Evolution of protection and control. Balance between centralized and decentralized intelligence

To give the best quality of supply to customers, it is often necessary to implement a set of technical solutions, in order to restrict as much as possible the consequences of various incidents which can affect power delivery continuity. Among these solutions, the authors examine decentralized reflex-action devices (sensitive and highly available protective relays, simple automatic devices scattered on the network, such as autoreclosers) which must inform the control centre level of all the switching operations they make. This centralized level is the only one able to implement a fast and reliable power restoration for all types of incidents.