In the occurrence of a fault and subsequent opening of a substation circuit breaker, an islanding situation can emerge if generators are not automatically disconnected and continue producing power in the affected grid portion. To secure the connection of large renewable energy producers to the medium voltage (MV) network, Enedis deploys the Teleaction control system, consisting of two circuit breakers. To operate these breakers with an appropriate response time, 5G cellular connectivity was identified as an alternative to expensive traditional solutions such as copper or fiber links.
Following the successful replacement of wired connectivity with 5G cellular networks in the 5G3E experimentation project, Enedis adopted this solution to connect a photovoltaic facility in the South of France managing to remain below the defined communication latency threshold for 99% of the time. Additional performance improvements will be achieved in 2025 thanks to 5G standalone B-to-B connectivity services and edge network functions.