Process Recording: Turning Substations into Time Machines for Energy Operators

When Britain’s electric grid first emerged in the late 19th century, planners could not anticipate the explosive growth in power demand that would follow. Today, power distributors rely heavily on supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software to monitor every substation and gauge the overall health of the grid.

Each substation generates a wealth of data—from energy efficiency metrics to the operating condition and lifespan of on‑site equipment. Yet most substations remain unmanned. When an anomaly appears in the data, a maintenance engineer is dispatched to retrieve the information and analyze it manually. Without witnessing the fault in real time, pinpointing its root cause can become a tedious, time‑consuming exercise, explains Jürgen Resch, industry manager for energy at COPA‑DATA.

Travelling back in time

Full‑time on‑site supervision is simply not feasible. Instead, energy distributors should invest in substation automation software that includes process recording capabilities. Process recording serves as a digital time machine, automatically capturing every event in the substation. Maintenance teams can then replay those events later, exactly as they occurred.

COPA‑DATA’s industrial automation platform, zenon, features a dedicated Process Recorder module. The module continuously records all processes and stores the data automatically. Engineers can review the recordings in detail via zenon’s simulation mode—essentially a media player for substation operations.

In an ideal deployment, process recording would be standard across all SCADA and automation solutions used in substations. With this capability, engineers can review every process, isolate the precise moment a fault emerged, and diagnose the underlying issue more efficiently.

For example, suppose an energy supplier detects irregular data from a substation. Using zenon’s Process Recorder, an engineer can replay the exact sequence that led to the anomaly. If the recording shows that the data shift coincided with a power surge, the engineer can investigate the surge’s cause—perhaps an overheating motor triggering an unexpected cooling fan cycle. Armed with this insight, the engineer can perform targeted maintenance, potentially preventing a full equipment failure down the line.

Since its inception in the late 1800s, Britain’s energy network has weathered rapid industrialization and a massive surge in demand. Although the infrastructure is aging, modern technologies can help it meet contemporary challenges.

Energy distributors have already adopted SCADA to manage remote substation data. Process recording is the next logical evolution, ensuring that maintenance teams extract every valuable insight from on‑site data, diagnose past errors, and prevent future problems.

The author of this blog is Jürgen Resch, industry manager for energy at COPA‑DATA