Control Center

Designs New Functions

and Challenges
for the Transmission
System Operator

T
Transmission System
Operators (TSOs) are facing
major challenges and becom-
ing key players in the transi-
tion of the power industr y
that is enabling the growth of
renewable intermittent energy
sources. The energy market no
longer guarantees long-term
revenue when decisions result
in building more grid assets.
Finally, customer behavioral
changes and new energy deliv-
ery use requirements appear for
the system operator.
Due to its intermittency, the integration
of renewable energy in the power system is a real
challenge for RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Electricité),
©i
st
oc
(the French TSO) with respect to both infrastructure man-
kp
ho
to
.c
om
agement and control of energy flow in real time. In addition to
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ho
mb
os
methods and tools for forecasting renewable generation, various levers
an
of flexibility are gradually emerging. They are introduced by market parties.
But they are also due to new power system infrastructure components and control

By Jean-Yves Astic, Gabriel Bareux,

Thierry ­Buhagiar, Matthieu Dussartre, Nicolas Omont,
Pierre de Longeaux, Yannick Jacquemart, Bruno Meyer,
­Brigitte Peyron, and Lucas Saludjian
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2017.2779553
Date of publication: 21 February 2018

march/april 2018 1540-7977/18©2018IEEE ieee power & energy magazine 57


figure 1. The complexity of a current control room is shown in RTE’s
National Control Center. (Photo courtesy of RTE, used with permission.)
systems, which will facilitate the adaptation to this flexibil-
ity. Among these levers of action, we have the following:
✔✔ the use of the large-scale grid as a smoothing mecha-
nism (expansion in large systems)
✔✔ dynamic load management
✔✔ the optimal use of the system by operating the grid
closer to its limits and minimizing preventive mar-
gins through the full use of all grid control variables
(topology, management of transmission flows and
voltage, etc.)
✔✔ the implementation of power storage strategies
✔✔ pooling different energy systems into one energy de-
livery ecosystem.
A number of challenges relating to the integration of these
various levers, which are not mutually exclusive, will arise
in the near future for TSOs, notably in defining modalities
for their prioritization and activation.
RTE has developed and deployed innovative tools and
methods to manage uncertainty with regard to injections/
extractions due to variable generation, such as wind and solar.
RTE has improved operations by efficiently using resources
to securely operate the system closer to its limits.
This article focuses on two categories of development:
✔✔ Energy management system (EMS) functionalities
will be implemented in RTE control rooms in 2018.
Its main framework is called Apogée, which takes ad-
vantage of the outcome of an RTE-led R&D project
financed by the European Commission, called iTesla.
✔✔ A new concept of substation developed jointly with
GE displays a pioneering smart substation concept
that enhances the control of the overall system. It is
already operational in one substation and should be
rolled out in more in the coming years.
Control centers are generally identified as a particular sub-
ject, related to control rooms and EMSs. Substations are
58 ieee power & energy magazine march/april 2018
considered a different field of power sys-
tems, but these topics are really comple-
mentary. New computing capacity, new
controls, new sensors, and new channels
of communications will lead to an increase
in interaction between these fields. RTE’s
viewpoint is that the overall safety and per-
formance of the system will benefit from
progress in the tools of the control room
as well as from those within substations.
Different voltage levels will be more inter-
twined than ever. This article presents two
developments on how TSO solutions can
address these new challenges.
New Environment
and Tools for EMS
A new set of tools has been designed for
EMSs by RTE. The new solution offers the
operator a new level of hyper-vision and
automation that operations planning uses for up to two days
ahead of real time.
Central Issue: How to Prepare the
Control of the Grid of the Future
Operators have to face an increasingly strained context with
more uncertainties. They also need to cope with new usages
of the grid (new behavior of players, new components on the
system, etc.).
To face these changes, the amount of information needed
