Power Generation & Grid
The critical infrastructure par excellence: generating, transmitting and distributing electricity while continuously balancing supply and demand, to the millisecond. From combined cycle to wind farm, from HV substation to control centre, substation automation (IEC 61850) and grid cybersecurity are at the heart of the business.
The main families
Gas, coal, combined cycle, cogeneration
Gas and steam turbines on DCS, combustion control, sequenced start/stop, flexibility to follow load.
Solar, wind, hydro
Inverters, distributed farms, generation forecasting, grid integration and ancillary services despite intermittency.
Transmission, distribution, control
HV/MV substations automated to IEC 61850, protection relays (IED), SCADA/EMS, real-time balancing by the grid operator.
Key challenges
- Supply / demand balance — frequency (50 or 60 Hz) must stay stable at every instant. Reserves, ancillary services, management of renewable intermittency.
- Substation automation — IEC 61850 — real-time GOOSE messages and sampled values between protection relays, over Ethernet. Replaces copper wiring.
- Critical-infrastructure cybersecurity — the grid is a target (Ukraine 2015-2016). NERC CIP, IEC 62443, NIS2 frameworks.
- Decarbonization & transition — shift to renewables, battery storage, hydrogen, demand-side management.
- Availability & ageing — asset maintenance (ISO 55000), managing an often-ageing fleet, climate resilience.
Key technologies
Standards & references
The sector also relies on the IEC 61970 / 61968 common information model (CIM) for control systems, the IEC 60870-5 series for telecontrol, NERC CIP requirements in North America and ENTSO-E network codes in Europe.
Major players
Utilities & operators
EDF, Engie, RWE, Enel, Iberdrola, E.ON, Vattenfall, NextEra, Duke Energy.
Turbines & equipment
GE Vernova, Siemens Energy, Mitsubishi Power, Hitachi Energy, ABB, Schneider Electric.
Substation protection & automation
Siemens SIPROTEC, Hitachi Energy, GE, SEL (Schweitzer), ABB Relion.
Control & EMS
GE, Hitachi Energy, Siemens, AVEVA, OSIsoft (PI System).
Landmark incidents
Major outages have shaped reliability standards and grid cybersecurity. Each revealed a systemic flaw.
| Event | Year | Location | Lesson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast blackout | 2003 | USA / Canada | ≈ 55 million people lost power. Tree contact + a software bug in the alarm system blinding operators. Tightened reliability standards (NERC). |
| Ukraine grid cyberattack | 2015-2016 | Ukraine | First blackout caused by a cyberattack (BlackEnergy, then Industroyer). Proof the grid is a military target. Founding case of OT cybersecurity. |
| Texas grid crisis | 2021 | Texas, USA | Winter Storm Uri: frozen generation, ERCOT grid near collapse, massive outages. Raised the question of climate resilience and interconnections. |