Next Generation Power Grids

To meet these decarbonisation and security of supply goals, we are electrifying all but the hard-to-abate sectors and moving on an unprecedented scale to renewable sources of electricity. To make green power available, we will need to build or replace as much of the grid as is operating today within the next 20 years. Such an endeavour is both massive and demanding in terms of raw materials.

Digital solutions can reduce infrastructure build-up by leveraging dynamic flexibility and operating the grid closer to its limits. Sources of flexibility include demand response and virtual power plants, storage, and flexibility in generation, chiefly power-to-X plants. New loads, such as electric mobility and electrical heating, can be deployed today with flexibility in their design, and next-generation software-defined digital substations and smart assets will significantly improve sustainability in new-build infrastructure.

Moreover, grids are no longer under the sole responsibility of utilities. Microgrids in buildings, industries, ports, airports, and other behind-the-meter infrastructure are combining local energy sources, energy use, and storage, revolutionising energy use and operating as distributed energy resources. These are digital by nature and autonomously protected, run, and optimised by software.

Going forward, technology platform migration, data orchestration, and cybersecurity are key for the future. Data spaces and open data are the next steps towards semantic interoperability, as set forth by standards such as CIM and IEC 61850, and the grid’s network models are today just a few of the many digital twins required to efficiently manage the network. The cybersecurity landscape now blends IEC 62443, IEC 62351, ISO 27001, NIS, NERC CIP, GDPR, and ISO 30111. Data-driven AI applications will soon be systematically applied across the grid.

Digital has the potential to completely reshape our investment, and Critical Software stands ready to help industry players digitalise power grids across generation, distribution, and consumption.