to make operating decisions has increased. This leads to a
contradiction: operators must take quicker decisions to oper-
ate the system closer to its limits. However, operators in a
control room face a cluttered and complex work environ-
ment (Figure 1).
Proactive and Action-Oriented Tools
The new tool is a major improvement that swaps from reac-
tion-oriented management of the system to complete predic-
tive scheduling. Today’s operator actions are decided near
real time or after a contingency occurs. With the future ap­­
plication of new tools, the temporal scope will be widely
expanded to Day+2 (two days ahead of operations). The tools
will allow RTE to capitalize on short time-horizon planning
studies as each successful operating strategy will enrich a
database of knowledge and then be used in simulations and
studies. The functional scope of the EMS will be drastically
updated by proposing advanced business functions in terms
of visibility and mobility.
Strategic Information Management Approach
The core of this new system management capability relies
on a breakthrough in the strategic information management
approach for electrical system data. As input, the system has
to be fed complete data import from supervisory control and
data acquisition (SCADA) and other existing applications. ers transformers, and high-voltage direct current
The goal is to generate top-level efficient and integrated (HVdc) lines].
information and provide relevant diagnostics and decisions. The automatic command is also built in a modular way (see
These data will be provided to the operator according to Figure 5), which offers the possibility of progressively imple-
the imminence of the critical issues and needs for remedial menting new functions in the control room as a key issue
actions. These summaries are provided via data stream and for acceptance by the operators. The first modules have
integration in a single graphical user interface of a single already been tested offline by operators and then imple-
application on the operator station (Figure 2). mented in some of RTE’s control rooms for production oper-
All data shown in the user interface (Figure 3) are acces- ation in 2017.
sible to staff via mobile devices inside the control center and
in the field. On the left side, the operator has a list of cards to
interact with the system processes. On the right side, the oper-
ator finds the details of a single card with the correct informa-
tion and the actions to handle a problem (an overload forecast
in this case). The timeline allows the operator to view data in
a wider context. In the same way, a dashboard presents results
on maps, tables, and charts.
This innovative framework for system operation allows
periodic and automatic studies, identifies potential con-
straints, and, accordingly, determines if actions are needed.
It also prompts to the user to launch new studies if needed
(Figure 4). Thanks to this framework, a two-day forecast of
both power grid states and planned actions is given to the figure 2. A new operator console. (Photo courtesy of RTE,
operator. A full set of new features is embedded, such as used with permission.)
the following:
✔✔ analysis of forecast security, including uncertainties:
the decision process will be based on a full two-day-
ahead analysis, value, and efficiency of actions
✔✔ elaboration of remedial actions (both preventive and
corrective): knowledge capitalization on operators’
historical choices and simulation of actions
✔✔ real-time monitoring: support for alarm management
to exhibit only issues that cannot be handled au-
tomatically and give suggestions on their resolution
✔✔ full management of equipment lock-out: planning, to-
pology choices, and collaboration with other operators
✔✔ global optimization of power flow, voltage, and loss-
es: best choice and coordination of levers
✔✔ equipment testing and planning: automating the veri- figure 3. The new graphical user interface.
fication of switch reliability.

Automatic Command
of the System Current Approach Future Approach
This automatic command makes Data/Forecast Periodic and
the system more responsive, agile, Difference Automatic Studies
and secure by automatically
✔✔ identifying which commands No
Alert Constraints?
a nd cont rol st r at eg y to Yes
Actions? Yes
implement Studies
✔✔ providing orders to the SCA- No 2017+
No
DA system (always after an Constraints ? Alert Toolbox
automatic security check) Yes Human Human
Actions Studies Study Study
✔✔ optimizing, coordinating,
and positioning set points
[local automata, phase shift- figure 4. Current and new approaches of grid management.

