Tuesday, January 31, 2012

FINSENY – European Consortium of 35 Organizations supports IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25

Have you heard about FINSENY before? I didn’t know about these activities. What is it? Another European project – yes, but one that seems to build on existing standards like IEC 61850, IEC 61968/70, IEC 61400-25, IEC 62351, … IEC 60870-5.

FINSENY – Future Internet for Smart Energy (2011 – 2015)

FINSENY project: 35 organizations from the ICT and energy sectors team-up to identify the ICT requirements of Smart Energy Systems. This will lead to the definition of new solutions and standards, verified in a large scale pan-European Smart Energy trial … As part of the FI-PPP programme, FINSENY will analyse energy-specific requirements, develop solutions to address these requirements, and prepare for a Smart Energy trial in phase two of the programme.

Click HERE for the list of the 35 organizations.

Fortunately the work done so far refers to IEC TC 57 and TC 88 standards!

“ … existing standards which are worldwide considered and recognized like the IEC TC57 standards for Communication networks and systems for power utility automation (IEC 61850) and System interfaces for distribution management (IEC 61968) will be taken into account when defining the architecture, data models and communication relationships as well as existing telecommunication standards supporting the Future …”

Click HERE for a statement on standards.

A first list of consolidated ICT Requirements recommends: “To ensure interoperability the communication should rely on well-known and frequently used standards like IEC 61850, IEC 61968/61970 (CIM), or IEC 60870-5-101/104 (Telecontrol) and others. Also to be respected are specialized communication standards like - IEC 61400-25-4 for wind turbines …”

Click HERE for the requirements document [pdf, 262 pages]

A very detailed description of typical use-cases in power distribution has been written: “Distribution Network Building Block”: “ … Advanced ICT solutions that could provide Future Internet and the economies of scale that could be reached are essential for the development of the Smart Distribution Network. This deliverable presents a Reference Model for the Distributed Network Scenario and selects and describes a set of building blocks (UC) that should be representative enough for a further analysis of ICT requirements of smart DN solutions.”.

Click HERE for the Distribution Network Building Block [pdf, 98 pages]

I was a bit surprised when I read in that document about the communication with SCADA systems:

“SCADA System updates real time information from the RTU by means of continuous polling. The RTU is monitoring continuously Power Equipment through its Analog and Digital Inputs. When a change occurs is some of the inputs, the RTU takes note of it in order to send it in the next request from the SCADA System SCADA System requests every 2 seconds for any change of state or measurements detected in the RTU. When a request of state or measurement change is received, RTU sends all these changes to the SCADA System …”

Hm, this seems a bit … ok, smart people will develop smart(er) devices – the IEDs (Intelligent Electronic Devices) – that will help to reduce the sheer unlimited amount of data to be exchanged continuously every 2 seconds. The project expects millions of devices to communicate with. Suppose 100 signals to be exchanged every 2 seconds from 100.000 devices: 5.000.000 signals per second … IEDs (RTUs, Data Managers, Data Aggregators, Gateways, …) with IEC 61850 will send information only if it is needed!! – on an event like a state change or limit violation.

Exchanging millions of signals per second means we need a high bandwidth – good for vendors that sell “bandwidth”! That is the question, how can more active power flow through the copper cable? Same may accomplish it the smart way with the reactive power compensation that can be done smart by inverters – smart electricians may solve this by just putting a bigger cable into the ground.

Click HERE for some discussion of polling versus spontaneous reporting.

The document lists also Monitoring and Control of Inverter Functions (Connect / Disconnect to/from grid, Adjust Maximum Generation Level, Adjust Power Factor, ... Scheduled Actions based on time, temperature, power pricing … VAr modes for VAr support from PV/Storage inverters (Modes PV1…PV5) … Advanced functions (Watt/Frequency or Watt/Voltage mode, advanced schedules, low voltage
fault ride through (FRT), separate Watt and VAr management, harmonic cancellation) …

The FINSENY papers are worth to read and study.

Siemens Industry to take over RuggedCom

The Siemens division Industry (not Energy!) announced yesterday (2012-01-30) that they agreed with RuggedCom to acquire Canadian network supplier RuggedCom Inc. The other day it was reported that Belden was trying to take over RuggedCom.

Click HERE for the Siemens press release from 2012-01-30.

