The Challenges Faced and the Potential Solutions at the Knowledge Management in Protection Automation and Control Systems in Brazil

In this scenario, knowledge management in PAC systems has become a growing issue in the past decades and has progressively turned into an essential milestone for electrical power system reliability. This paper aims to present the lessons learned in knowledge management within the scope of protection and control systems in Brazil, indicating the challenges faced and potential solutions to mitigate the problems.

Among these challenges is the effort to maintain students’ interest in choosing electrical engineering programs and, specifically, the protection and control area, which may involve the need to update the curriculum to make it more modern and effective. Another important action currently carried out in Brazil to preserve and share knowledge is the use of tests with automatic test sets and real-time simulation laboratories in protection and control systems, given the ease of simulating a wide variety of situations in events in the electrical sector. In addition, internal company training, workshops, development of tools for managing PAC documentation, the preparation of technical books, and the maintenance of a statistical database of protection relays trips in the Brazilian Interconnected Power System

(BIPS) have also become important sources for preserving, disseminating, and managing knowledge, enabling both the retraining of professionals in the field, and serving as a knowledge source for new generations.

Therefore, institutionalizing and applying these practices in Brazilian companies, research centers, and utilities could not only mitigate the risks associated with workforce turnover and generational knowledge gaps but also enhance the collective intelligence of the sector.