The energy network transition will require more agile, flexible and interconnected networks. Digitalisation of assets and processes will play a key part in the preparation of a net-zero capable network. Whilst the IEC61850 suite of standards has been widely adopted for SCADA systems, enhanced system and asset awareness will be required and will be based on IoT technology in many cases. Correlating both data sets and interfacing to common business applications will be a key enabler and value lever for the energy transition. Remote data collection from SCADA and IoT sensors will also require appropriate security solutions that can guarantee the integrity of each of the separate security zones. This project will investigate new solutions for operational data collection and reporting, edge computing and security.

Benefits

There are multiple applications and value levers in terms of optimised asset management, operational and system data reporting. This work has also got the potential to enable remote deployment of new and enhanced automation schemes. The virtualisation of reporting and diagnostic functions will also reduce the number of hardware platforms required when rolling out SCADA systems and enable remote management of some of the configurations. The reduced hardware requirements will provide a saving of £320k over the life of the assets (10 years in this case) and reduced cost for change management due to remote configurability will save approximately £370k. Maintenance costs will also be reduced by £7.5k and overall the net benefit in terms of Net Present Value (NPV) is estimated as £371k based on £295k project spend. This is based on a 10 year assessment following a 2 year development period, required for the development of a solution that can be rolled out. The technology is expected to deliver significantly greater benefits from optimised asset management of primary and secondary assets which are however currently not quantified at this stage. Follow up projects for digital twin applications, system awareness and analysis tools as well as enhanced system integrity protection and remedial action schemes are among those applications that this technology plays a key role in and their benefits will be quantified in future projects.