march/april 2018 ieee power & energy magazine 59


figure 5. A modular approach.
Tools to Ensure a Safe System
The new EMS enables
✔✔ monitoring the system and the level of risk
✔✔ studying and ensuring the security in anticipation
(a tool called iTesla)
✔✔ submitting orders to the SCADA system
✔✔ optimizing the global system
✔✔ publishing reports
✔✔ improving cooperation and helping the mobility of op-
erators between control centers but also with coordi-
nation center, field workers, and other entities.
Focus on the Uncertainties in the
Short-Term Operations Planning Process
The project aims at orienting the management of the system
toward prediction rather than reaction. In such a framework,
taking uncertainties into account in the decision process is a
key point. Within the power systems field, stochastic optimi-
zation is often used for generation dispatch and historically
for the management of hydropower. On the grid ­management
side, operators implicitly deal with stochastic optimization
concepts to handle the tradeoff between the decrease of
uncertainties as real-time approaches and the increased cost
(or unavailability) of resources. For power grid management,
risk concept is still widely based on N-K contingency analy-
sis using a deterministic grid state forecast.
In Europe, several drivers push toward changing the mul-
tidecade status quo:
✔✔ The unbundling of the electric utility created a situ-
ation in which TSOs naturally focus on the optimi-
zation of their own asset use, i.e., the grid, while the
generation optimization side is handled by the market.
60 ieee power & energy magazine march/april 2018
✔✔ At the continental level, the development of intermit-
tent generation and use of electric power markets have
increased cross-border exchanges and their volatil-
ity, resulting in dynamics too fast to be faced with-
out forecasting functions (for instance, if the French
export position varies by more than 3 GW within 10 min
of the hour). The easy valuation of additional cross-
border capacity through price spreads demonstrates
the advantages of a more sophisticated use of the ex-
isting assets.
✔✔ At the local level, the integration of distributed inter-
mittent generation also triggered a need for a more
sophisticated short-term operation. Indeed, as the value
of curtailed generation is much lower than the value of
lost load and intermittent generation rarely produces
at its nominal output, the system will no longer be de-
veloped to transmit all the producible power at any one
time. As a result, part of the costs has switched from
capital expenses to operating expenses, thus increasing
the willingness to make the operations more complex
to gain additional transmission capacity with a minimal
amount of investment. This complexity results in a more
active management of the grid (such as phase-shifter
transformer tap settings, substation topology changes,
and special protection schemes) combined with a better
assessment of uncertainties that reduce the operational
margins while controlling risk levels.
This uncertainty framework will need some extensions,
especially to improve the simulations, which we assumed to
be simple load flows.
✔✔ The simulations may return more complex informa-
tion than safe/unsafe. For example, they may compute
the amount of unserved load resulting from a contin-
gency. However, operators typically have only discrete
choices in that they may be unable to use information
not aggregated to the simple form of safe (i.e., nothing
to do) versus unsafe (i.e., find a solution to mitigate this
unacceptable risk).
✔✔ The simulations may need to be in multiple time scales.
RTE’s current security analysis process generates one
forecasted grid state per hour up to the end of the next
day, plus one special point for the 19:00 hour (which
corresponds to peak load in France). They are all indi-
vidually analyzed. Increasing the sampling during the
next hours is likely to occur soon, but there is no plan
yet to assess the security over several samples at once.
However, some time-coupling constraints are appear-
ing. Some cables can be overloaded up to 4 h, and some
storage can be used to handle congestion conditions for
a few hours. As a result, simulations will need to go
through several samples both to model the actions and
to evaluate the secure system states. The first step will
be to include state variables in the grid states (past time
duration during which the cable has been overloaded,
actual state of charge of the storage, etc.).
 The integration of renewable energy in the power system
is a real challenge for RTE with respect to both infrastructure
management and control of energy flow in real time.
✔✔ Some dynamic simulations may be needed to study
transient stability. The analysis and remediation of
voltage collapse and interactions among automata
may become too complex for simulation as a series of
static load flows.
✔✔ With the increasing complexity of the grid manage-
ment, the operator will need tools to find the best pre-
ventive and curative remedial actions. A specific tool
purely dedicated to safety assessment, being able to
simulate scheduled action logic and uncontrolled un-
certainties with the greatest detail possible, achieves
the best vision of the risks and will be a cornerstone
of the future system. In stochastic optimization, such
a tool is called a strategy simulator. It allows one to as-
sess the performance of strategies and compare them.
✔✔ Another category of tools will help the operators or
even automate the decision process. They will be able
to make the required simplifications and test many
alternatives to determine the best operating decision
while the safety assessment tool will remain the touch-
stone that guarantees the conformity of the scheduled
actions to the risk framework.
✔✔ An additional uncertainty management scheme might
be needed between the contingencies whose occurrence
probability is very low (less than 0.01% per day) and the
historically modeled uncertainties whose occurrence
probability are rather high (more than 1% per day). In-
deed, while low-probability occurrences are handled
thanks to scenarios, high-probability occurrences are
handled with a learned probability distribution. Some
uncertainties, for example, the primary reserve induced
flows, are difficult to model under both schemes. We
have explored robust security analysis where the risk
doctrine requires that safety be guaranteed for a set or
a domain of plausible grid states, without any explicit
accounting for their probability occurrence.
Overall, switching from a reactive to a proactive manage-
ment system will require many process changes. Indeed, the
additional complexity cannot be handled manually so many
implicit tradeoffs will have to be made explicit. Clarifying
the type of uncertainties handled, distinguishing between
controlled and uncontrolled variations, and modeling cor-
