An approach for an open control system for substations

The aim of the PCCN project, a digital protection and control system, is to bring a new technological generation into use for the HV/MV substation protection and control systems. The project arose from the need to replace the current systems of EDF´s substations with fully digital facilities, mainly in order to improve their reliability, reduce their maintenance costs and to compensate equipment obsolescence. Thus, in 1992, the difficulty involved in replacing the existing systems, coupled with the incoming of industrial-grade digital products and the advantages of digital technology, EDF to led embark on the PCCN project for a new technological generation. This project consists of three phases: design; manufacturing; and deployment. After reiterating the major industrial issues at stake, this paper concentrates on the the design phase in large-scale international industrial concerns, Siemens and Schneider Electric. It then describes the action which resulted from these design studies and which is currently being carried out in the context of the manufacturing phase