Open Source Summit + Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2020

Energy Transition drives change in power transmission and distribution grids. Grid control architectures should adapt swiftly to manage more distributed renewable infeed and greater dynamics in power flows. In this context, grid operators require a new generation of digital automation system for power substations, enabling higher flexibility, scalability, cross-industry innovation while ensuring time and cost-efficiency. Following the path of other sectors such as telecommunication networks, open source and virtualization will be the mainstays of this new systems. In the first half of 2020, a Design Team was formed under LF Energy umbrella to draft the roadmap of an open source project aiming at developing a “reference design” and “industrial grade” platform that can run virtualized real-time automation applications. This group gathered several technology vendors and end-users. This session will present the works of the Design Team, touching upon the system architecture and technology stack implemented in the project (Yocto, KVM, OvS, DPDK, Docker, Kubernetes). It will also outline the specific requirements of the power grid industry and the next challenges of the project.