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Developing calibration methods for ‘substations of the future’ in digitised energy networks

High voltage electricity pylons

Decarbonising energy systems has resulted in significant changes in electrical power grids, with more decentralised renewable sources connected. Future grids require real-time control, monitoring, and accurate metering to maintain stability and support fair energy trading under complex conditions. At the start of this project, calibration methods and metrological infrastructure for new digital substation instrumentation were lacking.

Completed Metrology Partnership project Metrology for digital substation instrumentation (21NRM02, Digital-IT) provided the missing solutions for the calibration and timing of new types of digital substation instrumentation, digital instrument transformers and instrument transformer measuring bridges.

The project also supported IEC TC 38 Instrument Transformers in their work on the revision of the related standards, by proposing solutions for more precise measurements of digital substation instrumentation.

Specific project achievements

New Merging Unit (MU) calibration services are now available from multiple European NMIs and test labs
New method for generation of reference data for calibration of digital power meters using Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS)
New calibration services for point-to-point (PTP) timed digital substation equipment are available
New open-source software tools for handling Sampled values (SV) data streams
New method for calibrating the internal PTP 1588 stabilised clock of a digitisers.
New toolkit for calibrating transmission median delay of a direct PTP link
New method for calibrating the synchronisation accuracy of PTP devices in pairs under IEEE 1588-2019 protocol

Link to the collection of project publications and deliverables

The work of this project advances the European power grid’s shift from analogue to digital control. By enhancing grid reliability, digital substations enable greater renewable electricity use, reduce reliance on coal, and lower CO₂ emissions.

Project coordinator Jari Hällström from MIKES said

‘The project addressed the critical need for accurate, traceable measurement and calibration methods in modern digital substations—systems increasingly vital as Europe transitions toward renewable, decentralised energy generation. With conventional analogue instruments nearing end‑of‑life, and digital solutions based on IEC 61850 and IEC 61869 rapidly emerging, the project filled a long‑standing metrological gap by developing the infrastructure required to calibrate and validate digital substation equipment’.

This Metrology Partnership project has received funding from the European Partnership on Metrology, co-financed by the European Union Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme and from the Participating States.

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