Proposal of environmental adaptation for the next-generation distribution SCADA system

We address the issue of design of a power distribution SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) system. Our work is motivated by the anticipation that large quantities of PV (photovoltaic) power generation will be connected to power grids in near future. To maintain proper voltage in the presence of large-scale connection of PV to the grid, new-generation distribution SCADA systems need to better observe and control power supply than do the existing SCADA systems. In this work we first clarify the communication speed required by the field network of a new-generation SCADA system. The results of our estimation show that the new field network requires much faster speed than the existing network. This suggests that it is likely that a new fast network will be installed in near future; however, the installation of a fast network will not happen instantly and thus we have to manage a network consisting of slow subnetworks and fast ones. To cope with this situation by adapting the gradual changes of the network environment, we propose the use of middleware as a building block of a SCADA system.