It is quite interesting to see how long it took to make Ethernet an enjoyable solution:

Excerpt from the press release: “Siemens’ portfolio of industrial Ethernet networking components is enjoying above-average growth rates compared to the competition. Until now, the main emphasis of Siemens’ installed base in this segment has been in Europe. “RuggedCom’s portfolio would be an ideal addition to our range of industrial Ethernet communication products, improving our industrial-quality router and switch offering. In addition, the acquisition would improve our footprint in the North America and the Asia-Pacific region,” said Anton S. Huber, CEO of the Siemens Industry Automation Division. Huber also indicated that all of RuggedCom’s and Siemens’ product lines would be developed further in the next few years.”

What is meant by “competition” in the statement “industrial Ethernet networking components is enjoying above-average growth rates compared to the competition”? Is Ethernet competing with the “Profi”- and many other Fieldbusses … Profibus and ProfiNet … FF fieldbus …?

For me this deal indicates that the native Ethernet solution as provided by RuggedCom and used in IEC 61850 is the most “enjoyable” and successful network solution in the next 20 years or so! RuggedCom is (as Belden/Hirschmann) quite active in the IEC 61850 standardization.

When I worked for Siemens Industry in the early 90s, I recommended to use native Ethernet instead of fieldbusses … now we write 2012 – 20 years later.

Click HERE for the paper “Bridging MAP to Ethernet” [PDF, 720 KB, 1991]

Click HERE for the paper “Fieldbus standardization: Another way to go” [PDF, 720 KB, 1991].

Saturday, January 28, 2012

IEC President Wucherer talks about the Electric Future

The new IEC President, Dr Klaus Wucherer talked to the IEC Council recently.

According to the IEC e-tech website (2012-01-28): “Wucherer underlined that as an engineer and industrialist he has been in contact with the IEC in one way or another throughout most of his working life. He contributed to IEC work through his company and the National Committee and was an industry customer for IEC products and services. … Wherever there is electricity, the IEC needs to be involved.” I my opinion: IEC is already deeply involved – many experts have to learn this.

Dr Wucherer was my boss at Siemens Automation and Drives when I started my consultancy business 20 years ago – he was in Nuremberg and I was in Karlsruhe. The reason I became a consultant was this: Dr Wucherer asked me three times to move from Karlsruhe to Nuremberg – I decided to stay in Karlsruhe and work in the standardization as a consultant. Dr Wucherer, colleagues of mine and I were deeply involved in the national, European and international standardization of Fieldbusses and MAP. Dr Wucherer supported the standardization work in the 80s and 90s. We agreed that the future would require true international standards for information exchange.

As a Siemens employee under Dr Wucherer I wrote two remarkable papers on the standardization: one about the future of Fieldbusses and one about MAP in 1991:

Click HERE for the paper “Bridging MAP to Ethernet” [PDF, 720 KB]

Click HERE for the paper “Fieldbus standardization: Another way to go” [PDF, 720 KB].

I would extend his statement “Wherever there is electricity, the IEC needs to be involved to

Wherever there is electricity, the IEC 61850 needs to be involved!

Click HERE for some crucial information models for the electricity defined in IEC 61850-7-4 that demonstrate the importance of the above extended statement.

The “electricity world” is likely to prevent the proliferation found in the industrial automation domain’s fieldbusses. If the many fieldbus consortia define their fieldbus specific profiles for the electric world then we will get as many information models as fieldbusses! Or?

Click HERE to see bunch of 60+ fieldbusses in ONE IEC standard in 2008: The IEC 61158.

Download IEC 61850 Blog Content as PDF Document

For those readers of the blog that want to get the complete content as a pdf document, you can just get it with one click … it contains the posts from 2008 until 2012-01-27.

Click HERE to download all posts in one pdf [12 MB, 410+ pages DIN A4]

Enjoy!

Friday, January 27, 2012

IEC 61850 in the U.S. – A Personal View of IEC 61850

Scott Olson (POWER Engineers) investigated recently to figure out the situation of the application of IEC 61850 in the U.S.: He found IEC 61850 on the radar screen!

In his report (A personal view of IEC 61850) he wrote early January 2012 that IEC 61850 is “More Than a Protocol”. Yes – it is much more than a protocol. It is not something like “DNP4” or “IEC 60870-5-105”. The standard series IEC 61850 provides a bunch of definitions applicable in many different subsets – there will never be an implementation that implements the whole standard series! Never ever.

