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UTILITY WEEK | DECEMBER 2020 | 41 Operational Excellence U tility companies rely heavily on SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems to monitor and manage critical infrastructure. The planned UK PSTN network end-of-life in 2025 has created a sizable problem for the sector to solve. Not only does industry need a viable technological replacement for existing PSTN-enabled sites, but also a long-term future- proof solution that can scale and adapt as technologies and businesses continue to evolve. Echostar Mobile's SYNERGY™ EchoStar Mobile has developed its new SYNERGY™ service specifically around use cases like PSTN replacement. A single terminal, single subscription and single management portal provides seamless hybrid cellular/satellite connectivity so, from high density urban areas to the remotest parts of the UK, Utility companies can deploy the same standardised communication solution to enable their existing SCADA sites and to evolve their future IOT strategies. IP-based SYNERGY™ also makes applications like remote video much more feasible for these low bandwidth sites. S-Band Satellite EchoStar Mobile's mobile satellite services network operates in the S-Band, ensuring that whatever the atmospheric conditions the service will remain stable, available, and fully functional. The S-Band frequency range also facilitates the development of small, low cost terminals for use throughout the UK; be it on land, at sea or on the move in vehicles or on trains. Cellular roaming SYNERGY™ includes access to over 125 cellular networks across the UK and Europe (including Scandinavia). In the UK specifically, SYNERGY™ has access to multiple networks, providing not just wide coverage but also in many cases, a choice of network. Partner interface platform SYNERGY™ has been fully integrated into our Partner Interface Platform so provisioning the SYNERGY™ service, setting usage alerts and generating custom reports can be done at the touch of a button. Ruggedised and scalable hardware platform The SYNERGY™ service is enabled by the Hughes 4510 terminal. A small, low-cost rugged (IP-67), auto acquire terminal that requires little to no technical expertise to install. The terminal's low power draw means that when sites only have access to alternate power sources like solar panels or wind turbines, service remains available and stable. Lastly, EchoStar Mobile understands that technologies do not remain static. Over the coming years technologies like Lora, LTE and 5G are expected to play an important role in the utilities sector and EchoStar Mobile is already working on how to incorporate these into our development roadmap, ensuring a future-proof platform to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. TELEMACO MELIA - SENIOR DIRECTOR COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS, ECHOSTAR MOBILE Future-proofing your lines of communication Tech Talk Sponsored content brought to you by Analysis Smart switchgear for a green world Tom Grimwood talks to Schneider Electric about its efforts to digitalise the substation. A ccording to Frederic Godomel, executive vice pres- ident for power systems at Schneider Electric, 15 years ago "the only thing that was monitored was probably the high-voltage network, because that's where the balance between demand and supply was made". The future, he says, looks very different. With the proliferation of distributed generation, local storage and electric vehicles, networks will need to exchange data at the medium voltage level, and eventually at the low volt- age level too. "We know customers will need to be able to monitor and make use of data at those two levels," he says. At the same time, companies like Schneider also have a direct role to play in fighting climate change. Its own switchgear has until recently relied on the use of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) – the most powerful greenhouse gas known to man – as an electrical insulator. Just one kilo has an equivalent effect on the climate as around 23 tonnes of carbon dioxide if it leaks into the atmosphere. Ten years in development, Schneider has come to market with medium-voltage switchgear that uses just plain air and vacuums in place of SF6, while incorporat- ing the monitoring and communications technology that networks will need to build and operate smart grids. The company is now shiing its focus to low-voltage equip- ment, which Godomel claims will be available as soon as utilities and regulators are ready. Even if networks are unable to take full advantage of the monitoring features straight away, Godomel says building smart capabilities into switchgear from the start will bring benefits down the line: "Instead of going one by one and instrumenting your install base, which is pretty slow, we have now a full package of solutions in which the sensors are already in." "At the low voltage, there are a lot of sites and we want to be able to give the user native connectivity capa- bilities so if in the future – they may not need it now – they want to monitor data points on their low voltage network, they will be able to do it." He says the new units Schneider is developing will have the same footprint as their predecessors, meaning networks can already start planning for replacement. The main barrier to rolling out SF6-free switchgear, he says, is no longer technological but regulatory: "In many countries, and this is true in the UK, the qualification and regulation and approval of the new technology takes a bit of time." He adds: "We will be able to deploy at the speed of the openness of the market." Tom Grimwood, energy editor