model very quickly and run cases as fast as can design them. Allows for quick answers to customer/management questions.

Cons

Having dongle identification trouble. I have to reset License Manager EVERY time. The regular start cannot see it. Run LM and then I run ETAP. Printing setup could be easier to use.
Having trouble with printing output not changing. I have a ticket open now on it.
Would to turn off data from certain buses and lines. I do not need to see all when it turn it on in the display options. Just certain buses. It muddies the screen.
TCC could be easier to use.

Pros

- Etap has a wide variety of equipment that can be connected
- The help function is very well put together, for every single user interface window
- Highly customizable for reporting

Cons

- Sometimes difficult to print a Single Line Diagram as intended
- VFDs typical show overloaded, even if the rating of the drive matches the motor, and that issue has not been resolved, as far as I know, even if it was pointed out several years ago
- Training from etap is a must to use the software properly, especially the case scenario options

Pros

The product is easy to use. The diagram can be easily created with multiple networks as well.
Once the network is created, we can carry out a short circuit analysis with a single click.
The report feature allows the export of results in multiple formats (pdfs/excel/word etc).
Can create a copy of the base case, with proposed or amended case results can be easily compared.
Faults can be easily simulated, and thus coordination curves can be easily generated.

Cons

Limitation of the number of buses. If bus sizes go around 300 buses, the network takes a bit longer to run the analysis.
The installation process is not simple with matching the key and license. Required help from IT department to get it on my computer.
Faults can be inserted however, not of a specific value (overvoltage conditions not possible), only high currents (Short circuit 3PH, 1PH) can be simulated.

Pros

Easy to use, you just have to drag and drop the bus bars/ circuit breakers from the column to the drawing page. Major settings are done automatically (by default), and you also have the option of selecting different models of various companies.

Cons

Some of the features are missing. For example STATCOM was missing in all the prior versions.

Pros

It can be used in power system stability analysis.

Cons

defining standard between ANSI/IEC and measurement SI/English metric

Pros

The software has a very good user-friendly ability. Also, the simulation is well done and the report well compiled.

Cons

The language barrier is sometimes an issue. For instance, in DRC we speak french and thus if the software can be in french also will help other users as well

Pros

Ease of use, user friendly, lot of tools for various studies

Cons

ETAP needs to invest in better libraries and ensure that they are getting updated faster than they are doing currently.

Pros

The 3-D Database is a base feature compared to CYME and SKM Powertools to manage scenarios.

Cons

Harmonic parameters for the utility have some limitations. I didn't find a way to set "lieux d'impédance" given by the utilty or his harmonic contribution for each harmonice frequence.

Pros

What i like about the software is that it is easy to use and update. We started using the ETAPApp so that field data collection is much faster and more efficient. Great addition to the software.

Cons

Large projects typically take a long time to run. We currently have a 4,200 bus model that takes more than 5 hours to analyze for Arc Flash

Pros

Very technical; very inclusive with options

Cons

Written help features need greatly improved. Need more technical explanation of features available. Need more technical webinars to define modules

Pros

It is a great software. The final output product is very good.

Cons

1. It is hard to use. It is hard to create a customized report and a customized border for the single lines. It's very hard to get our logo on the drawing let alone creating a general borer that could always be pulled up and the SLD would be inserted.
2. When we transfer files to customers, again it is not as easy as your competitor (Easy Power). Their software just save file and transfer. Your software you need to attach the library and ancillary files then transfer. Why is so hard.

Pros

breaker coorination, arc flash, short circuit and load flow analysis

Cons

If ETAP can add in more features like DC features to the standard features that will be great.

Pros

Software is very ease too use. You could modeled simple electrical system ( distribution system, transmission system and Generating system with supply to system.
The study provide stability during normal operation as well transient.
I have used ETAP in my electric calculation and after geting result I could write proper specification and be fully confident that I provide the best offer to costumer.

Cons

ETAP Software is very easy to use and provide true results.

Pros

The software with its various modules is sufficiently versatile to cope with all of our applications. ETAP is regularly updated with new features and to the latest standards. Files can be exported in the format of some other softwares where our client requires such different software inputs. One day we would like to do a project using ETAP live.

