RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Électricité), the main electricity transmission network operator in France and one of the largest in Europe, continues to position itself as a leader in innovation. With a mission focused on the management and maintenance of more than 100,000 km of high and very high voltage lines (63 kV to 400 kV), RTE plays a crucial role in securing the electricity network and integrating renewable energies.
R#SPACE: a 100% digital ecosystem for command and control
To modernize and optimize the management of French substations, RTE has launched the ambitious R#SPACE (RTE Smart Protection Automation and Control Ecosystem) project.
The aim? To design a fully digital, interoperable command and control system capable of managing equipment from multiple suppliers.
The main benefits of this project include:
- Interoperability: facilitating communication between equipment of different standards.
- Simplified maintenance: enabling remote management of substation intelligence and reducing the complexity of interventions.
- Scalability: easily add functional bricks without relying on a single supplier.
- Integration of renewable energies: improve network adaptation to intermittent flows.
Deployed on the French national grid, this digital system is based on the IEC61850 standard, guaranteeing standardization and fluid communication between equipment.
Why straton is at the heart of the R#SPACE project
RTE chose straton for its advanced capabilities in PLC development and its compatibility with the technical requirements of electrical substations.
The key points of straton in this project:
- Advanced logic programming: management of lighting, horn, alarm calculation, analysis of electrical nodes and implementation of overload protection.
- Protocols adapted to energy: use of IEC61850 for standardized and secure communication.
- Innovative integration: straton is integrated into a system consisting of a configurator generating PLC code (in XML) and a containerized deployment process via Docker.
Concrete results and impressive performance
Since the integration of straton in R#SPACE, RTE has observed several major benefits:
- Standardization and customization: a tailor-made solution that adapts to the specific requirements of each substation.
- Virtualization: ability to integrate into a virtualized infrastructure (containers).
- Quick learning curve: ease of use for newcomers thanks to the straton IDE.
- Increased manageability: efficient management of runtime components and data files.
System performance:
- PLC cycle time: up to 10 ms.
- Management of a large volume of data: 30,000 I/Os and 60,000 variables in total.
Towards new functionalities
RTE has no intention of stopping there. The extension of the R#SPACE project includes the development of new functionalities to enhance the system’s capabilities, particularly in terms of analysis and control. With straton, RTE is preparing to meet tomorrow’s energy challenges.
With straton, RTE accelerates the digital transformation of French electrical infrastructures.
To find out more about our collaboration with RTE, watch our conference at SGT25.
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