Relay protection, SCADA, Metering, and Cybersecurity for electrical infrastructure.
UK Power Networks' Constellation project replaces bay-level protection relays with virtualized software on substation computers, using IEC 61850 process bus for local protection and R-GOOSE over 5G for wide area coordination. The first site is operating in Maidstone, Kent, with five more planned across South East England.
On 24 September 2025, NamPower commissioned Sekelduin — a 132/66/33 kV indoor switching station near Swakopmund, Namibia, built by ACTOM as Africa's first fully digital substation with IEC 61850 process bus end-to-end.
A local area network is critical infrastructure in a digital substation. Experts in the area of relay protection and automatic as well as automated process control systems run into it with increasing frequency, while the number of questions such as, ‘How to design it?’, ‘How to maintain it?’, ‘How to evaluate its security and effectiveness?’ only increases.