Secure communication of smart metering data in the smart grid secondary substation

Smart Metering is considered as a critical infrastructure that collects low voltage network data for billing, management and automation applications in the smart grid. Secondary substation also plays significant role in the future smart grid and can participate in Smart Metering process. Reliable smart grid operation requires authentic metering data. Thus, Smart Metering data communication in Secondary substation must be protected against cyber-security attacks. This paper discusses Smart Metering architecture and security requirements, and then proposes utilization of the Secondary substation automation device for secure transmission of metering data from customer site to distribution network control center. The Secondary substation automation device provides security for communicating to customer site and control center via DLMS/COSEM security mechanisms and tunneled IEC 60870-5-104 data in PPTP VPN, respectively. Accordingly, customer metering data is securely transmitted to higher level information systems of the utility company via Secondary substation.