rective actions are some of the tasks to be achieved for a
smooth transition to the sophisticated world of predictive
management. Statistics, machine learning, mathematical
optimization, and advanced simulation tools will be the
basis of the new computation process to be built. Expertise
march/april 2018 ieee power & energy magazine 61
and know-how are urgently needed as grid safety requires
the management of risks that occur so rarely that their statis-
tical study is inefficient.
The set of tools developed with the framework of the Apo-
gée and iTesla projects are part of a global approach leading
RTE to update its control room by introducing an EMS that is
efficient and innovative. It offers operators a series of tools to
help them control a grid that needs to be operated under more
complex scenarios as well as allowing them to concentrate on
new tasks of added value. The first modules will be put into
operation at the beginning of 2018, and the program will be
rolled out in 2018 and 2019.
The Smart Substation
The power system is operated increasingly close to its
physical limits in a context of increasing variability and
uncertainly with regard to power injections and withdrawals.
However, new flexible levers of action are made possible by
technological progress such as residential storage or higher
power storage installed in strategic locations on the trans-
mission network, the general rollout of HVdc transmission
lines, and dynamic line rating (DLR) assessment. To inte-
grate such levers of flexibility and easily shape new wide-
area complex automata to derive the optimum benefit from
new techniques and technologies, we need to shift our assets
toward more flexible and smart solutions. A smart substation
is one example of the way forward to achieve this goal.
Until recently, the refurbishment of protection and substa-
tion automation system (SAS) solutions in substations was
driven by aging and economic criteria, leading to an uncoordi-
nated deployment from a functional point of view. The recent
increasing development and maturity of intelligent electronic
devices using IEC 61850 protocols (e.g., station and process
buses) have created the design of a new generation of protec-
tion and SAS solutions for the deployment of advanced area
automated functions, thus leading to a coordinated upgrade of
SASs in a larger area. For obvious economic reasons, each of
these substations does not require the same level of smartness.
Thus, different solutions make sense for different situations.
For instance, the Poste Intelligent project (smart substa-
tion in French) consists of two main substation refurbish-
ments (Blocaux 225 kV/90 kV and Alleaux 90 kV), located
in northern France, in which nine framing substations were
upgraded, in a windy zone where power flow limits may
occur occasionally (Figure 6).
It is worth exploring what a smart substation should
be in RTE’s view. First, we consider that the traditional
 A new concept of substation developed jointly
with GE displays a pioneering smart substation concept
that enhances the control of the overall system.
protection, communication, control, and command services
will be more effective in terms of time response, selectivity,
accuracy, interoperability, electrical safety, and reliability.
We have selected Parallel Redundancy Protocol for the station
bus and High Availability Seamless Redundancy protocol for
the process bus. For the best results, low-power instrument cur-
rent transformers (LPITs) based on magneto-optical properties
should be simultaneously installed. This guarantees safety
for maintenance and provides good linearity in the transient
dynamic response when a fault occurs.
Most of the primary parts should be equipped with embed-
ded or external monitoring systems based on a large variety of
sensors. For instance, in the Poste Intelligent project, discon-
nectors are equipped with a measure of low-voltage current
required to actuate the mechanical engine rotating the arms;
(a)
(b)
figure 6. The Blocaux (in Northern France) smart substa-
tion: (a) an old electromechanical and (b) a full digitalized
automation system. (Photo courtesy of RTE, used with
permission.)
62 ieee power & energy magazine march/april 2018
therefore, a loose or blocked arm can be monitored and warn-
ings or alarms initiated. To achieve this, it is required that the
sensors are compliant with IEC 61850 or that a multiprotocols
gateway (IRIG-B, MODBUS, IEC 61850) be installed. The
monitoring data then have to be processed locally for imme-
diate or adaptive remedial actions and sent to some distant
maintenance or monitoring centers.
Finally, combining real-time information (sampled values,
generic object-oriented substation event messages, logical
information, and measurements) and monitoring data, a state
estimation of all the components of the substation may be
established and advanced automated area functions computed
(locally or remotely). For instance, the Poste Intelligent will
enable a DLR calculation relying on weather-based informa-
tion from all the surrounding lines. Furthermore, it will oper-
ate an adaptive and coordinated wide-area protection scheme.
In summary, a smart substation will be a mix of the fol-
lowing features (Figure 7):
✔✔ fully digitalized protection and automation system
✔✔ extensive monitoring system
✔✔ advanced functions implemented using local comput-
ing resources.
To achieve this target, a reliable and resilient telecommunica-
tion network between substations and control centers is nec-
essary. Cybersecurity is also now a mandatory requirement.
Focus on a Fully Digitalized Protection
and Automation System
In the switchyard, RTE has developed a structured substa-
tion architecture over the years, where all the protection
and automation functions necessary for the control of two
feeders were placed in one bay of the yard (including their
cubicles and auxiliary power supply). The main consider-
ations for this placement were the voltage and power losses
on the copper cables and the reduction of electromagnetic
transient interference between the primary equipment and
the controls. For the past ten years, a fiber-optic ring or
star has linked each bay in the yard and bay control unit to
the main computers in the substation local control room,
where the remote terminal unit, sequence of event recorder,
disturbances recorders, human–machine interface (HMI),
and administration console functions are located.
Digitalization technology was already available but only
partially implemented. Over the past five years, the new
generation LPITs, also called nonconventional instrument
transformers and the merging unit equipment, had reached a
technology readiness level. This encouraged us to try it in a
 The core of this new system management capability
relies on a breakthrough in strategic information management
approach for electrical system data.