Cons

Adding circuit breakers and protection relays to the library takes time.

Pros

The software is quite simple to use and ETAP keeps improving the interface. ETAP really listens to its costumers and makes lots of changes for the next upgrade.

Cons

There are lots of modules that you can buy instead of making a bundle with all of the capabilities.

Pros

Power System Protection and Grading Package Advantages:
-Greatly cuts out many hours of modelling and simulation
-Speedily generates Time Current Characteristic (TCC) curves from the automated path of protection
-The system is standardized on industry rules and guidelines for system protection & coordination
-Great product for real projects as well as a great learning tool for young professionals

Cons

Having encountered ETAP Software as a user and a technical support personnel, I fail to come up with legitimate complains on the software. The sky is the limit.

Pros

It is easy to pick up most of the features, has good displays of information in real time and in report form. Flags issues visually with red so can quickly identify where the system is facing an overload

Cons

Sometimes it is unclear what error is stopping the simulation running, The same diagram sometimes will work and sometimes throws and error and not always clear what it is that is changing between iterations

Pros

Architecture of the software, mainly in assembly one line diagrams and alter create scenarios to simulate the system.
Reports and labels in portuguese is perfect to deliver to our costumers.

Cons

Lack of more brasilian manufactory equipment like library of cables, relays and circuit-breakers

Pros

report with crystal report, editable
Help guide
large protection library

Cons

multisource arc flash
High voltage arc flash (how to select the right method...)

Pros

Easy to use and nice features. Easy to navigate.

Cons

I think its a good idea the add some video tutorial to slef train the first time users.

Pros

ETAP is a very user friendly software. It is very useful & helpful tool for every electrical engineer. High level Calculations can be done very precisely & with high level of accuracy.

Cons

Customisation of the ETAP library is least liked by me. ETAP Library should be more versatile.

Pros

Model and analyze system coordination and protection.

Cons

Certain aspects of presenting results. For instance, other software options offer some easy to use presentation options that easily capture sections of the one line diagram next to the results. Another example is outputting revision differences in a complete report rather than one by one listing differences.

Pros

ETAP is a very easy to use application for electrical design, the features are very understandable and the rendering is professional

Cons

Personally I did not see any disadvantage at my level

Pros

Comfortable while using the software program and smooth interpretation and attractiveness of results."

"It could be very beneficial & beneficial device for each electric engineer. High degree Calculations may be accomplished very precisely & with excessive degree of accuracy."

"I constantly loved operating with etap due to the high-satisfactory of the software program and correct results.
Plus the truth that the reviews do not appear to be from a kind creator the manner SKM looks."

"Etap could be very beneficial for an electrical engineer, and is first-rate to version electric systems."

Cons

"Various variations have mistakes that provoke new releases."

" Some Problems with distinct faucet changer for parralel application. Its Hard to personalize a TCC
curve."

"Problems with the installation, the extrade from check model to complete model creates many problems."

"It Lacks a few common products (e.g. cable library)."

Pros

There are a few things in ETAP that are actually very attractive.

1. The very attractive thing about ETAP is its user-friendly graphical interface which is very attractive with state of the art graphical symbols having both IEC and ANSI options selectable on simple clicks along with color coding according to voltage levels. This helps visually a lot in classifying one's systems based on voltage levels.
2. Help Desk support is an excellent feature with FTP support area for large file handling.
3. One click report generation with study/scenario wizards saves a lot of time for complex projects.

Cons

There are a few things in ETAP that are actually annoying sometimes.

1. First is the dumpster. Once you delete an element, you can't simply undo to restore it from dumpster. You need to be super smart to get it back. The undo / redo should be smartly management as in many other software. It will save a lot of hassle and time.
2. Backward compatibility is also a major concern. Projects created in newer versions can't be opened in older versions at all which is required sometimes to review the work of contractors. It should have some backward compatibility, say, to 4 previous releases.
3. Static studies such as load flow, short circuit etc do not consider turbine rating to generate alerts as the same is needed in some plants where turbines are under-rated than associated generators. No documentation is also available in this regard.
4. Library updates are also not available until next version is released. Limited models are available for ASD/VFD drives for harmonic studies even for very common drives. One has to create every common model manually which takes a lot of time.

