03/17/2026
Starting in just a few hours!
Register here: https://electricityforum.com/forums/smart-substations-march-2026
Join us today at 1:00 PM ET for our Live Online Forum: Today’s Smart Substations.
Experts from Intellirent, Critter Guard, Doble, and Zensol will share practical insights on transformer protection, commissioning, animal related outages, and transformer diagnostics.
If you cannot attend live, you can still register to receive the recording and presentation PDFs.
Here is the agenda.
45 minutes presentation includes 10 minutes of Q&A.
1:00 pm - 1:45 pm ET
Intellirent
Important Considerations for Transformer Protective Relay Settings
Digital protective relays for power transformers have evolved significantly over the past decades, improving reliability and stability in protecting these critical assets. Modern relay software allows engineers and technicians to configure settings and support the testing process. However, field technicians still experience relay misoperations during commissioning due to setting errors.
This session will go behind the scenes of transformer protective relays to explain how transformer nameplate information determines relay settings and how misinterpretation can lead to incorrect settings. Using SEL-787 and Beckwith M-3311 as examples, we will also explore how automated relay testing software functions.
1:45 pm - 2:30 pm ET
Critter Guard
Squirrels are more dangerous than Cyber Hackers!
Squirrels and other “critters” are the #1 cause of preventable power outages for utilities. And yes… it could easily happen to you.
This presentation discusses Critter Guard's approach to animal mitigation and why it is a serious issue for utilities.
2:30 pm - 3:15 pm ET
Doble
Legacy to Vision: The Centralized Protection Timeline
Centralized protection and control (CPC) architectures have been considered for decades to simplify substation design. This session reviews the technological developments that enabled this concept, summarizes findings from research and field implementations, and outlines challenges that still limit broader adoption.
It will also examine how virtualization may influence future protection, automation, and control (PAC) system architectures.
3:15 pm - 4:00 pm ET
Zensol
Vibroacoustic : A Rapid Diagnostic Approach for On-Load Tap Changers
On-Load Tap Changers (OLTCs) are essential to transformer operation, yet studies show that 40–50% of transformer failures are linked to tap changers, often caused by mechanical issues.
This session introduces vibro-acoustic diagnostics, a fast method to assess the mechanical condition of OLTCs. By analyzing vibration signatures generated during tap changer operations, engineers can gain insight into what is happening inside the equipment.
