Presented by Zeus Xioco, Tesco Automation & Nicole Rexwinkel, Southern California Edison
Power systems are becoming more complex today due to the integration of renewable energy, stricter reliability and security requirements, and the need to balance fluctuating demand across increasingly interconnected infrastructure. Utilities need solutions for protection, automation, and control (PAC) systems which can support the objectives of commissioning new substations faster, in a more compact footprint, and with more flexibility to adopt new technologies that address future grid challenges. Digitalization and virtualization of PAC systems can help address these challenges. This presentation will explore how hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing of these systems can be used to expedite the deployment of digital and virtual PAC systems by validating configurations in lab settings. The digitalization and virtualization of PAC systems create a greater dependency on network architecture and management, and it will be critical to incorporate test tools which closely replicate the network traffic generated by intelligent electronic devices (IEDs). These test environments can reduce risk, increase confidence, and lead to faster deployment of digital and virtual PAC systems.