Historically, the substation has been one of the last places automation has reached, but that has changed as networking and communications have caught up. Bringing the substation fully into the operation leads to better service reliability, lower communications cost, and lower maintenance and operation costs for the substation itself. 

Modern protocols, current IEDs, and IP-based wide-area networks allow substations to integrate cleanly into the rest of the operation rather than sitting apart from it. 

The renovo™ platform can securely monitor and control a small substation of a few hundred I/O points or a large one running into the thousands, including native interfaces with a distributed network of field devices (IP-based RTUs and IEDs included). Running the same technology in the substation as in the control center means one approach to database, display, and system maintenance, instead of a separate process for each. That shared foundation is what closes the operational and safety gaps that show up when substation automation is built from multiple disconnected technologies. 

novoCOM™ is central to that. As renovo’s secure, software-defined communications and RTU front end on a hardened Linux foundation, it gives the substation a uniform, secure approach to I/O and communications. This provides avoids many of the operational and security challenges associated with other approaches, where the operating system itself is often the soft spot. From the substation to the control center, renovo runs as one platform across the enterprise, using standard protocols with built-in network security to support the protection that critical infrastructure requires. This allows an enterprise approach to all automation platforms in the organization, allowing remote secure maintenance and software patching without having personnel to travel hundreds of miles to each remote substation.