Optical transport for next generation utility networks

In today’s energy system with the integration of renewables and the need for real time visibility and control, communication networks are of fundamental importance for utilities to operate their grids and advance their relationship with customers, according to Nokia experts, Chris Janson and Kurt Raaflaub. 

Just as the grid technologies continue to advance, so too do communication technologies. For example, over the past 25 years optical networking equipment has evolved from custom built to plug-and-play formats, with order of magnitude reductions in platform size and power requirements from large racks requiring >15W/Gbit to that of a writing pen sized pluggable optic drawing <0.04W/Gbit.  

These also have advanced from 100G through 400G to the latest 800G multi-vendor interoperable, multi-haul, high performance coherent pluggables.  

“These are amazing advances in how information can be put on fiber and in turn allows one to do novel things with the power grid,” explained Chris Janson, Market Advisor, Network Infrastructure with Nokia, opening a webinar on new advances in the technology for utilities. 

Expanding on the pluggable technology, Kurt Raaflaub, Director of Solution Marketing in Optical Networks at Nokia, said that these are top of mind for what they offer, with the next generation 800G able to span a distance of 1,700km – double that of the 800G optical engine generations. 

“We are looking at solutions right now that deliver 100G capacity and are 400G to 800G ready. With agentic AI and all the requirements of our industry, we don’t know exactly what the need will be for traffic capacity.“  

A key use case is for interconnecting data centres, particularly AI data centres with their need for power, bandwidth and space saving networking equipment.  These data centres are increasingly being built near electricity infrastructure and near the users of AI.    

With it comes a new opportunity for utilities, for whom the data centres are customers and which in some jurisdictions already provide broadband to customers. 

“Data centres need a lot of power, but they also need the bandwidth to connect to their different cohorts and one approach would be utility connectivity, which also would provide the utility with a new revenue source,” says Janson. 

Another important area for utilities to benefit from the capabilities of optical fiber technology is ensuring resiliency with the generation and collection of sensing data from the cables. 

“Leveraging AI, backhoe fade and other anomalies in data transmission can be more readily detected, pulled from the polarisation data to provide a proactive way of stalking a potential network outage,” explains Raaflaub. 

The final area of discussion in the webinar was focussed on data integrity and security, and in particular the need for quantum-safe networks that cannot be broken by quantum computers. 

“There is no one size fits all and a range of solutions and technologies are available right now to help to ensure your network is protected from 2025 on,” concluded Janson. 

“While it’s an evolving topic, we encourage all our customers, not just utility operators, to put in the optical and IP layers with the necessary protections.” 

Webinar on demand

For more in-depth insights and solutions from Nokia on these topics – scale and miniaturisation, data centre interconnect, ensuring resiliency with sensing and data integrity secured against emerging threats – view the webinar on demand - How optical transport technology advancements benefit utilities.