Strategies for the renovation of protection and control systems in electrical substations

Improvement of electricity distribution management is stimulated by energy market deregulation and dictates investment choices for power stations, distribution lines, remote control centres and electrical substations. The aim of this paper is to look at various strategies followed by utilities for the choice and installation of protection and control systems in electrical substations. It focuses on substation refurbishment corresponding to the most common situation found in industrialised countries. The first part of the paper briefly introduces the main reasons for modernising the substation level. It then looks at the various industrial policies that may be adopted depending of the utility objectives.