Some explanation on basic concepts of the standard series IEC 61850 follow (before we have a closer look into Scott Olson’s report):

IEC 61850 provides models of real world information (status, measurements, and control points, settings, …) for many different application domains. The following slide shows an example of a model: XCBR – circuit breaker of a real substation.

image

Another area is the system configuration language (SCL) that describes many aspects of devices and the whole system. Third, there is the communication shown in the top left corner. The communication defines services. These services are realized by protocols. The protocols are comprising TCP/IP based client-server communication and Ethernet based real-time communication (GOOSE and sampled measured values – sensor-data).

Protocols are needed – the crucial issues are models and configuration language.

Some of the services that communicate the state-changes of the circuit breaker are as follows:

image

Is it worth to compare the protocols of various standards? Check the following table to figure out what the left side has to offer … and what the standards on the right have:

image

IEC 61850 is mainly focusing on crucial aspects of the many applications and on the system – system means: what to communicate, from where to where, how to communicate, when, … how to configure systems and devices, how to document requirements and systems, …

A remaining question is: What is most important to look at or to implement or to apply? It depends. From a device point of view it is absolute important to have the communication services and protocol – and application program interface (API) – implemented. This is required in TWO devices – the server, that provides the models, and the client that reads values or receives spontaneous reports:

image
From a application point of view it is crucial to look at the models!! ;-)

The models should be discussed independent of ANY protocol!!! Many people have understood that the models, services and protocols of IEC 61850 are all independent of each other – that is one of the crucial benefits! That is the reason why IEC 61400-25-4 (Wind Power application of IEC 61850) defines the mapping of process values (the signal lists) and simple services to DNP3 and IEC 60870-5-101/104. Because the models, services and configuration language are independent of the protocols.

And also note that the use of IEC 61850 is first of all intended for the substation automation and power generation … finally it may be used (in the long term) in the communication with control centers.

Back to the crucial lessons Mr Olson and others have learnt:

He writes: “We received a great email from one of our readers, who reminded us that there was a difference between a standard and a protocol—the latter being a component of the former—and that it was possible to implement IEC 61850 protocols without going all out to implement the standard.

"For example," our reader offered, "61850 GOOSE messaging may be used between IEDs to eliminate physical wiring and increase speed of interaction between IEDs while continuing to use DNP to communicate upwards to SCADA and higher-level systems where slower communications updates are acceptable.

It was such a great point to make: The migration to the IEC 61850 standard does not force the absolute replacement of protocols that are already in place. Solutions can be implemented that allow parts of 61850 to be added to the network while the legacy protocols continue to be used over the same network. For example, station bus protocol (IEC 61850-8-1) could be used to simplify the
interface between IEDs, human-machine interfaces (HMIs), etc. within the substation network while continuing to use DNP interface to SCADA. As process bus (IEC 61850-9-2) devices become readily available, the opportunity to eliminate copper wiring between current transformers (CTs) and IEDs could provide tremendous …”

The lesson that everybody should learn soon (or should have learnt): IEC 61850 could be implemented in many different subsets for even more simple to complex applications. I hope that at the end of 2012 the universe has understood that the standard series IEC 61850 is more than just a protocol – it goes far beyond DNP3, IEC 60870-5-101/104, even beyond OPC and OPC UA! It’s a system-supporting solution.

By the way, this blog is visited by many experts from North America. It is likely that Mr Olson’s lesson will be read by many U.S. people.

Click HERE for the full “personal view”.

In a open job description for an Automation Engineer in Rochester (New York) I just read today (2012-01-28) the following:

Requirements:
MUST HAVE

Knowledge of digital projection
Knowledge of IEC 61850
Knowledge of communication protocols- DNP

Know SCADA systems manufacturers and equipment

IEC 61850 and protocols are two things!

How to secure Millions of devices in a Smart(er) Grid?

There are may R&D projects underway to find appropriate ways how to secure millions of devices that need to communicate – all over.

A nice paper discusses this issues in the light of the question: what is a workable solution for a some hundred devices may not scale for millions of devices.

The report concludes: “The cryptographic infrastructure underlying the smart
grid the community envisions will likely require PKI, for scalability – but this is the beginning, not the end, of the solution.”

The good message we hear more often these days is: The path to smart(er) Hybrid Grids (power, gas, heat, …) will be long and steep. A challenge for a people involved – one way or the other.

Click HERE for the 3 page paper.

