A multinational information technology consulting and systems integration company has won a five-year contract with Energy Queensland (EQL) to supply its operational technology hardware, software and specialised services. The new contract comprises a collection of technologies, including the company’s MD series remote telemetry units (RTUs) and proprietary browser-based human-machine interface (HMI), enabling management capabilities in a substation or an asset.
The use of the tech firm’s substation management system will support the reliable delivery of energy for EQL’s customers across Queensland, whilst helping meet the challenges introduced by distributed energy resources (such as wind and solar) as they play an increasing role in the energy mix. The newly released modular RTU supports a broad range of EQL’s use cases and provides flexible configurations that can be tailored to the specific operational requirements of the distributed control system.
The President of the tech company’s UK and Australia base stated that they are delighted that Energy Queensland has chosen their MD Series RTUs and substation automation capabilities as one of the foundations for its delivery of safe and reliable energy to homes and businesses across the entire state of Queensland. The company looks forward to continuing to partner with Energy Queensland in future projects, particularly in support of the challenges associated with the energy transition over the next decade and more.
The Substation Automation Market is expected to reach US$51 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 5.8% over the forecast period, 2021-2026. With the widening of the supply and demand gap, power management has become one of the most critical areas of concern worldwide. Energy consumption is increasing at one of the fastest rates globally; hence, the requirement of substation automation systems in the present-day substations to efficiently control and deliver power is highly sought out.
Substation automation provides protection, control, automation, monitoring, and communication capabilities as a part of comprehensive substation control and monitoring solution. Today, substation layout is much cleaner where one can probably eliminate entire writing racks, and cabinets or make it much smaller depending on how users are handling their I/Os to the IEDs (intelligent electronic devices). High-speed microprocessor-based remote terminal units or intelligent electronic devices are used for substation automation and protection.
The migration toward the future transmission and distribution substation is taking place because of the desire to bring more automation and intelligence to the power grid network to address a myriad of utility concerns such as how to reduce operational expenses to ways to meet new regulatory requirements, such as NERC-CIP (North American Electric Reliability Corporation-Critical Infrastructure Protection).
The smart electric substation role in smart cities has become more important than the traditional one. The key benefits derived out of substation automation are increased reliability, early detection of faults and quick diagnosis, improved worker safety, and enhanced utilization in the smart city infrastructure.
The increasing demand for efficient transmission of electricity, reduced operations and management costs for utilities, and ultimately lower power costs for consumers drive the growth of smart grids in the market. Additionally, the increasing integration of large-scale renewable energy systems and improved security among others are fuelling the growth of smart grids in substation automation.
Smart grid communication technology provides predictive data and recommendations to the utilities, their suppliers, and their customers on how best to manage power. Moreover, smart grids are being deployed by applying modern technologies in substations and power networks.