Optical nets integrate control over global grids

An optical wide-area network (WAN) system was designed to permit and integrate control over a power transmission network that stretches over a large geographical area in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This integration will monitor the output of power plants and substations in various regions and will allow for the linking of regional dispatch load centers. The design scheme employs SCADA subsystems and consists of multiple client-server architectures with optical links in ring and bus topologies as ground or aerial cables. The system is proposed around an existing large power grid with real parameters and attributes indicated. WANs are necessary for global power networks to achieve system management as well as control of complex situations, such as load variations within the network regions or protective relaying of power links