Bridgetown Communication Base Station Inverter Grid-connected Wireless Room

The deployment of indoor wireless LTE coverage within the substation allows for controlled integration of employee communication within the control room with the LTE wireless network enabling the power grid. Figure 3: LTE converges connectivity for power grid and substation

Wireless is therefore a viable, multipurpose solution to extension of the power grid. The inherent security built into LTE/5G infrastructure and devices creates enhanced reliability and cybersecurity. In this blog, we will explore how wireless enables modernization of the power substation itself.

There are multiple choices to wireless technologies within the substation. In your home alarm system, for instance, the subscriber identity module (SIM) in your alarm module maintains a critical wireless connection to the alarm center.

Using wireless, however, in collaboration with the fiber backbone and its extensions brings flexibility in use cases. Wireless is therefore a viable, multipurpose solution to extension of the power grid. The inherent security built into LTE/5G infrastructure and devices creates enhanced reliability and cybersecurity.

Figure 1: The switchyard and control room are the main areas of focus for the wireless substation. Substations today have copper-driven dedicated lines to each primary control element, running a single use case at a time.

Wireless grid modernization of the substation is an important tool in the journey towards sustainability as increased adoption of distributed energy resources will lead to required substation upgrades, expansions and smart grid modernization.