Digital Substation is an engineering publication focused on IEC 61850 automation, protection systems, and digital grid intelligence.
ENTSO-E's 472-page final report on the April 28, 2025 blackout in Spain and Portugal identifies systemic failures in voltage control, protection settings, and distributed generation visibility — not a single technology — as the root causes of the largest European grid incident in over two decades.
IEC TC 57 Working Group 10 published seven Committee Draft for Vote documents proposing to split the monolithic IEC 61850-7-4 into seven modular parts. The logical node models themselves are not changing — only their structural organisation. Public commenting is open until April 10, 2026.
CIGRE Study Committee B5 has opened Working Group B5.90, tasked with writing the first dedicated guidelines for commissioning and testing of fully digital protection and automation control systems. The Terms of Reference, published in January 2026, cover FAT, SAT, and operational testing for IEC 61850 process bus architectures.
The UCA IUG conformance registry documents 1,650 test records across three IEC 61850 editions. To read the numbers, you need to know the policy behind them: who sets the transition deadlines, when Edition 2-only testing ended, and why 2023 produced a record spike. This article traces the process.
In 2023, fourteen European TSOs signed a common statement on IEC 61850 engineering and demonstrated a working proof of concept. Their five-step top-down process — backed by two new IEC technical reports — changes how utilities, IED suppliers, and tool vendors interact. Here is what they built and why it matters.
XML Schema validation checks structure — it cannot verify that a GOOSE subscription references a valid dataset or that a logical node contains required data objects. Object Constraint Language (OCL) fills that gap. IEC TS 61850-6-3, published in 2025, defines how OCL rules should be written and applied to IEC 61850 XML files, laying the groundwork for consistent, formal SCL validation across tools.
On March 16, 2026, Cuba experienced its eighth major blackout in 25 months — and its second total grid collapse of March alone. The Ministry reported that no faults were detected in operating units at the time of collapse, pointing to a structural cascading failure driven by chronic generation deficit.
The System Operator of the Unified Energy System (SO UES) has published comprehensive data on the operation of relay protection and automation devices (RPA) within the Russian Electric Power System (EPS) for the calendar year 2023. This report aims to provide a detailed analysis of the operational integrity and challenges faced by these critical components in ensuring the stability and reliability of the power grid.
Unlock the full potential of Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) to fortify your digital substation's cybersecurity infrastructure. This comprehensive guide offers step-by-step insights on implementing SBOM effectively, ensuring regulatory compliance, and leveraging it for risk management. Perfect for power utilities aiming for a robust defense against cyber threats.
The first DER-SmartGrid Integration conference takes place 14–16 May 2019, in London.
Last year Relyum launched a time-aware Redbox-DAN PCIe network interface RELY-SYNC-HSR/PRP-PCIe. Taking a brief look at the device.
The first — and declared to be annual — Grid Asset Management takes place 14–16 May, in London.
SGTech Europe 2019, the Smart Grid Innovation Project Exchange, takes place 26–28 March 2019 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.