Jim Ogle
Communications networks have been an integral part of power system operations for many decades. These networks provide operators with the situational awareness necessary to manage the grid. They enable coordination with crews and operators to maintain safety during normal operations and efficiently manage restoration when outages occur. They provide the backbone for coordinated protection schemes and increasing levels of automation for fast response to changing conditions and maintain system stability. The measurements and other data gathered through these networks also provide input into the engineering analysis and planning processes for the electric system.
The communication systems that transport the data to support these fundamental grid functions are a complex network of networks. The infrastructure includes a broad variety of wired and wireless technologies spread out across the wide and diverse service territories of the utilities. A mix of utility-owned and commercial service provider-owned infrastructure and systems is utilized. On top of the physical infrastructure, there are multiple layers and different options of communication protocols that manage how data flow through the network. Much like the power system, significant effort for planning, engineering, operations, asset management, and maintenance is required to ensure adequate capacity, reliability, and resilience.
The transformation of the grid to a decarbonized energy future is increasing the criticality of these grid communication systems. In a future where renewable energy resources are distributed throughout the system, there is greater demand for timely data to operate in a more dynamic environment. Many of these new resources are owned and managed by nonutility participants, increasing the complexity of the networks of entities that must share data to coordinate the interconnected systems. System dynamics are increasing with integration of distributed energy resources and fast-acting power electronics driving the need for higher fidelity data. The number of sensors and intelligent devices to provide visibility and local controls is increasing the scale of the necessary communication networks. This is all occurring while electricity demand is projected to increase dramatically with electrification across transportation and buildings.
In this more data-driven energy future, the power system will be even more dependent on communication systems to keep the data flowing in support of keeping the lights on, our cars moving, and our buildings warm or cool. This increasing dependency is the motivation for this special issue on grid communications in the IEEE Power & Energy Magazine. We need to expand a shared conversation between our power and communication systems engineering communities to determine how these two complex intertwined systems must evolve together to meet the changing demands of a future decarbonized grid.
For this issue, I solicited articles from industry leaders in grid data and communications. To start the shared conversation, the intent was to provide a series of articles that would highlight the breadth of operational considerations for grid communications. The focus was more on establishing what grid communications need to do rather than how they need to do it. Of course, as engineers, we can’t help ourselves from exposing possible solutions, so there are plenty of possibilities included. The resulting issue covers forward-looking considerations for broadband connectivity, timing services, distributed intelligence, privacy, and digital transformation. I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I have.
L’Abbate [A1] sets the stage for this issue with a discussion on the critical need for reliable wireless broadband networks in the future decarbonized grid. This article provides an interesting connection between achieving decarbonization and new communication network architectures. It explores the question of public versus private networks and outlines the benefits of a multiapplication modern network architecture. The article ties these thoughts together with an examination of the opportunities and challenges for utilities deploying private LTE solutions.
Robertson et al. [A2] look at one of the more fundamental electric power grid applications for communication technology: timing services. To set the background, an overview of the dominant method for power system timing services today, Global Navigation Satellite Systems, such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), is provided. Given this background, the use of these timing services for electric power systems and the potential risks to maintain reliable connections from these systems to meet the operational requirements are described. Various methods to mitigate these vulnerabilities, including utilizing communication networks to distribute time, are then discussed. The article concludes with an example architecture for a substation network-distributed time model.
Stoupis et al. [A3] look toward the future of the grid where reliable and resilient operations will rely on data and distributed intelligence across the distribution system to better understand, optimize, and coordinate an increasing number of utility and nonutility devices. A general overview of edge computing and associated communications provides some background on the type of architecture needed to support distributed intelligence. A practical example of an edge computing framework is then described for a set of distribution system management applications with commercial wireless sensors and connected intelligent devices. The article pulls these concepts together with a vision for a future grid that employs hierarchical distributed grid intelligence.
Currie et al. [A4] introduce an important consideration to the future distributed grid communications discussion: privacy. As we look at broader coordination across organizational boundaries, maintaining privacy across the entities that must coordinate will be paramount. Speaking from the perspective of experience in leveraging grid data for developing advanced analytics, the need for grid data with a forward-leaning view is presented. The lens of cybersecurity and privacy is then placed over that view, examining tradeoffs between data privacy and data sharing. Given this context, current practices and their limitations are outlined, followed by several potential solutions to address current gaps. This article is a call to action for industry to build critical mass in privacy-preserving techniques to enable the data sharing required to manage the future grid.
Gutiérrez et al. [A5] turn the attention to critical substation communication networks. This article looks at the evolution of the IEC 61850 standard and the potential for leveraging software-defined networks (SDNs) and programmable data planes. The article describes the potential benefits that can be gained by leveraging recent advances in SDNs to reduce management complexity and improve the security and resiliency of communication networks. The use of these new technologies to realize a digital substation through the 61850 standard is presented. Of course, evolution to a digital power substation with high degrees of network programmability comes with challenges, and the article concludes with a treatment of those challenges and the next steps to overcome them.
I was honored to be invited to serve as guest editor for this special issue. I’ve been fortunate to work on both the power and communication side of energy systems in my career. I spent time at electric utilities in distribution engineering, substations, and metering as well as communication network engineering. I have developed commercial products and solutions for multiple generations of cellular and advanced metering infrastructure networks deployed around the world. The intersection of power system operations and communication systems has been the primary story arc of my career. Given this experience, I have a deep appreciation for the degree to which these two complex systems need to evolve and the challenge of doing so at a faster pace than ever before to meet the aggressive schedule goals to achieve decarbonization. I know it is critical we come together across the domains now to chart the course toward that shared future. I hope this issue encourages readers to engage in those conversations.
I have a much greater appreciation for all the hard work that goes into coordinating and publishing this magazine and am thankful to the editors and publishing staff. I would like to offer special thanks to Prof. Antonio Conejo for his guidance and support of my guest editorial duties. In addition, a sincere thanks to the authors for taking time in your busy schedules to contribute the articles for this special issue.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2023.3288582
Date of current version: 21 August 2023
1540-7977/23©2023IEEE