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Explains
When two worlds collide
The energy grid today represents a collision of old and new. The old grid wasn’t designed to handle scores of distributed energy resources such as solar arrays and onshore wind farms. Nor does the older equipment “speak digital”, says Elliman. This means there’s a need for patches, fixes and added layers of complexity, all designed to help machines communicate with each other. “Legacy hardware means communication failures, and that entails expensive custom fixes. Wherever you’ve got this inflection point between old and new technology, and some sort of adapter layer, you create a capability – but you also introduce security vulnerabilities, and the whole system becomes harder to upgrade.”
Every new connection point is a potential cybersecurity risk. “When you merge IT and OT networks you’ve basically created a highway for threats to move from business systems into critical grid controls.” IT/OT convergence also needs people who can bridge domains and understand everything from data analytics to cybersecurity and AI.
The rise of smart metering, meanwhile, has unleashed a “firehose of data”, but without common standards, much of it remains siloed or underused. In some ways it’s remarkable that the old system still functions. “Some of this stuff is upwards of 30 to 50 years old; credit to it that it is still working, but it wasn’t built for the digital world,” says Elliman.
“Getting all of these systems working together is comparable to an orchestra where everyone’s reading different music. Not only that, but some musicians are also playing instruments from different centuries and speaking different languages – that’s what grid integration means today”
David Elliman, global chief of software engineering, Zühlke
Ripping out and replacing everything is impossible, so retrofitting tech is common. “We’re using clever workarounds like middleware and wireless sensor networks and little translator devices that bolt into the old equipment to give it a digital voice. But if you think about what we’re doing, we’re adding internet connectivity to something that predates the internet by a considerable margin. Every upgrade risks disrupting something that’s intended to keep the lights on.”
Getting all of these systems working together is comparable to an “orchestra where everyone’s reading different music”, Elliman adds. “Not only that, but some musicians are also playing instruments from different centuries and speaking different languages – that’s what grid integration means today.”
Just ensuring transfer of data from point A to point B is not enough. “The first level is technical integration. Can the devices actually connect? Then there’s semantic integration – a shared understanding of what things mean.” Voltage is a good example of the complexity of the system, adds Steven Steer. “Voltage crops up everywhere. For example, David’s given me a voltage number. Does he mean single-phase voltage? Does he mean three-phase voltage? Does he mean three-phase voltage at its maximum, the RMS value? Are we talking about reactive voltage?
“You could end up with about 50 or 100 definitions of voltage, and that’s before you move onto current, or temperature, or grid planning and geospatial definitions, and the definition of a substation. Suddenly you have a million types of data to describe the energy system.”
This is why open standards are critical. “Without open standards you end up with this patchwork of closed systems, that can’t communicate, much less co-ordinate, and you can’t achieve the unified system that we need.
“That’s the key – the overall ecosystem.”