There is some progress in making power system automation more secure. Siemens writes in the SIPROTEC 5 - System Overview, Protection, Automation and Monitoring · Siemens SIP 5.01 · V1.0 (not yet available for download):

  • Long-lasting, rugged hardware with outstanding EMC immunity and resistance to weather and mechanical loads
  • Sophisticated self-monitoring routines identify and report device malfunctions immediately and reliably
  • Conformance with the stringent Cyber Security requirements defined in the BDEW Whitepaper and NERC CIP
  • Encryption along the entire communication segment between DIGS I 5 and the device
  • Automatic recording of access attempts and security critical operations on the devices and systems

Click HERE for the DBEW Whitepaper “Requirements for Secure Control and Telecommunication Systems” [Dual Language: EN/DE]

Click HERE for further information in German (only).

Garderos (Munich, Germany) offers industrial-grade (ruggedized) routers which are self-managing and cyber-secure … secure against cyber-attacks … applicable for power grid applications.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

How to define New Data Objects in IEC 61850?

The need to define new data objects is likely to have various reasons. One reason is that experts do not know which logical nodes and data objects are already defined. Let’s assume there is really a need for a new data object – there is not any data object that may fit.

Example (The following LN SIML, I found on the Web):

The standard LN SIML (Insulation Medium Supervision) provides the data object H2ppm (Measurement of Hydrogen (H2 in parts Per Million)):

image

There is a need to model H2ppm related semantic, e.g., “Hydrogen ppm Rate of Change” or “Hydrogen ppm Rate of Change Goodness of Fit”

These two semantic models are not defined in the standard. What is the best way to model these two?

  1. Defining values in GGIO? – maybe not,
  2. Defining new data objects in SIML? – may be the best solution (could be standardized later), or
  3. Defining something like H2ppm1 (measured value), H2ppm2 (rate of change”, and H2ppm3 (roc Godness of Fit)? – That is definitely wrong!

Why are the following data objects in conflict with the standard modeling method?

Here is the definition for LN SIML (of the example I found) using multiple instances of H2ppm, defined in the Insulation Medium Supervision (Product Specification):

image

The standard IEC 61850-7-4 Edition 2 defines the LN as follows:

LN: SIML Name: Insulation Medium Supervision (Standard IEC 61850-7-4 Edition 2):

image

These data objects H2ppm1, H2ppm2, and H2ppm3 are not allowed – it is not allowed to instantiate data objects (with some exceptions, then the data object in the standard LN needs to be defined as MyDataObject1 – with a “1” at the end)!

For details on instantiating data objects see the following excerpt of IEC 61850-7-1 Edition 2 that defines the extension rule for data objects:

14.6 Specialisation of data by use of number extensions

Standardised data names in logical nodes provide a unique identification. If the same data (i.e. data with the same semantics) are needed several times as defined, additional data with number extensions shall be used. The rules for number extensions shall follow the naming conventions defined in IEC 61850-7-2 and be as follows:

  • the number extension usage shall only be defined by the owner of the data namespace. This shall be done by adding the number extension 1 to a data object name (e.g. data1),
  • data with no number extension shall not be extended by third parties,
  • data with the number extension 1 can be extended. Number extensions may be ordered or not (1,2,3,4, or, 1,2,19,25),
  • if only one instance of an extendable data is present in an LN, it shall have the number extension “1”.

14.8 Example for new Data

New Data “Colour of Transformer Oil”

image

The above figure shows also that a data Namespace Attribute “datNs” has to be specified for each new data object.

For the above listed additional semantic it would work with the following (standard conformant) extended data object definitions:

Example (wrong – semantic is in instances):
H2ppm1 (measured value)
H2ppm2 (rate of change)
H2ppm3 (roc Godness of Fit)

A standard conformant solution is (define new data object classes):
H2ppm (measured value)
H2ppmRoc (rate of change, extended data with datNs=Vendor so and so )
H2ppmRocGdns (roc Godness of Fit, extended data with datNs=Vendor so and so)

Please find further presentations on model extensions:
Click HERE for post1.
Click HERE for post2.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Siemens SIPROTEC 5 – More flexible IEC 61850 System Engineering and IED Configuration

According to the “SIPROTEC 5 - System Overview, Protection, Automation and Monitoring ·Siemens SIP 5.01 · V1.0” the new SIPROTEC 5 line supports several more flexible ways to configure IEC 61850 IEDs and Models.

See page 58: “The name of the logical device (ldName) is freely editable. For example, the standard-conforming name CTRL can be changed to CONTROL. Structural changes can also be made by changing the logical device (LD), so that the interface structure can be flexibly adapted to the user's own requirements. Rigid manufacturer specifications are a thing of the past. Prefix and instance of the logical node (LN) can also be edited. … Flexible engineering is the key to bringing the system view into harmony with the IEC 61850 structure of the device.”

