As the utility industry faces growing complexity in operations—increasing data coming from grid assets, numerous digital systems to manage and operate the grid, escalating cybersecurity threats and shortages of skilled workforce—utilities are rethinking how they manage their technology footprint. For some utilities, control systems deployed on cloud infrastructure may offer a compelling way to streamline operations, reduce IT burden and focus resources on their core mission—maintain reliable, resilient and cost-efficient operations.

In this blog, we’ll explore how utilities using Digital Grid Management (DGM) solutions are leveraging cloud infrastructure to achieve operational excellence.

Key Considerations

When evaluating whether cloud or on-premise infrastructure is the right choice for your utility, you should consider the following questions:

Infrastructure Design: Flexibility and Security

Designing an OT system on cloud infrastructure versus on-premise physical hardware is similar in many ways, with added considerations for topics such as flexibility for system sizing and security.  

Flexibility

In both cloud and on premises designs, architecture and networking options allow the utility to choose their system sizing including CPU cores, RAM, disk size and partitioning requirements to meet their needs for each server.  If deployed on the cloud, the utility can easily change sizing to scale up or down to match the usage experienced by simply changing their respective SKU instead of waiting to order and install new on-premise servers. Networking to cloud assets requires a reliable internet connection and can be designed with secure VPN connections to physical equipment in the field, whether it be directly to Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) and Edge Devices in the field or data concentrators and remote terminal servers located in the utility’s IT control room. Networking within the cloud is accomplished through virtual network connections and does not require physical cabling and layer 2/3 device updates typically needed for on-premises assets located within the utility’s IT control room. 

Security

Whether assets are located on-premise or on the cloud, the utility IT staff will stay heavily involved with network and data access along with associated identity policies and workload security. In on-premises installations, the responsibility for all maintenance including updates, patching and data backup is the full responsibility of the utility IT/OT staff.  This also means that the utility has complete physical security responsibility of their assets including associated disaster recovery investments.  When assets are deployed on the cloud, the cloud service provider is responsible for security of the underlying infrastructure including compute, storage and network services.  

Maintenance and Support

As IT professionals have experienced, physical hardware on premises requires careful consideration of procurement time, vendor contracts, reliance on the supply chain and installation activities to accommodate the new assets in the IT server room.  When a change is required in processing speeds, networking or storage, the IT staff must once again go through the same process and schedule time to complete the hardware upgrade.  

When choosing a cloud solution, the utility staff can eliminate nearly all server room installation activities.  Instead, they can simply focus on the operator workstations and other communication infrastructure and firewall needs to capture the data coming from the field devices that will be sent to the cloud system.  

DGM customers also have the options for full AspenTech OSI monarch application and IT support where all IT services are provided by a qualified Managed Service Provider (MSP).  Under this model, the AspenTech OSI software is deployed and maintained through the MSP and does not require any server access by the utility staff.  The MSP provides all server monitoring and maintenance, handles all cloud resources, first level application support and triages any advanced application support needs with DGM.  This complete cloud service offering for out-of-the-box systems allows the utility to simply operate the software and provide desktop and workstation support to users.

Financial

Upfront costs to purchase servers are always a balancing act with annual budget cycles. Allocating and scheduling the resources needed to install on-premise hardware can lead to challenges when working through internal impacts of shipping delays or key personnel turnover.  A cloud solution is a subscription-based approach which eliminates the need to purchase and install new physical hardware every five years. This can help level out budgets and reduce big capital projects.  

For some utilities with out-of-the-box solutions, cloud hosted systems can offer quick time to benefit realization. With the elimination of the time for hardware procurement and on-site installation process, a utility can deploy their cloud-hosted system immediately after completing their architecture design. This allows the utility to reduce the project timeline and begin getting a return on their software investment within months. The savings will vary between utilities, but in many cases, it will enhance ROI significantly and free up their internal IT staff bandwidth for other activities. 

Performance

The performance of cloud infrastructure should always be equal to on-premise solutions thanks to the flexibility of the overall design to allow for immediate infrastructure changes, along with the inherent redundancy and disaster recovery options and associated cybersecurity and maintenance tools offered by the cloud provider. For example, cloud data centers are located throughout the world, and utilities have the option of locating their Primary Control Center (PCC) OT system in one region with a complete or partial Backup Control Center (BCC) OT system located in a separate data center up to hundreds or thousands of miles away. For DGM OT systems that utilize our automatic operating center failover capabilities, we recommend consulting with a DGM expert for best outcomes.  

With server access, utility IT staff can configure system performance indicators and alarm notifications to alert them when attention is needed and make required adjustments to improve the performance of the software they are running. 

Utility Case Studies

Utility Sector OT Cloud Deployments & NERC

In North America, most distribution utilities have the flexibility to deploy their OT solutions either on premises or on the cloud because their facilities are not governed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) standards.  Most generation and transmission utilities do have Bulk Electric System (BES) facilities governed by NERC, which places more limits on where cloud technologies can be applied. There are several NERC standards and requirements to help utilities navigate their compliance options including the link to this NERC article NERC CIP-002-5.1a – Cyber Security – BES Cyber System Categorization. In addition, NERC has written a security guideline based on their assessment of supply chain risks associated with cloud services which can be found at this link: NERC Security Guideline - Risks Related to Cloud Service Providers. 

Understanding your infrastructure options and carefully making design decisions when deploying a real-time operating system in the utility industry is of utmost importance.  OT Systems deployed on the cloud may or may not be the right fit for your utility and should be fully discussed with DGM subject matter experts before a decision is made. To learn more, please visit Digital Grid Management.