SystemCorp Perth/Australia provides IEC 61850 solutions

SystemCorp (Perth/Australia) announced the other day: "Substation control and other plant process automation tasks can be programmed easily using standardized IEC-61131 software tools. The preferred data exchange protocol for power control applications is IEC-61850."

The solution is demonstrated at the CEPSI 2008 exhibition in Macau (27-31 October 2008).

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Smart RTU running IEC 61850 on Linux

The Danish DISCOS® SmartCom RTU module is part of the DISCOS®System. The DISCOS® SmartCom RTU module is designed to link and integrate the DISCOS® System into high-level IT systems like SCADA solutions or other grid management IT platforms. The DISCOS® SmartCom RTU module is based on an ARM®processor running Linux, which offers connectivity according to IEC 6185o.

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IEC 61850-7-420 - DER extensions out for final vote

The extension of IEC 61850 for DER has been published for final vote:

IEC 61850-7-420 Ed.1:Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –Part 7-420: Basic communication structure – Distributed energy resources logical nodes

The voting period ends on 2009-01-09.

The FDIS provides many new Logical nodes:

• 12 Logical nodes for DER management systems
• 10 Logical nodes for DER generation systems
• 10 Logical nodes for specific types of DER
• 13 Logical nodes for auxiliary systems

Need more information? contact us please ...

CEPSI 2008 Macau and IEC 61850

During the first day of the CEPSI 2008 Conference and Exhibition in Macau (27.-31.11.2008) there is a great interest in IEC 61850. Several exhibitors have indicated that IEC 61850 is a one of the crucial issues here in Asia. The enquiries for IEC 61850 compliant data management products is really growing very fast. One exhibitor told me at the end of the first day: "We have been contacted by so many people that we could leave the exhibition already after the first day ... we have been visited by sooo many people ... including people form the big vendors ...".

The presentation of some four papers on IEC 61850 in the session "T&D - Substation and Distribution Automation" was visited by some 40-50 experts.

More to come.

STRI announced the second hands-on training for IEC 61850 to be hold in Frankfurt/Germany on 03.-06. March 2009 ... the first training in Ludvika/Sweden end of November 2008 is already sold out.

ABB’s System 800xA supports IEC 61850

ABB USA reports on the use of IEC 61850 in ABB’s System 800xA

"... System 800xA fully supports IEC 61850, the global communication standard for Power Distribution and Substation Automation. It includes a recently released IEC 61850 interface that fully integrates switchgear and protection Intelligent Electrical Devices (IED) for the power distribution side of an industrial plant. System 800xA has always supported regular electrical devices for the process side of the plant, such as variable-speed drives, motor controllers and low-voltage circuit breakers to enhance equipment effectiveness and improve access to vital equipment and system data without the need for gateways, serial interfaces or hardwiring. ..."

Full text of the news ...
More about the use of IEC 61850 in Power Plants ...

TVA orders IEC 61850 solutions from ABB and GE

ABB wins $15 Million contract with TVA for IEC 61850 compliant relays
http://uaelp.pennnet.com reports: "... The IED 670 series supports the IEC 61850 standard for substation automation, providing extreme intelligence and flexibility that allows for interoperability in communication with other relays and substation automation components."
more details ...

TVA contract on GE Digital Energy's IEC 61850 compliant Universal Relays
http://www.marketwatch.com/ reports: "...The Multilin UR products not only met all of TVA's criteria but also offered comprehensive support for IEC 61850, the international standard for substation communication that reduces construction and design costs and will allow TVA to upgrade to future technology without having to replace its existing infrastructure. ..."
more details ...

Security measures for power industry (BDEW)

The German association BDEW has published earlier in 2008 "a white paper specifying essential security measures for control and telecommunication systems ... for power industry organisations. The purpose of this document is to sufficiently protect the operation of these systems against security threats."

DE: Whitepaper: Anforderungen an sichere Steuerungs- und Telekommunikationssysteme
EN: White Paper: Requirements for Secure Control and Telecommunication Systems

Download dual language paper ... [pdf]

IEC 61850 is no longer a novelty

ZIV USA states: "IEC 61850 is no longer a novelty. Its acceptance is growing and the number of practical applications in service that utilize it continues to increase. However, in the majority of applications all of the devices originate from the same manufacturer. Only a few projects have been converted into a real example of interoperability between devices from different suppliers to demonstrate in practice the viability and the success of the standardization process."

Currently there are many discussions about the "IEC 61850 interoperability".

What does the standard IEC 61850-1 define?

interoperability

the ability of two or more IEDs from the same vendor, or different vendors, to exchange in-formation and use that information for correct execution of specified functions.

interchangeability
the ability to replace a device supplied by one manufacturer with a device supplied by another manufacturer, without making changes to the other elements in the system.

The interoperability ment in IEC 61850 is the communication interoperability! But, users usually want to have function interoperability! The function interoperability requires the FUNCTIONS to be defined - which is not (yet) the case in IEC 61850!

IEC 61850:

• DOES NOT standardize (application) functions like interlocking function NOR the distribution of a function (1 or n IEDs) !!
• Standardizes the information produced and consumed (3000+) by functions and how information is exchanged (get/set, control, report, log, GOOSE, SV …)
• Standardizes a language to describe the substation topology, information models, communication, binding to process, the data flow, … (SCL – Substation Configuration Language; IEC 61850-6)

Interchangeability is NOT AT ALL defined in IEC 61850!!