Pros

User friendly and thus easy to use than any other power system analysis softwares.

Cons

Grounding system study is inferior than other competitor such as XGSLab, CDEGS. Main Ground Grid analysis of ETAP is suitable only for a simple soil condition. I experienced very difficult soil condition with resistivity in the range of 800-1500 Ohm-m which ETAP cannot help and Electricity Authority disapproved analysis using ETAP. Thus we have to seek for other software to solve the problem by modeling a customized grid conductor such as using clay covering bare copper conductor and analyze touch and step voltage.
Cables sizing calculation still has no capability to calculate according to IEC60287 standard which calculate from heat transfer theory. I have to purchase other software, CYMCAP, to calculate correctly. So ETAP is used for power system analysis only except cables sizing calculation and grounding system study.
Another cons is ETAP support. I experienced that sometime I found problem using ETAP in analyzing GCB, I asked ETAP for technical help but unfortunately EATP ignored my request and after several follow up I got a very simple words which is not any useful. I felt very bad with ETAP support team. I hope that ETAP support would be improved.

Pros

1) Load Flow
2) Short Circuit
3) Motor Starting
4) Relay Coordination: Sequence Operation

Cons

1) Harmonic Analysis - Result Difficult to Compare IEEE 519
2) Relay Coordination - Taking More Time to Prepare TCC
3) Not Having Feature to Change the TAG Nos. At A Time All Together (Like in Word Find/Replace)
4) Not Having Feature to Prepare Any Component Library User Friendly.
5) Not Having Feature to Change Model Component Symbols from IEC to ANSI or reverse all together at a time.

Pros

I have been using this software for 30 years.
I have been a ETAP Agent for 20 years.
I have not seen or been exposed to any power systems software that can even come close to comparing to ETAP and the Enterprise Family of Solutions oriented Software.

Cons

That is has taken so long to get key modules developed such as Panel and the Distance Relay.
It has cost me many oppertunities in sales.

Pros

TCC, Arc Flash and short circuit studies help keep facility personnel safe and help identify where changes are needed.

Cons

Running large study wizards needs to be able to produce the reports at the end. It is extramely troublesome to have to generate EACH report from a 200+ node compressor station where you have 20+ configurations for studies that are scheduled to run. Also printing TCC with the elements shown in the curves needs to be easier.

Pros

Very powerful software. I like the reports that can be generated. The star graphs are really nice and look good in reports. I like being able to set up macros, it makes running multiple test cases a lot easier.

Cons

I do not like that I have to buy a ton of modules just to get one feature. The experience thus far has been that we buy some modules and start performing a study. The results are not what we expect just to find out we are missing one feature that is in another module that we didnt buy. There seems to be little features that are important to other studies that are hidden within other, more expensive, modules and generally we do not need the entire other module, but have to buy it because we need the one feature to complete the study.

There are also some minor bugs such as not being able to have an NGR monitoring relay on a zig zag transformer. We also ran into an issue modelling a Y-Y transformer. The ETAP software does not allow for the consideration of the tank effect. These issues have work arounds but its hard to explain to a client that ETAP doesn't have this built in so we have to use a work around.

I also do not like that there is no save as ability. The save a copy of the file is weird.

Pros

The software is good for asset management, real time simulation and for everyday problem solving on all designs

Cons

They software is only forward compactible. Exchange of models between clients and designers wont be easy if we are using different versions.
I would to see the features such as lightning protection modelling using rolling sphere, EGM and shield angels. The software can only perform grid design for substation earthing only

Pros

I am the administrator and worked / coordinated with IT to get the tools installed and up and running for the users. My work with the support folks when we had issues went very well and the support teams were knowledgeable.

Cons

I am still waiting on feedback from the users and what they feel is missing from the tool.

Pros

User-friendly. results are very clear. the processing is fast.

Cons

It is extremely expensive. It may require more options for modeling the structure.

