CIRED 2023. Why virtualization is instrumental for DSOs to gain full value from their assets

Why Virtualization?

Companies are increasingly interested in virtualizing electrical equipment because it offers a range of benefits for their operations. Virtualization reduces the need for physical infrastructure, which can result in cost savings, reduced maintenance requirements, and increased safety.

The main goal of virtualization is to provide a new operational environment, which is not bound to any computer hardware or operating system. By virtualizing a substation it is possible to represent its operation in a digital model, in real-time. It enables the automation of processes using algorithms that are programmed by software that end up acting and commanding the physical elements of a substation.

This technique is used to optimise the management and maintenance of electrical substations, and brings numerous benefits to utilities and end users of the network, such as:

1. It allows operators to have more detailed and accurate visibility of the status of a substation in real-time, reducing operators’ maintenance costs in the field.

2. This real-time information and the ability to analyse it with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms, help operators identify and fix substation problems much faster as well as anticipate failures. This results in reduced downtime and thus, fewer power outages for end-users.

3. A virtual infrastructure makes it easier to simulate emergency situations and develop contingency plans, giving better visibility of potential risks and threats and therefore greater physical and cyber security to the network.

4. Finally, a virtualised substation helps companies optimise their infrastructure investment. Given that the evolution of the software is traditionally more agile and cost-effective than that of the hardware, virtualised infrastructures make it possible to update and improve substation operations more frequently, and to plan their maintenance more efficiently.

There is a need for TSOs and DSOs to gain more flexibility and agility by integrating new algorithms into the substation automation systems, in order to respond to the increased number of distributed energy resources in the grid.

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Deep Dive into T & D virtualisation uses cases with Barbara

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1. Learn how a TSO integrates critical functions into edge deployable software

2. Discover from a DSO how they virtualise secondary MV/LV substations to gain visibility of at last mile of the power grid

3. Achieve independence between hardware and software and enable peer- to-peer cooperation between substations with Edge Computing Mesh Networks

4.- Find out how to develop and deploy an early prediction model for critical high voltage Line capacity

Want to know more? download all use cases here for free. ‍

Barbara the Edge Platform for TSOs and DSOs to gain more value

At Barbara, we think that the Smart Grid cannot be solely managed from centralised platforms. Connectivity, data volume, the need for real-time responses and the security and privacy of data and equipment are all challenges that only a highly distributed and independent IT infrastructure can handle.

Edge Computing plays a key role as the enabler of the solution, as it helps businesses to monitor, manage and control their field assets without causing latency and bandwidth issues, as would happen with fully cloud-based systems.

Barbara Industrial Edge Platform is a powerful tool that helps DSOs to implement automated decision making within its critical processes.

Barbara offers a Thin Edge Technology to avoid vendor lock in. Its Technology is cybersecure by design and is used in highly critical sites, establishing peer-to-peer interoperability between sites, running automated AI processes in situ, and sharing sovereign data between stakeholders.

Its architecture, distributed in thousands of computing nodes, allows to communicate and virtualise any element and deploy Artificial Intelligence applications in real time.

Developed with cybersecurity by design, and compatible with Edge applications to optimise industrial processes and asset management, it is the perfect enabler to address the electrical industry’s biggest challenges and accelerate its transformation  intelligence.

It is a technological solution that:

• Is robust and tested in the energy sector

• Allows scalability to hundreds or thousands of installations of facilities

• Has a short time to-market period

• Provides cybersecurity by design that meets standard IEC-62443-4-2 security level 1

The most important data of the Industry starts ‘at the edge’ across thousands of IoT devices, industrial plants, and equipment machines. Discover how to turn data into real-time insight and actions, with  Barbara Edge Platform.

Want to look into virtualisarion? Request a demonstration

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