SMPnet Athens extends its technological base

SMPnet’s Athens office has launched its latest development, a cutting-edge Lab for grid software development.  Equipped with state-of-the-art substation servers and grid IoT, the Lab will act as an inhouse facility for continued testing and refining of software solutions designed to support power grid management.  

The new Lab will accelerate testing schedules and widen the scope for verification of purpose-built solutions, building on the rigorous industry standard testing of SMPnet’s flagship product suite, Omega.  The capability to fine-tune product testing under simulated grid conditions and control centre scenarios before deployment in real-world environments will meet the evolving needs of the industry and demonstrate the robust, scalable nature of Omega suite in meeting diverse operational challenges.

SMPnet’s Chief Technology Officer, Dimitrios Tzelepis, commented of the new facility, “Expanding our testing capabilities means we can act with more agility and respond quickly to test new protocols and digital environments as soon as they become available.  As power grid standards evolve to meet the challenges of the energy transition, we will react to those changes and test our products against them, accelerating product iteration and validation to the benefit of our clients. With in-house testing, we will manage more and more innovative ways to keep ahead of the curve and ensure we remain at the cutting edge of solutions for autonomous grid management.” 

Testing of ​the Omega suite was conducted at whole energy systems research, test and demonstration facility, PNDC in Scotland, where SMPnet performed Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing and simulation for grid optimisation and control solutions.  This partnership, which allows SMPnet to validate its solutions in realistic and diverse network setups will continue alongside in-house testing facilities. 

The Lab is designed and operated following ISO 27001 principles and industry-standard practices such as NIST Zero Trust Architecture for interoperability and state-of-the-art data security. 
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