NID is in the process of building a backhaul Wide Area Network to allow SCADA communications between eight hydroelectric facilities, a very complex and demanding multi-year project due to the scale and distances between the facilities. NID called upon IEC to provide recommendations on how to proceed. Our strong working relationships with District staff allowed IEC to smoothly organize the results of existing work to date, identify the correct stakeholders to provide input, and effectively identify and communicate the recommendations and next steps for the project.

IEC presented NID with network topology options, identified District preferences, and estimated the bandwidth requirements for each site. Once this was accomplished, IEC identified the available communication technologies that would meet the project technical requirements and would allow compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) requirements for security.

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