New communication solution to secure Oman’s power grid

Swiss based international power and automation technologies leader says it has been awarded a contract to install a high-reliability grid communications technology solution designed to protect the critical digital electrical infra-structure of the Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC).

OETC, a member of Nama Group, owns and operates Oman’s main electricity transmission network and sends power from generating stations to load centres throughout the country. The company monitors and controls its entire electricity transmission system, including 93 substations, through a load dispatch centre (LDC) in Muscat.

Its new telecommunication system will connect to the existing utility communications network and provide services for a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, as well as other applications. SCADA is a computer-based system for gathering and analysing real-time data to monitor and control equipment that deal with critical and time-sensitive materials or events.

Increasingly automated and interconnected power grid networks need specialised high-performance communication systems. The new communication system for OETC will be among the first in the world to feature a Quantum-safe encryption card which provides best-in-class, end-to-end encryption for missioncritical utility networks.

“Networks of power utilities remain in place for many years. We therefore focus on building systems with high performance and longevity to ensure the necessary return on investment and optimal protection for the endcustomers,” said Massimo Danieli, head of ABB’S Grid Automation business line within the company’s Power Grids business. “At ABB we continuously enhance security of our solutions to support our customer’s need for maintaining reliable and safe power grids.”

ABB’S quantum-safe solution breaks new ground and uses a method that incorporates the physical properties of light to generate truly random encryption keys. This will ensure uncompromising real-time performance and Quantum-safe security.

The secure key generation mechanism and implemented crypto-agility is termed “quantumsafe”. Crypto-agility facilitates system upgrades and evolution without having to make significant changes to the system’s infrastructure.

The new communication system for OETC will be among the first in the world to feature a Quantum-safe encryption card which provides best-in-class, end-to-end encryption for mission-critical utility networks