OPC UA security for protecting substation and control center data communication in the distribution domain of the smart grid

Abstract

The distribution domain of the smart grid incorporates advantages of the newest substation automation standards in order to enhance distribution network automation. State-of-the-art distribution automation solutions use the public Internet for exchanging data between substation and control center. This presents challenges for cybersecurity, particularly for critical data determining distribution network operation. Therefore, Internet communication between substation and control center should be carried out via a secure communication protocol. OPC Unified Architecture (UA) is an interoperable communication standard supports Internet protocols from one hand and obtains benefits from mature built-in security mechanisms from other hand. This paper describes a solution for secure data transmission between modern substation and control center over the Internet. In this approach, circuit breaker position data is chosen as the data example that is defined in respect to the IEC 61850 data model and securely transmitted to OPC UA client application at remote control center by employing the OPC UA security architecture functions.