Exploring the Future of Virtualized Substations with RTE

At EcoPhi, we believe the future of substations lies in virtualization, high-fidelity measurements, and predictive intelligence. We are therefore proud to share that RTE – Réseau de Transport d’Électricité will be testing EcoPhi’s solutions at the Echalas 400 kV and 225 kV substations in 2026.

This collaboration marks an important step from ambition to real-world field validation of digital substation technologies.

From long-standing challenges to new insights

Our journey with RTE began with a kickoff site visit to Echalas, where the teams have been facing unexplained equipment issues for many years. These kinds of challenges are precisely where virtualization and advanced measurement technologies can unlock new understanding.

The key question driving this pilot is both simple and ambitious:
Can digitalization and virtualization help us better understand, anticipate, and even foresee faults before they happen?

Together with RTE, we are excited to explore how data-driven insights and virtualized architectures can move substations from reactive maintenance to a more predictive and resilient operating model.

Field validation that matters

A special thank you to Maxime Pelletier, who is leading RTE’s virtualization initiatives. This type of commitment accelerates the entire ecosystem and motivates innovators like us to deliver solutions that are reliable, measurable, and deployable at scale.

Digitalizing Echalas with EcoPhi technology

As part of the project, EcoPhi will digitalize and virtualize the Echalas substations using:

• QMU 800 – providing high-fidelity measurements and advanced monitoring

• CMPC 800 – enabling centralized protection, control, and virtualized applications

Together, these platforms allow protection, monitoring, and analytics to be decoupled from hardware and deployed flexibly — a key foundation for the modern digital substation.

Collaboration at the core

Successful innovation in critical infrastructure is always a team effort. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the RTE maintenance and expert teams for an excellent kickoff and open collaboration:

• St Etienne: Alexandre Breysse

• Lyon: Geoffrey Auran & Cédric Celle

• Campus expert: Irvin Guerault

Looking ahead

This pilot at Echalas is more than a technology test — it is a step toward rethinking how substations are designed, operated, and maintained. By combining virtualization, precise measurements, and advanced analytics, we aim to help utilities gain deeper visibility, reduce uncertainty, and improve long-term reliability.

We’re excited about what lies ahead and proud to work alongside RTE to help shape the next generation of digital substations.