Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | AUGUST 2022 | 25 "The network is becoming signifi cantly smarter and more interconnected, which in turn introduces a heightened risk of threats from cyber criminals." MARK SHAW, RIIO-ED2 DELIVERY MANAGER, WPD "New substations and upgrades have resilience to fl ooding built in." CHRISTOPHER BRATT, DIRECTOR OF ASSET MANAGEMEN, SSEN Electricity distribution of threats from cyber criminals," he says. "Unfortunately attacks are becoming more sophisticated." The role of technology Investment in innovation, sweeping tech rollouts and measures to create a smarter and more exible grid are key to greater resil- ience and coping with the aforementioned ra• of evolving challenges. SSEN's Bratt, for example, explains that the - rm has already begun widespread monitoring of second- ary substations on its low-voltage network to understand energy ows and identify constraints. WPD's Shaw adds that similar e„ orts to modernise network protection arrangements during RIIO-ED2 are already in train. "While we carry out a range of activities to prevent faults on the network, we also invest exten- sively in technology and enhanced infra- structure to limit the impact of faults and ensure power is restored as quickly as pos- sible," he says. "We are also installing additional equip- ment to protect the network, including cir- cuit breakers and intelligent fuses, to enable circuits to be subdivided into smaller zones reducing the number of customers a„ ected by a fault." In a bid to consider what type of technol- ogy will be needed to manage an increas- ingly complex network over the next decade, the ENA has launched Control Room 2035 – a broad assessment of operational need which will make recommendations for future net- work development. UK Power Networks' (UKPN) head of cus- tomer service and innovation, Ian Cameron, says the network operator has invested in a combination of secure satellite, 4G and - bre networks with battery backup to remotely control some 40,000 substations. Additionally, both SSEN and WPD have implemented light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology to manage vegetation around critical network infrastructure, while ENW is poised for a "major rollout" of over- head line monitoring system, Linesight, for ED2 following a recent trial, according to Jonathan Booth. The need for more 'stress' testing in an interconnected world Ensuring that complex, interconnected sys- tems are organised in ways that ensure a failure of part of the system doesn't cause "cascading risks to other services" is ulti- mately a crucial driver of resilience demands, the NIC's Heath concludes. "We saw this during the August 2019 power cut – caused by a lightning strike at one generator site coinciding with other loss of generation elsewhere – where some trains took hours to be restarted," he explains. Heath adds that alongside long-term resil- ience strategies, regular stress tests overseen by regulators should be implemented to identify vulnerabilities and ensure systems meet resilience standards. "We envisage that this process would help set up a learning cycle, leading to e„ ec- tive adaptation and transformation, but also informing some of those decisions about whether recovery is more important that resistance in certain instances." Stuart Stone, editor, Utility Week Innovate Why is circuit breaker testing so important? Circuit breakers are among the most crucial modern network components because they pro- tect expensive infrastructure, transformers and lines, prevent outages leading to loss of income and ensure reliability of the electricity supply. Breakers facilitate current flow during normal operation and interrupt in the event of a fault – o en being called into action a er months or in some cases years of inactivity. Proper functioning is reliant on multiple com- ponents that have to be calibrated and tested at regular intervals. The damage caused by a malfunctioning breaker can stretch into millions of pounds meaning that a comprehensive substation breaker testing regime is essential for a safe, reliable and sustainable electricity supply. However, according to Megger's power product sales manager for UK & Ireland, Sandy Woodley, a large number of assets – includ- ing circuit breakers – are currently not being maintained to include extensive analysis. "Owners are simply doing the basic mechanical maintenance on circuit breakers rather than the timing, the coil current analysis and more in-depth testing," he tells Utility Week. Triggers for circuit breaker maintenance cur- rently di‡ er signiˆ cantly between utilities, with some based on time since last test, number of operations, or severity of fault. Woodley explains that given circuit breaker failures are rare, UK utilities are o en disin- clined to take preventative action on non-criti- cal assets – plumping instead for a "we'll leave it until it blows up" approach. "It's like a car tyre – when one blows up, you just put a new one on it rather than regularly checking your tyre and thinking 'we ought to do this before it gets to that point'," he says. However, while there is a perception that taking a circuit breaker out of commission to perform tests and maintenance is time consuming, and therefore expensive, the cost of inaction could potentially be even higher – especially given methods minimising down time and outlay are already in use. In association with I N S I G H T R E P O R T Network resilience – mitigating the threats of today and tomorrow In this report Introduction Existing and evolving resilience challenges The role of technology Need for 'stress' testing Download the report Download the report Network Resilience – Mitigating the Threats of Today and Tomorrow free at: https://utilityweek.co.uk/network- resilience-mitigating-the-threats-of-today-and-tomorrow/ in association with "The use of cyber-attack for malicious gain is potentially on the increase and a signifi cant risk." JONATHAN BOOTH, HEAD OF ASSET MANAGEMENT, ENW

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