At present there are areas of electrical network configuration and information that are of mutual interest to both National Grid and Western Power Distribution that can only be viewed from one operators Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) System. Visibility of these areas of interest, especially the extent of running distributed generation, are becoming increasingly important to both companies and therefore it is proposed to create an environment where data from one system can be seen on the other and vice versa.

At present, whilst Western Power Distribution have real time visibility of extra high voltage and significant High Voltage (HV) connected distributed generation, National Grid does not. Such visibility will aid National Grid's operational timescale forecasting, with particular reference to generation scheduling/ spinning reserve. It will not be possible for either company to initiate controls on the other’s network.

There is a basic understanding of the interconnection of SCADA systems intra companies but there is little experience of inter company connections. This will provide experience of this facet and demonstrate the importance to the companies of sharing information in real time. It will also explore the possibility of cyber attack on such a link and the effect that this could have on both companies. It will provide a test bed to develop the best method of preventing such attacks and whether ICCP is the correct methodology for sharing such information in real time.

Objectives

This project will establish a real time link between the SCADA systems operated by National Grid and Western Power Distribution such that data on either system can be viewed on the other in real time. The objectives will be:

• Establish the link

• Establish access to the data and methods of viewing the data

• Establish the security measures required to ensure the security of the link to both of the systems against cyber attack.