Pros

ETAP has supported the nuclear power industry by designing and supplying software for our specialized analytical needs for over 20 years. They have become the defacto standard for nuclear plant power system analysis throughout the U.S. with over 90% of plants and utilities standardizing on ETAP.

Cons

Although it may sound like I’m making this up, after using this software through all of its many evolutions over the years, I honestly can’t think of anything.

Pros

Provides many of the engineering calculations for design and analysis of electrical power, protection and control systems in one software package. It is a necessity in providing our customers the best designs and arc flash analysis.

Cons

I have to set up my defaults and tools the way that I like to use them and display them when I get a new version. I would like ETAP to add L-G faults for 1-Phase center-tapped sources.

Pros

The software is easy to use and fairly intuitive.

Cons

There are often products that are not available in the library.
Formatting can be very tedious and time consuming despite some of the "auto" formatting options. Default settings need to be set up on a per project basis, this is both frustrating and time consuming.
Exporting information to excel could be so helpful but there is some info that can only be found in "reports" and when these are exported to excel they are formatted to reflect a report style not just raw data which makes it very difficult to use this data efficently if you are creating your own report.

Pros

The software is easy to use by first-time learners without much background. It is useful to develop and analyze power system networks particularly power flow studies, fault analysis, and protection coordination. The one-line diagram approach and report generation are quite useful.

Cons

The library should be updated with modern power system components to simulate various current scenarios. The scope of studies should extend similar to PSCAD and EMTP softwares.

Pros

I like it the most how user friendly it is and that it gives me the comfort that the results are correct.

Cons

There are a certain things that are different in this software compared to others. E.g. there is no "save as", only "copy project to" and you have to open it afterwards (if you want to work on the new project). And copy - paste is different than in any other software. It doesn't bother me anymore, but it's weird.

Pros

Etap utilizes all of the components the model and integrates them all together so it is easy to go from one module to the next and still work with all data and information from other modules. "Star" systems is an example.

Cons

Alignment and viewing results on the one-line can get crowded but it can be edited to view only the critical information.

Pros

The ability to dynamically model wound rotor motor starting with a time variable liquid rheostat.
A good library of multifunction electronic relays.
A good library of electronic motor protection relays.

Cons

The library of basic TOC relays is not as complete as other packages.
A lot of additional modules to buy and pay maintenance on.
The wound rotor induction motor rheostat starting requires a chunk of calculations to get it in the form needed for ETAP. A lot of the ETAP trainers did not understand about wound rotor motor modeling and it took a while to get to the courses needed.

Pros

I always enjoyed working with etap because of the quality of the software and accurate results.Plus the fact that the reports don't look like from a type writer the way SKM looks.

Cons

Recently they sent Costumer service for the Library for USA to India. This has caused a response time of 2-3 hours to get extended to 3-4 days and the professionalism of the staff in India is not to the US standards.

Pros

It is probably the most widely used power modeling software so it is easy to share with other users. All of its functions and device editors are "extremely" thorough offering an almost overwhelming number of study customization options. Overall, its use if fairly intuitive (but there is no substitute for attending a good old fashion class if you are a first time user). The online tutorials are excellent and tech support is great too.

Cons

Like most software, ETAP does have some quirks that a user needs to learn either by peer coaching or through painful firsthand trial & error.

Pros

ETAP is friendly to new user. And it covers all the required electrical calculation we may encounter in the work.
The technical support is good basically. We can always call technical support for help.

Cons

The lower version ETAP can't open a higher version ETAP file. ETAP is updating new version while we may use various version.

Pros

Friendly environment and the help is also good

Cons

Better and more accurate grounding calculation

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to ETAP

Pros

This software provides a very friendly interface and variety of tools that ease the process of design in our field. Also the customer service has always solved our questiones promptly.

Cons

Several features and tools are limited or restrained unless you purchase the full package.

Pros

The variability of the modules and options for running simulations are pretty extensive.

Cons

Some of the initial modules are expensive, and in general the functionality and setup are not as intuitive as I would like.

Pros

Lots of good options, can be difficult to understand these options.

Cons

Must pay for each option, need training on these options..