Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories
Newsroom
Oct 13, 2025
SEL supports ambitious grid modernization project in Central America
PULLMAN, Washington—A longstanding partnership with Empresa Propietaria de la Red (EPR) helped SEL secure a project to modernize the SIEPAC transmission system.SIEPAC (or “Central American Electrical Interconnection System”) is the electrical backbone of Central America. It spans 1,800 kilometers and six countries, from Guatemala at its northern end to Panama in the south. Because the SIEPAC line crosses rugged terrain and multiple national borders, it makes maintenance challenging for EPR, the utility that oversees the system. EPR also manages protection, metering and control equipment in substations that belong to other utilities, which limits EPR’s in-person access to essential devices.To address these challenges, EPR envisioned targeted upgrades that would improve system visibility and help them dispatch repair crews more efficiently. They also wanted to enhance the cybersecurity of the system they use to remotely access substation equipment.To support this ambitious modernization project, EPR turned to SEL, who had supplied them with protective devices for many years.EPR and SEL started by updating wide-area communications using the SEL ICON Integrated Communications Optical Network. The ICON provides the reliable wide-area communications needed for several technologies that EPR uses, including line-differential protection, synchrophasor collection and advanced traveling-wave fault locating.Traveling-wave fault locating, provided by the SEL-411L Advanced Line Differential Protection, Automation, and Control System, can locate faults to within 300 meters. More precise fault locating has allowed EPR to improve their response times without having to expand their maintenance team.To enhance the security of the system they use to remotely access devices, EPR chose the SEL-3620 Ethernet Security Gateway. In collaboration with SEL, they implemented layered defenses that included role-based access control for employees, electronic device password rotation and meticulous logging of employee access and any changes made to devices.In addition to the reliability of SEL devices, EPR credits the success of their longstanding relationship with SEL to the excellent customer support they receive:“Every time we have a need, we immediately have Schweitzer’s response, and that has allowed us to attend to situations in the shortest possible time,” says Carlos Farfan, operations and maintenance manager at EPR. “The partnership with Schweitzer has been excellent.”To learn more about the project, visit selinc.com/epr-siepac