5. Future prospects

With digital technology, today's substation control systems have a solution that's up to date with what's on offer in the industry.

The coming years will be devoted to the extensive deployment of this level, mainly in the context of plant renewal.

These deployments will see the development of remote access functionalities for remote diagnosis, remote maintenance and remote administration of systems. Today, this area is still relatively unexplored compared to the capabilities offered by digital technologies. This is a sensitive area, which needs to be underpinned by solid IT security provisions to mitigate against possible acts of "hacking", which calls for a gradual, well-considered approach to developments.

In addition, as the technology level seems to have stabilized for some time yet, it is likely that the coming...