Utility Communication Networks and Services

Mehrdad MESBAH is a senior telecom expert in charge of innovation and technical strategies in Utilities Communications for GE Energy Connections in Paris, France. He has been involved for over thirty years in telecom network design and implementation, network transformation plans, telecom architectures and technologies for numerous power utilities across the world. He has contributed to CIGRE D2 Study Committee on different aspects of operational telecoms in electrical power utilities for over a decade. In particular, he has been in charge of international working groups on operational telecom service provisioning and delivery, on utility telecom operation & maintenance and on protection relay communications. At present he leads the CIGRE D2 Advisory Group on telecommunications.

Mehrdad Mesbah graduated in electronic engineering from Southampton University, UK in 1982 and in telecom engineering from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications (TelecomParistech), Paris, France in 1984. Mehrdad Mesbah has authored many technical papers and received the CIGRE technical award for Telecommunications and Information Systems in 2008.

Carlos Samitier holds a degree on Telecommunication and an MBA by the University of Madrid. He has been working for more than 25 years in the field of Power Utility Control Networks. He is founder and CEO of Pullnet, and has an extensive consultancy experience in the field of Power System automation using IEC 61850 technology. Carlos Samitier is an active member of CIGRE and IEEE. He has been member and convenor of different working groups. He has published more than 45 papers in International conferences and symposiums as well as 10 CIGRE Technical Guides that develop the application of different technologies. In 2003 received the CIGRE Technical Committee award for his technical contributions. In 2010 he was appointed as Chairman of Study Committee D2 of CIGRE on IT and Telecom which gathers specialist from 43 countries. In 2012 he was appointed as CIGRE Distinguish member and in 2016 as Honour Member. He has a long experience as consultant and instructor providing tutorials on IEC 61850, Cyber security and Smart Grid. He is also member of the IEEE Power System Relaying Committee that defines different aspects of the Electrical Substations architecture. He participated in the definition of the UCA architecture and is co-author of several IEEE standards. In 1999 he was awarded with a special IEEE mention for his contribution to the definition of the use of Ethernet in substations. He is a permanent member of the Spanish IEC TC57 committee that deals with Smart Grid and Cyber security standards. He participate in the G7 submit were the best practices for cyber security protection of the Power System were proposed.

Cigré Study Committee D2 covers the specification, design, engineering, performance, operation, maintenance,economic and management aspects of the Information and the Telecommunication systems in the EPI both for operational and business activities, as well as the different devices, media and networks to support all that services: speech, data, video, internet, specialised signalling for teleprotection, SCADA, EMS, DSM.

It also includes the monitoring of the emerging technologies in these sectors to evaluate their possible impact on the EPI, the analysis of the effect of multiple Regulators: eg Power, Telecommunications, Competition Authorities, etc in both the telecommunication and information sectors, and the provision of technical support for international standardisation activities.