real environment and gain experience on the advantages and
drawbacks of this new technology.
At the same time, the development of the standalone
merging unit concept, which enables the digitalization of the
outputs of the existing instrument transformer, was a key
factor introducing the full digitalization in a brownfield sub-
station refurbishment (“brownfield” consists of refurbishing
existing infrastructure, whereas “greenfield” entails build-
ing a new substation or infrastructure). As a consequence,
the design reduces the need for bays in the yard. It also
offers the possibility of relocating all the devices at the foot
of the HV primary equipment, providing a better opportu-
nity to include the instrument transformer natively in the
equipment, or locating it at a centralized room because the
fiber-optic cable has no information losses and the auxiliary
power supply can be simplified (Figure 8).
The new transformers and other sensors provide full digi-
talized access to all the sampled values. A high-speed local
data storage has to be commissioned, and stricter and much
more precise specifications for time and date synchroniza-
tion are needed. As an example, the Precision Time Proto-
col, IEEE 1588 (included in IEC PAS 61850-9-3: Precision
Time Protocol Profile for Power Utility Automation) as well
as data names and attributes specification (e.g., IEC 61850
edition 2 with a user profile) are required within the substa-
tion and between substations.
A smart substation produces a data lake, where new infor-
mation may be computed at the user’s request: simple ones
like phasors or root mean square values, moving average over
any time frame, and more complex functions like fast Fou-
rier transforms and harmonics. Eventually, local substation
data consistency, replacement, and even local state estimation

