On 13 October, EasyDC-FOS partners met online with the Stakeholder Advisory Board (SAB), made up of Transmission and Distribution System Operators and experts in fibre-optic technology. 

The session reviewed the progress of the technical work packages over the last months. The new HVDC cable, designed to operate at higher temperatures than current solutions, has been successfully designed and manufactured, while its testing program has been carried out and the first ageing and thermal models are already available. On the sensing and monitoring side, prototypes of the next-generation DAS interrogators are operational, and the new versions of the vibration and partial discharge interrogators are ready. The fault location system, which combines both technologies, has been successfully tested at laboratory level. In parallel, a cybersecurity framework has been defined together with a comprehensive risk assessment, the Edge platform that will process the sensor data has been validated against the IEC 62443-4-2 cybersecurity standard and an AI deployment strategy has been set for each algorithm, supported by illustrating dashboards. 

During the meeting, Manuel Muñoz – Project Coordinator – highlighted the growing strategic role of HVDC transmission and the need for digital sensing and monitoring in an increasingly stressed grid. 

SAB members recognised the progress achieved and the usefulness of these systems for maintenance teams, who could anticipate problems and gain insight into the health of the cables. Cybersecurity aroused particular interest, and the members stressed the importance of easy-to-integrate, “plug-in” solutions with clearly explained results and of demonstrating the benefits of the sensing systems as a first step towards their adoption. 

A new SAB meeting will be held in the coming months to report on the incoming integration and validation activities.