Presented by Michael Breuhl, Southern Company, Senior Engineer
The electric grid is rapidly evolving through increased communications and automation, introducing new vulnerabilities and non‑traditional interactions between legacy power system equipment and modern, communication‑based technologies. Understanding these cyber‑physical interactions is essential to developing effective detection, mitigation, and protection strategies in an automated and intelligent grid environment.
This presentation describes how Southern Company uses real‑time simulation to safely evaluate emerging risks and research needs associated with this transformation. The Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) is used to support detailed power system modeling that represents power, protection, and communication elements to study system behavior. Communication emulation enables realistic interaction with external devices, replicating substation network behavior and improving visibility into grid communications under varying operating scenarios.
RTDS also supports application training, particularly for AI‑based tools, by generating fault and edge‑case scenarios that are rare in historical data and assist in defining normal versus abnormal system behavior. Through testing and hardware‑in‑the‑loop integration, applications and devices are evaluated in a realistic, real‑time environment prior to field deployment. Finally, impact analysis is performed to identify system vulnerabilities, assess potential outcomes of cyber events, and evaluate mitigation strategies before implementation.