RTE Smart Substation

Wide-Area Controller

Primary Equipments
and Sensors
Merging Units Protection Relays
Bay Controllers

ion
stat
Sub ontrol
C om
Ro
art
Sm n Area
t io Digital Substation HMI
sta
Sub

Ethernet Switches
Monitoring
rd
tch Ya
Swi
Optical
CTs/VTs Switchgear
Control Unit
© Credit GE Grid Solutions and CIGRE

figure 7. A representation of the smart substation Poste Intelligent. (Image courtesy of RTE, used with permission.)
CT: computed tomography; VT: volumetric tomography.

march/april 2018 ieee power & energy magazine 63

 SF6 Monitoring
in CB

<<Poste Intelligent>>
Blocaux Switchgear Monitoring +
225/90/20 kV SCU + Switch Cabinet

Wind Farms (Far Away)

Disconnector Transformer
LPIT CT + VT
Monitoring Monitoring + BCU +
Switch Cabinet

MU/SAMU +
Switch
Cabinet
Lithium Ion Auxiliary
Units (+ DSAS Backup)

figure 8. New devices in the Blocaux smart substation. SCU: SAS control unit; BCU: basic control unit; MU: merging
unit; SAMU: stand-along MU; DSAS: digital SAS. (Photo courtesy of RTE, used with permission.)

computation results could be performed and sent with the
actual values to the control centers.
In the Poste Intelligent/smart substation project, we have
experimented with a new functional design: all the protec-
tion is stored in the same cubicle instead of our traditional
feeder-oriented design of cubicles. This enables the possi-
bility of connecting a hot spare intelligent electronic device
(IED), such as a protection function, that can replace any
faulty one upon request. The final aim is to obtain a self-
healing or N-1 failure-resilient protection function, giving
more time for maintenance personnel to intervene. The obvi-
ous drawback is the complexity and difficulty of identify-
ing the faulted equipment. An identification aid has to be
provided (with light-emitting diodes, for instance). Main-
tenance feedback has to be taken into account. This might
lead, in the future, to a certain level of virtualization of some
equipment in the same box.
To summarize, the main advantages of the full digitaliza-
tion of the data collected are
✔✔ higher data refresh time
✔✔ more precise measurements
✔✔ better dynamic filtering and lower electromagnetic
disturbances on low power wires
✔✔ higher data redundancy
✔✔ more precise time accuracy and thus sequencing of
data and events
✔✔ compliance with standards, thus a consistency of data
models, and a certain level of interoperability between
equipment from different vendors.
Full digitalization also provides a safer way for maintenance
as fiber optics replace copper cables, fewer auxiliary units
(e.g., diesel generators or batteries) are needed, and the choice
to organize the design (i.e., centralized or not, integrated or
not) is more open to the TSO needs. Additional expected
advantages include a potential reduction in spatial and envi-
ronmental footprint at a lower cost. Since this is the first trial,
the results will require further examination and adjustments
to designs.
Caution is needed, however. Time synchronization is dif-
ficult to achieve, and there needs to be a careful design and
commissioning. Data models are more complex and must be
TSO oriented (and not vendor oriented). New commissioning

