As the drive towards a decarbonised, decentralised and digitalised energy industry continues, the industry is increasingly focused on digitalising a core element of every grid – the substation. But digitalising a substation is not without challenges. The initial high investment and concerns over the operation of protection and control systems are significant hurdles which the industry needs to overcome. In this white paper, we explore the latest innovations leveraging IEC 61850 to improve the relevance of digital twins, simplification of substation design and the automation of asset condition monitoring.