Kimley-Horn

How Adoption Differs in Europe and the U.S.

Around the world, digital substations have become a defining feature of grid modernization. In the United States, however, one of the key technologies behind that shift, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61850 standard, has spread far more slowly than many in the industry once expected. Starting in the early 2000s, this standard replaced proprietary, hardwired systems with Ethernet-based communication, opening the door to substations that are faster, smarter, and easier to scale.

Europe moved first and decisively. Utilities across the region have adopted IEC 61850, in some form, at near-universal levels, making it the default architecture for new substations. In the United States, the picture is blurry. IEC 61850 is seeing increased adoption in many new transmission projects, but less consistently across the broader installed base. A reasonable estimate is that only 15–25% of U.S. substations incorporate IEC 61850, and these are typically only large greenfield transmission stations.

This uneven adoption reflects a key distinction within IEC 61850 itself. In the U.S., utilities that adopt the standard typically start with the station bus, which supports relay communications, GOOSE messaging, and SCADA integration. Cost is a major factor, and the station bus improves interoperability without requiring a full system redesign. Process bus adoption has been slower. Replacing copper wiring with sampled-value networks can reduce hardware and increase flexibility, but it also adds complexity to protection design, time synchronization, testing, and commissioning.

Key Barriers to Broader U.S. Adoption 

• A highly fragmented utility landscape, with organizations of varying size, budgets, and technical maturity.

• Continued reliance on legacy protocols such as DNP3 and traditional hardwired designs.

• The technical complexity of IEC 61850 engineering, especially for process bus implementations. 

• A lack of regulatory mandates in the U.S., unlike the coordinated modernization drivers seen in Europe.

• Inconsistent vendor implementation of the standard.

• Workforce training gaps and the shortage of engineers and technicians with handson experience.

Why Utilities Are Still Interested

For all the caution around adoption, the financial case continues to pull utilities forward. Studies have shown 5–30% reductions in project costs, with construction costs alone falling by as much as 30%, driven by fewer panels and less cabling. Lifecycle savings may be even more significant, with reported 5–60% reductions in maintenance, inspection, and outage-related costs. 

The return on investment is especially important on a fleet scale. Once a utility develops repeatable digital designs, each additional substation can be engineered and commissioned more efficiently than the last. Over time, the ROI continues to scale as well. 

And Then Came Data Centers

Data centers are moving with far more urgency. They demand extreme reliability, real-time visibility, and tight coordination across all systems. The standard supports faster fault response, better diagnostics, and more coordinated control. It is also already being used in many data center electrical networks for monitoring, automation, and transfer switching between redundant power sources.

In addition, the economics of downtime in the data center world are unforgiving. Outages can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per hour, so even modest gains in fault isolation, visibility, and commissioning speed can translate into meaningful financial value. Data center owner/operators are doing more than adopting IEC 61850, they are helping prove why the standard belongs at the center of the next generation of electrical infrastructure.

A Practical Path Forward

• Adopt a phased approach by standardizing IEC 61850 for station bus applications first.

• Reserve process bus designs for highvalue use cases such as EHV substations, renewables, and data centers.

• Invest in engineering standards, workforce training, and digital system templates to reduce complexity and risk.

• Clear guidance and funding support can accelerate IEC 61850 adoption.