64 ieee power & energy magazine march/april 2018

 This innovative framework for system operation
allows periodic and automatic studies, identifies potential
constraints, and, accordingly, determines if actions are needed.
tests should be designed and optimized. New automated test
tools and maintenance instructions have to be available.
Maintenance crews will require exposure and training in
new environment.
Focus on the Monitoring System
A wide range of sensors has been available for installation for
years. The problem was collecting the data in the field and
sending them to control and/or maintenance centers, gener-
ally for system alarms. Each vendor solution was proprietary.
With the introduction of IEC 61850, sensors could now be
considered as IEDs, including IEC 61850 interfaces, and, if
not, a multifield protocol interface box could be designed,
which opened new possibilities to convert alarms (threshold
trespass like insufficient level of SF6) in actual monitoring.
The Blocaux integrated digitalized SAS (DSAS) operates a
wide variety of sensors. For instance, on a power transformer
we monitor (increased rate trend and alarms) the cooling fans
and pumps, fault gas accumulation in the Buchholz relay, oil
temperature, power dissipation, power factor, capacitance, and
partial discharge around the bushings, as well as a dissolved gas
analyzer (nine faults gases analysis via a photoacoustic method)
and a moisture-in-oil estimation.
For circuit breakers and disconnectors, we have installed
the control and monitoring of open-close contact, real-time
figure 9. Thermal imaging of the busbars at the Blocaux substation.
march/april 2018 ieee power & energy magazine 65
current, motor/pump start information, SF6 information, and
torque and current in switchgear drives. For busbars and
switchgear, an infrared hot spot detection is under com-
mission. To contribute to the sustainable development, water
supply, storm water discharge, auxiliary units, and the techni-
cal buildings’ main services (temperature control, electrical
consumption, and lights) control and metering have also been
installed (Figure 9).
Focus on Computational Resources for
Implementation of Advanced Functions
The DLR function is becoming a key issue for RTE as for
many TSOs. Numerous ways to perform it are under consid-
eration or already deployed on RTE’s grid. One uses online
sag and conductor temperature-embedded measurements and
combines this information with offline external computa-
tions of ampacity margin versus operational rules based on
risk analysis. The DLR provides a rating status or a warning
to the TSO.
Another DLR option takes local weather measurements
(temperature, wind velocity, and direction) into account plus
voltage and current levels to compute an equivalent thermal state
of a given line. Should one supplement it with local future wind
and solar photovoltaic generation, then an algorithm might be
devised to apply a local margin or restriction to all the concerned
 figure 10. The visual display offered at the new smart substation.
automation and protection settings in the same area. Further-
more, if the time margin before constraints is short, some reme-
dial actions (network topology modification, generation limita-
tion, load shedding, and phase shifter working points) can be
computed and applied thoroughly in the area (Figure 10).
Such an algorithm is under development. Nine substations
have to be adapted, and a test mode was commissioned in the
fourth quarter of 2017. Following successful user feedback, a
production mode will be available in the second quarter of 2018.
As more precise weather forecasts are commercially
available, a data science approach is also under consider-
ation that could show geographical information and detailed
line descriptions (of the tower level and conductor disposi-
tion), use a centralized algorithm to compute an image of the
thermal rating of the line, provide warnings and advisories
to the operator, and initiate automatic actions to mitigate
the constraints. The most effective way of achieving this
remains an open question.
To summarize, RTE’s Poste Intelligent/smart grid project
is “an operational concept car” and will undergo a live field
test in upcoming years to evaluate our next generation of
protection and control.
For Further Reading
The European project iTesla (Innovative Tools for Electrical
System Security within Large Areas) [Online]. Available:
www.itesla-project.eu
M. H. Vasconcelos, L. M. Carvalho, J. Meirinhos, N.
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Biographies
Jean-Yves Astic is with RTE (Réseau de Tra nspor t
d’Electricité), France.
Gabriel Bareux is with RTE (Réseau de Transport
d’Electricité), France.
Thierry Buhagiar is with RTE (Réseau de Transport
d’Electricité), France.
Matthieu Dussartre is with RTE (Réseau de Transport
d’Electricité), France.
Nicolas Omont is with RTE (Réseau de Transport
d’Electricité), France.
Pierre de Longeaux is with RTE (Réseau de Transport
d’Electricité), France.
Yannick Jacquemart is with RTE (Réseau de Transport
d’Electricité), France.
Bruno Meyer is with RTE (Réseau de Transpor t
d’Electricité), France.
Brigitte Peyron is with RTE (Réseau de Transport
d’Electricité), France.
Lucas Saludjian is with RTE (Réseau de Transport
d’Electricité), France. p&e