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.
UCA International Users Group has opened registration for 61850 IOP 2026, the annual interoperability testing event for IEC 61850 equipment and software tools. For the first time, the programme includes multi-vendor MPLS network testing and functional verification based on Basic Application Profiles (BAP) per IEC 61850-7-6 Ed.2 and IEC 61850-90-30:2025.
In March 2025, Salt River Project commissioned the first confirmed production deployment of virtualized line differential protection using Routable Sampled Values over MPLS WAN, with ABB SSC600. The WAN-connected virtualized relay proved both faster and more consistent than a conventional microprocessor relay on direct fiber.