End-to-End Substation Digitalisation with QMU 800 & CMPC 800
Event Recap: LF Energy Summit Europe 2025
TL;DR
This session showed how high-resolution measurement combined with virtualised edge computing can consolidate substation monitoring and analytics into shared infrastructure, improving visibility while reducing hardware complexity and operational blind spots.
Presentation Overview
In the session End-to-End Substation Digitalisation with QMU 800 and CMPC 800, Ebrahim Balouji, Founder and CEO of EcoPhi AB, introduced EcoPhi as an academic spinout from Chalmers University of Technology founded in 2014. He explained that the company’s work began by engaging directly with utilities to understand real operational problems rather than starting from predefined research goals.
Those early discussions revealed a recurring challenge. Substations often operate with limited visibility and delayed insight into system conditions. As grids become more congested and complex, this lack of observability increases outage risk and makes operations harder to manage.
Key Highlights
The Grid Visibility and Cost Challenge
Balouji framed outages as one of the most significant risks utilities face. He cited reported outage costs of more than $150 billion annually in the United States and more than $300 billion globally.
He explained that conventional modernization approaches scale poorly. Adding relays, meters, and monitoring devices feeder by feeder increases both capital cost and system fragmentation. Commercial monitoring solutions, such as power quality meters, are often expensive, which leads utilities to deploy them selectively rather than comprehensively. The result is fragmented monitoring and persistent blind spots.
Achieving full visibility using traditional approaches would require investment at a scale that is not economically practical.
High-Resolution Measurement as the Foundation
To address these limitations, EcoPhi developed the QMU 800 merging unit. Balouji described the device as capable of sampling voltage and current at up to 2 MHz, with 24-bit resolution per channel.
The QMU 800 publishes sampled values according to IEC 61850 and IEC 61869. It supports multiple sensor types, including conventional CTs and VTs, low-power current transformers, and Rogowski coils. Built-in GPS and support for IEEE 1588 version 2 enable time synchronization without external GPS equipment.
Balouji noted that the solution is deployed across transmission, distribution, generation, and industrial environments and is not limited to a specific voltage level.
Virtualised Edge Computing with CMPC 800
Sampled values from the QMU 800 are streamed to the CMPC 800, where applications run as virtualised, containerised software at the substation edge.
Rather than deploying dedicated hardware for each function, multiple applications operate concurrently on shared infrastructure. Demonstrated applications included power quality monitoring, phasor measurement, digital fault recording, partial discharge monitoring, and metering.
Applications can be scaled or updated through software changes, and the architecture supports both single and redundant configurations. A single merging unit can cover multiple feeders depending on system size and requirements.
Continuous Monitoring and Power Quality Analysis
A central theme of the presentation was continuous monitoring without sleep time. Balouji highlighted partial discharge monitoring as a key example, noting that conventional systems often operate intermittently, creating blind spots.
In contrast, EcoPhi’s approach performs continuous online partial discharge monitoring with real-time trend analysis. Power quality monitoring is implemented according to IEC Class A requirements. Balouji noted that the system records voltage deviations smaller than the standard five percent threshold, capturing events at around one percent deviation as well as transient interruptions.
Phasor Measurement and Digital Fault Recording
The CMPC 800 supports virtualised phasor measurement unit functionality, available as Class P or Class M upon request. Measurements include voltage and current magnitude, frequency, rate of change of frequency, and phase angle.
Digital fault recording is also implemented as a virtual application. This allows high-resolution recording of voltage and current during events without requiring dedicated fault recorder hardware.
Predictive Analytics and Fault Location
Balouji described how high sampling rates enable detection of early, intermittent phenomena in voltage and current signals. By observing how disturbances travel through the network, the system can identify abnormal behaviour before failures occur.
He stated that the system can predict certain types of failures and provide meter-level fault location accuracy. Predictions are accompanied by explanations of why a fault is expected and the likely physical cause, such as insulation degradation.
The predictive models are generalised and do not require retraining for different voltage levels, as they rely solely on voltage and current measurements.
Capacity Assessment and Asset Health
Balouji explained that combining partial discharge data, power quality measurements, and system information enables real-time estimation of transformer and line capacity.
This approach reduces reliance on additional sensors, such as temperature measurement devices. The resulting view of asset health supports both day-to-day operational monitoring and longer-term planning.
Deployment Experience and Outcomes
Based on practical deployments, Balouji reported measurable operational outcomes. In reported cases, approximately 67 percent of total faults and up to 90 percent of predictable faults were avoided.
He also noted reductions in copper cabling, lower deployment costs for monitoring functions, and reductions in overall substation build and maintenance costs. These improvements were attributed to virtualising multiple functions on shared infrastructure rather than deploying dedicated devices.
Q&A and Closing
Protection Functions and Interoperability
During the Q&A session, Balouji clarified that the platform includes minimal protection functions, such as overcurrent and earth fault protection.
He noted that additional protection functions, including line differential protection, are under development and being tested in specific projects. Utilities are not required to replace existing protection systems, and protection functions from other vendors can operate alongside EcoPhi’s applications.
Closing Remarks
Balouji concluded by emphasizing that substation digitalisation should focus on shared measurement infrastructure and software-based applications rather than incremental addition of standalone devices.
By combining high-resolution measurements with edge-based virtualisation, utilities can improve visibility, detect emerging issues earlier, and reduce system complexity.
Watch the presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGzKU96OHKE
FAQ
What problem does the QMU 800 address in substations?
Limited real-time visibility into voltage and current behaviour.
How does the CMPC 800 differ from traditional substation devices?
It hosts multiple virtualised applications on shared hardware instead of dedicated devices per function.
Why is continuous monitoring emphasized?
Intermittent monitoring can miss early or transient indicators of faults.
Does the platform replace existing protection systems?
No. It operates alongside existing protection systems.
About EcoPhi AB
EcoPhi AB is a Sweden-based energy technology company founded in 2014 as a spinout from Chalmers University of Technology. The company develops high-resolution substation measurement and edge computing platforms that support virtualised monitoring, analytics, and selected protection functions across transmission, distribution, and industrial systems.
Learn more: https://www.ecophi.com
About LF Energy
LF Energy is an open source foundation within the Linux Foundation focused on advancing collaboration in digital energy infrastructure.
Learn more: https://lfenergy.org
Last updated: January 26, 2026
