by Eric Thibodeau, Hydro Quebec, Quebec, Canada
The Power System Communications and Cybersecurity Committee (PSCCC) reconvened for its second meeting of 2026, jointly held with the Power Systems Relaying and Control Committee (PSRC), in Cleveland, OH, from May 11 to 14. Some guests had the chance to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the shore of Lake Erie. Others enjoyed a tight contest between the Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday evening after a full day of meetings.
The PSCCC was pleased to welcome Priya Raghuraman as the newest member of the Main Committee. This was also an occasion to recognize her as this year’s Young Professional Award recipient for the PSCCC. In parallel, we set the stage for the leadership transition coming up next January. Our current Chair announced that when his term ends, Craig Palmer will become the new Chair, while yours truly is set to become Vice Chair. It was then announced that Benton Vandiver kindly agreed to step into the Secretary role. We all have worked with Benton for many years and are confident he will be a strong addition to our leadership team.
The May meeting also marked another significant leadership transition. The PSCCC is deeply grateful for Del Khomarlou’s dedicated service as Chair of the F0 subcommittee since 2018. The committee is pleased to welcome Jack Roughan as the new F0 Chair and Nathanael Winslow as the new F0 Vice Chair. Their appointments ensure strong continuity for the subcommittee, and we are confident they will build on the strong momentum established by Del during his extended tenure.
Regarding the committee’s standards-related activities, March 11 saw the publication of IEEE Std 1711.1, the Standard for a Cryptographic Protocol for Cyber Security of Substation Serial Links (SSPP). In addition, Corrigendum 1 to IEEE Std 1591.1 Draft Standard for Testing and Performance of Hardware for Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) is advancing to RevCom. Publication is expected this summer.
Ballot activity will remain strong over the coming months. The S7 Working Group has voted to initiate the ballot pool for P2808, Standard for Function Designations used in Electrical Power Systems for Cyber Services and Cybersecurity. At the same time, the P5 Working Group is preparing to submit P1615 – Recommended Practice for Network Communication for Electric Power Substation Monitoring and Control – for ballot. Finally, the P10 Working Group is also moving P2664-2024 Amendment 1 on the Streaming Telemetry Transport Protocol (STTP) toward ballot. If interested in any of these activities, watch for the ballot invitations and initiations from the IEEE SA.
We had the opportunity to announce the creation of a new Standards Coordination Task Force. This new group will be responsible for monitoring expiring standards and providing administrative stewardship for standards that we sponsor but do not currently fall under an active subcommittee. A new PAR was approved immediately following the publication of IEEE Std 1815.2 in order to work on an amendment, following comments from its first implementers. The week also provided the first opportunity to launch the joint P23 Task Force with PSRC H59 on the performance of 4G and 5G cellular communication networks for protection, automation, control, and metering applications. New PARs were approved for a new standard profile for IRIG-B time code extensions in power system applications (P24), and for the revision of IEEE Std C93.3 on the requirements for power line carrier line traps. Anyone interested in these new groups should reach out to the PSCCC leadership.
The PSCCC is scheduled to reconvene jointly with the PSRC in Reno, NV, from September 14 to 17, with the usual hybrid format.
More information about this meeting can be found on the PSRC website at https://www.pes-psrc.org/meetings.
To all of you who are interested in the activities of the PSCCC, please visit our website at https://site.ieee.org/pes-pscc/ and look for the “Join the PSCCC” button. Follow @IEEE_PES_PSCC on Twitter/X and IEEE-PES-PSCC on LinkedIn to stay updated with our latest news and announcements!
Biography:
Eric Thibodeau is an Automation Engineer at Hydro-Québec, in the Protection Expertise team. His prior experiences include being Product Manager for Protection products at Gentec, and Software Developer specialized in communication protocols at Eaton. He is involved in the activities of the IEEE Power System Communications and Cybersecurity Committee (PSCCC) and IEEE Power System Relaying and Control Committee (PSRCC). Formerly, he obtained its B.Ing. in Computer Engineering, as well as M.Sc.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Universite de Sherbrooke. While a graduate student, he was also a lecturer in this same institution about network protocols specification and design, network components and architecture as well as electronic power supply design. His main areas of expertise are TCP/IP networking, SCADA communication and cybersecurity, and digital protective relaying. He is a registered professional engineer in the Province of Quebec.