IEC 61850 seems to have totally influenced the new series. They put a headline over the communication description: “IEC 61850 - Simply Usable … The internal structure of SIPROTEC 5 devices conforms to IEC 61850.”

Compared to the products offered in the past (since 2004 when the first systems with IEC 61850 communication where commissioned) this increase in flexibility provided by SIPROTEC 5 will be appreciated by system integrators and users.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

New Parts in IEC 61850 Tissue Database

The following new parts have been added to the tissue database:

Click HERE for Part 4 (2011; Edition 2)
Click HERE for Part 7-1 (2011; Edition 2)
Click HERE for Part 9-2 (2011; Edition 2)

Description of IEC 61850 Application Examples

A couple of application examples using IEC 61850 for substation protection and automation can be found in a 48 page brochure from Siemens (English and German).

The following topics are covered:

  • Switchgear Interlocking with IEC 61850-GOOSE
  • Reverse Interlocking Using the GOOSE of IEC 61850
  • Beneficial Engineering of IEC 61850 Substation Automation Systems
  • Innovative Solutions for Substation Control with IEC 61850
  • Seamless Migration
  • Ethernet Topologies with IEC 61850
  • IEC Interoperability,Conformance and Engineering Experiences
  • IEC Browser – A Powerful Test Tool for IEC 61850

The description is to a large extent vendor-neutral.

Click HERE for the English version [pdf, 1.4 MB]
Click HERE for the German version [pdf, 1.4 MB]

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Path to future Power System – Sprint or Marathon?

Many people have assumed that the conversion of today's power system into a smarter system could be done in a few years – comparable with a Sprint.

After eight years of extensive training on IEC 61850 and other power related topics I conducted for more than 2,750 experts, from more than 700 companies and more than 70 countries I have learned that the conversion is more like a Marathon!

Many people believe that smart meters would convert the system in a few years to become a Smart Grid. The German Network Regulator has stated that a roll-out of huge number of smart meters is not required for the stable network operation. The report states also that the development of a Smart(er) Grid is more like an evolution – not a revolution.

Click HERE for the Report (pdf, German only)

At the Hanover Fair in April 2010 I took the following photo of a hybrid PEV vehicle and a charging station. The battery was charged with a regular extension cord connected to a conventional outlet – in the morning before visitors walked around!!

PEV_HMI_2010

Photo: Karlheinz Schwarz

The car is already a Sprinter – but the Plug into the future could be expected after a “Marathon” – it just takes some more time!

The International Energy Agency (IEA) states in their “Technology Roadmap on Smart Grids” that “The “smartening” of the electricity system is an evolutionary process, not a one-time event.”

Click HERE for the IEA roadmap [pdf, 50 pages].

Click HERE for a discussion of the results of the stimulus funding of the U.S. government by end of 2011. According to that report “18 million [installed] smart meters only covers 13 percent of the 142 million customers in the U.S., for example, and automating 671 substations leaves another 11,795 more to go, or 95 percent of those remaining in the United States. As befits its title, this stimulus funding was meant to stimulate a new wave of smart grid investment across U.S. utilities, not merely to serve as a one-time jobs-and-spending jolt.

My students are told all the time: Do not hurray! Take your time. To win in a Marathon you need sustainable training. Only Smart (i.e., well trained) People will be able to implement the needed systems to measure, monitor, control, protect, optimize, … the electrical power system.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Belden seeks to acquire networking specialist RuggedCom ‎

Ruggedized network infrastructure compliant to IEC 61850-3 is crucial for the implementation of Smart(er) Grids. RuggedCom – one of the well known brands in the substation domain – is one of the companies that offers network components to build the needed communication infrastructure.

One of RuggedCom competitors, Belden (Hirschmann is a brand of Belden), wants to take RuggedCom over.

Click HERE for the press news.

This shows that the Power Industry is following the native Ethernet solutions. IEC 61850 is based on the native Ethernet solution in contrast to the industrial automation domain where a lot of even standardized solutions like EtherCat, ProfiNet, PowerLink, … compete with each other Ethernet-based and traditional Fieldbuses, e.g., Profibus, CAN, Interbus, …

The Electric Power System has a highly standardized process: the 3 phase A.C. system (50 or 60 Hz). This single process requires a single communication solution: IEC 61850 based on native Ethernet.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Status of the parts of the IEC 61850 series, January 2012

The standard series comprises 18 officially published parts; another 12 are in preparation. Most published parts are Standards; some are Technical Reports (TR) and Technical Specifications (TS):

