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There is no doubt that today’s telecommunications infrastructure for industrial industries, including mission-critical infrastructure such as the power utilities, are migrating toward an all-packet-based transport network. Today, the emerging trend for substation automation is a “Smart Network” optimized for data networking and able to support multi-functional IEDs using packet-based switching communications. Most importantly, protective relays and teleprotection devices using data communications as part of their operating principles have very stringent requirements with regard to latency and reliability. Providing that channel over packet-based infrastructure including leased Ethernet services poses a challenge for these existing devices that were designed for direct fiber, T1/E1 or SONET/SDH networks. While there are several solutions that are paving the way to modernize the substation communications infrastructure, power utilities are looking for a path forward that minimizes operational impact, requires little engineering, and assures comparable security and high reliability for their protection and SCADA system.

This presentation explores the modernization of substation automation. It outlines the major challenges power utilities face as the substation communications infrastructure migrates toward an all-packet-based network including the migration of 4-wire-audio leased-line services to Ethernet-leased services. It also addresses the stringent requirements for Protective Relaying and SCADA applications over packet-based networks, particularly over publicly-leased Ethernet services. Finally, it presents in detail, several case studies from several power utilities that have successfully migrated their system protection and substation automation applications to a packet-based communications network including leased Ethernet services.