ENERGOS Project: a look back at the largest MV network telecontrol deployment ever carried out in Côte d'Ivoire

At the dawn of the 2020s, the power distribution network of the Abidjan metropolitan area presented a paradox: a dense MV grid, but limited operational visibility. Fewer than ten substations could be remotely operated from the control center. For grid operators, every incident meant a physical trip, a prolonged outage, and running the network blind. The ENERGOS project was about to change that profoundly.

A program on the scale of a metropolis of 6 million people

ENERGOS is unprecedented in the history of telecontrol in Côte d'Ivoire. Over two years of work, ENERTEC's teams equipped 247 MV substations across Abidjan's entire 15 kV network with real-time control infrastructure.

The initial ambition was not merely quantitative: the goal was to give the operator a homogeneous supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, interoperable and compliant with the most demanding international standards. A technical as much as an organizational challenge, on dense, constrained terrain operating 24/7.

Technical architecture: the rigor of IEC standards

The project's defining choice was the adoption of the IEC 60870-5-104 protocol across all links between the MV substations and the control center. This standard, now the global benchmark for distribution network telecontrol, guarantees interoperability with the main primary equipment suppliers and allows the system to evolve over 15-20 years.

For each substation, the deployed equipment included:

Integration with the central SCADA system — supplied by a global equipment manufacturer — required configuring each substation individually: building the point databases, mapping remote indications, setting alarm thresholds and running end-to-end tests. In total, several tens of thousands of acquisition points were configured.

The 4 field challenges — and how they were overcome

1. Working on a network operating 24/7

No MV substation in Abidjan can stay de-energized for more than a few hours without affecting tens of thousands of customers. ENERTEC therefore set up site logistics enabling short outages (4 to 6 hours at night), with all elements to be connected prepared off-site in advance. Work under partial voltage, in line with the procedures in force, was carried out whenever it was possible and safe.

2. A heterogeneous installed base

Abidjan's network includes substations from different generations, sometimes 30 years apart. MV switchgear cubicle architectures, protection schemes and transformer types vary considerably. ENERTEC developed a compatibility matrix identifying the right integration solution for each substation type, thus avoiding surprises during deployment.

3. Tropical environmental conditions

Humidity, heat, atmospheric surges and dust all degrade electronic equipment. All telecontrol cabinets were specified with suitable protection ratings (IP54 minimum), fitted with dedicated surge arresters and naturally ventilated to limit thermal stress.

4. SCADA cybersecurity

A telecontrol system is, by definition, a point of vulnerability in the power grid. ENERTEC applied defense-in-depth principles: IT/OT network segmentation, strong authentication, access logging and regular security audits. The target architecture was guided by the recommendations of the European NIS directive and the best practices of ANSSI.

"The ENERGOS project is not just 247 equipped substations. It is a generational leap for the operation of Abidjan's network: from blind to visible, from corrective to preventive, from local to centralized."

What operational results?

Beyond the deployment itself, it is day-to-day use that validates a telecontrol project. The immediate benefits observed on Abidjan's network:

• Average fault location time cut by a factor of more than 5 thanks to communicating fault passage indicators
• Rapid restoration of healthy feeders by remote command during incidents on a section
• Real-time visibility of substation load and anticipation of overload situations
• Historical data usable for investment planning and predictive maintenance
• Reduction in the average outage duration (TMC indicator), contributing to the overall improvement of power service quality in Côte d'Ivoire

What next? Continuous modernization

The success of ENERGOS paved the way for extensions and spin-off projects across the entire Ivorian territory. ENERTEC has since delivered, among others:

• The telecontrol of the MV substation at the Charles Konan Banny stadium in Yamoussoukro (2023);
• The commissioning of a remote-controlled load-break switch in Odienné on the line supplying the local university (December 2023);
• The gradual extension of the RTU rollout to the primary substations of the Abidjan district.

By 2030, the modernization master plan led by CI-ENERGIES and supported by the World Bank (NEDA project) calls for extending telecontrol to the entire national MV network. A trajectory that ENERTEC, building on the ENERGOS experience, is well positioned to support.

Going further

MV network telecontrol is a highly specialized technical field combining electrical engineering, automation and industrial telecommunications. If you are working on a distribution network modernization project — whether a feasibility study, a large-scale rollout or a simple extension — the ENERTEC team is at your disposal to share its experience and review your specifications.