1 IEC/TR 61850-1 Part 1: Introduction and overview
2 IEC/TS 61850-2 Part 2: Glossary
3 IEC 61850-3 Part 3: General requirements
4 IEC 61850-4 Part 4: System and project management
5 IEC 61850-5 Part 5: Communication requirements for functions and device models
6 IEC 61850-6 Part 6: Configuration description language for communication in electrical substations related to IEDs
7 IEC 61850-7-1 Part 7-1: Basic communication structure - Principles and models
8 IEC 61850-7-2 Part 7-2: Basic information and communication structure - Abstract communication service interface (ACSI)
9 IEC 61850-7-3 Part 7-3: Basic communication structure - Common data classes
10 IEC 61850-7-4 Part 7-4: Basic communication structure - Compatible logical node classes and data object classes
11 IEC 61850-7-410 Part 7-410: Hydroelectric power plants - Communication for monitoring and control
12 IEC 61850-7-420 Part 7-420: Basic communication structure - Distributed energy resources logical nodes
13 IEC 61850-8-1 Part 8-1: Specific communication service mapping (SCSM) - Mappings to MMS (ISO 9506-1 and ISO 9506-2) and to ISO/IEC 8802-3
14 IEC 61850-9-1 Part 9-1: Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM) - Sampled values over serial unidirectional multidrop point to point link
15 IEC 61850-9-2 Part 9-2: Specific communication service mapping (SCSM) - Sampled values over ISO/IEC 8802-3
16 IEC 61850-10 Part 10: Conformance testing
17 IEC/TS 61850-80-1 Part 80-1: Guideline to exchanging information from a CDC-based data model using IEC 60870-5-101 or IEC 60870-5-104
18 IEC/TR 61850-90-1

Part 90-1: Use of IEC 61850 for the communication between substations

Another 12 Parts are under development. Some of these are almost ready for publication in 2012.

Several of the above listed documents have the tag “Edition 2”, some have still the tag “Edition 1” and are in the maintenance process.

A complete list comprises all 30 parts: Title, publication, stability date, … see excerpt in the table below (the complete table can be downloaded – see below):image

The table indicates as well how many tissues have been posted at the tissue database for most parts tagged edition 1 and tagged edition 2.

Please note that there is NO “IEC 61850 Edition 2” !! There are only Editions of the PARTS!!

If you want to know the current status of the standard series IEC 61850 (January 2012) you have to check the status of ALL documents at early January 2012 (red vertical line in the figure below):

image

Some of the documents are still Edition 1 (yellow) others are Edition 2 (green). 10 of the 18 parts are still EDITION 1 !! 8 parts are EDITION 2. The other 12 parts under development will be published as EDITION 1.

The 6 parts that are usually understood as “IEC 61850 Edition 2” are:

-6 Ed2
-7-1 Ed2
-7-2 Ed2
-7-3 Ed2
-7-4 Ed2
-8-1 Ed2

This is NOT an official name!

Most parts published by January 2013 are still marked EDITION 1 !!

Click HERE to download the complete table [pdf, 2 pages]

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

ABB review – Special Report IEC 61850

ABB has published already in August 2010 a very comprehensive and nice report on various aspects of IEC 61850. The report comprises 64 pages! Most visitors of this blog may not know the report.

The report starts with a very true statement: “Communication is more than exchanging data; it means globally understandable information based on syntax and semantic. This is behind IEC 61850, the topic of this issue of ABB Review Special Report.” It continues: “Electric energy is the backbone of our global society. Its reliable supply from conventional and renewable sources via complex networks requires seamless control that is only possible with the help of a standard providing a high-level and comprehensive description of the information exchanged.”

Most people are like to say that the Internet is the backbone of our global society – What would the Internet be without electric energy? How would your home look like without electric power? You would not be able to read this post without electric power. Many people see electric power like sunshine and rain – it is just here.

Click HERE for the report [pdf, edition August 2010]

Register of tested IEC 61850 devices

KEMA has recently published an updated Test Register (version 2011-11-28) for

  • IEC 61850 Client Systems [8 clients successfully test]
  • IEC 61850 Server Devices [total: 212 – 2011:42 / 2010:21 / 2009:34 /before:115]
  • IEC 61850 Ethernet Switches [23]
  • IEC 61850 Sampled Value Publishers (Merging Units) [2]

Click HERE for the complete list [pdf]

Click HERE for the IEC 61850 certificates; if you don’t have an UCAIUG login account you can apply for a free guest account.