Digital substations combine primary equipment designed for 40 year lifetimes with software, firmware, and vendor support cycles that may last only a decade. This article examines the resulting obsolescence risk, from vendor lock-in and disappearing toolchains to post-quantum cryptographic migration. It argues that utilities must design for repeated digital renewal through portable engineering data, cross-vendor replacement workflows, cryptographic agility, contractual exit rights, and properly funded lifecycle plans.
The Forty-Year Assets, Ten-Year Promises
Digital substations combine primary equipment designed for 40 year lifetimes with software, firmware, and vendor support cycles that may last only a decade.
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