Download a comprehensive document on IEC 61850 from ZIV (link to pdf file 11 MB can be found there).

IEC 61850, CIM, Security one-day-event in Mexico City - January 27, 2009

Karlheinz Schwarz, NettedAutomation (Karlsruhe/Germany) offers a ONE-DAY event on
IEC 61850, CIM, IEC 61400-25, IEEE 1686, ...

Where: Mexico City
When: January 27, 2009
Time: 09:00 a.m. to 06:00 p.m.
Language: English

The objective of the one-day event is to give an OVERVIEW and UPDATE on the current standardization efforts within IEC TC 57 and TC 88 and to present the USER, VENDOR and SYSTEM INTEGRATOR EXPERIENCE since 2005 - for applications inside and outside the utility industry:

• IEC 61850: Communication networks and systems for power automation
• IEC 62351: Data and Communication Security and NERC CIP
• IEC 61968: CIM - Energy management system application program interface
• IEC 61400-25: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants
• IEEE 1686: Substation IEDs Cyber Security Capabilities
• ...

Questions like the following will be discussed:

• When will the 2nd Edition of IEC 61850 be available?
• Do utilities really get what they are looking for?
• Is the interoperability of substation IEDs already reached?
• Turn-key versus "home-made" automation systems!?
• What is the status of the harmonization of CIM & IEC 61850?
• Is the security standard available? and implemented?
• What is the relation between IEC 62351 and NERC's CIP?
• What is IEEE 1686?
• What about multivendor projects for IEC 61850?
• What tools for IEC 61850 are available?
• What's going on in North America?
• ...

If you are interested to attend to get the latest information - neutral, up-to-date, experienced, and comprehensive - please contact NettedAutomation by email indicating how many experts from your organization may be interested.

Myongji University (Korea) cooperates with NettedAutomation

During the Seminar on IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 on October 02, 2008, at the Utility IT Laboratory of the Myongji University (Yongin, Kyunggi-Do/Republic of South Korea)

NettedAutomation GmbH (Karlsruhe / Germany) and

Utility IT Laboratory (Yongin, Kyunggi-Do / Republic of South Korea)

announced their cooperation in the area of the international standard series IEC 61400-25 and IEC 61850:

1.Intention
NettedAutomation GmbH (Karlsruhe/Germany) and Utility IT Laboratory (Yongin, Kyunggi-Do/Republic of South Korea) have agreed to cooperate in the area of standardized information, communication and configuration for the protection, automation and monitoring of power systems.

2.Duration of Cooperation
From September 2008 to August 2010.

3. Area of Cooperation
The two organizations have agreed to cooperate in the following areas of the definition and application of international standards related to Power IT solution for:

• Renewable Energy Resources (IEC 61850-7-420)
• Wind Power (IEC 61400-25)
• Substation Automation Systems (IEC 61850)
• RTU and SCADA applications for above listed areas
• Various monitoring functions of primary and secondary equipment and functions

Seminar program (2008-10-02)

IEC Fieldbus Edition 2008

The 2008 Edition of the IEC 61158 Fieldbus standard "Industrial communication networks –Fieldbus specifications" has been published recently.

The picture depicts the stack of fieldbus standards of the IEC 61158 Edition 2007 (more than 60 parts, each part is a CD ROM as sold by the German DIN).

A good overview of the parts and the many solutions could be found in a table posted at the DKE website.

List of all 99 IEC 61158 standards and related standards

IEC 61850 in conventional Power Plants

ABB uses IEC 61850 in conventional Power Plants:

In Control, Issue May 2008, presents the new application domain for IEC 61850:

IEC 61850: New standard improves the automation of power plants

Today, power plants are highly automated. For large thermal power generators, all the sub-systems can be supervised from a central control room. The electrical systems are also one of these sub-systems. In the future, the new IEC 61850 standard will simplify the integration of electrical components from different manufacturers inpower plant automation systems and at the same time reduce the costs for the operation and maintenance of these plants.
Download magazine, EN (pdf, 1MB)

IEC 61850: Neue Norm verbessert die Automatisierung von Kraftwerken

Kraftwerke sind heute hoch automatisiert. Bei großen thermischen Stromerzeugern können alle Teilsysteme von einer zentralen Leitwarte aus überwacht werden. Zu diesen Teilsystemen zählen auch die elektrischen Systeme. Die neue Norm IEC 61850 wird künftig herstellerübergreifend die Integration von elektrischen Komponentenin die Automatisierung von Kraftwerken vereinfachen und zugleich die Kosten für Betrieb und Instandhaltung dieser Anlagen senken.
Download magazine, DE (pdf, 1 MB)

Additional Slides in German (pdf, 750 KB).

IEC 61850-7-4 Edition 2 CDV approved

The IEC 61850-7-4 Edition 2 CDV approved by 100 per cent support.

IEC 61850-7-4 Ed.2:
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation -
Part 7-4: Basic communication structure -
Compatible logical node classes and data classes

Voting report

IEC 61850 for DER systems at PGE (Portland, OR)

One of the latest announcements to use and support IEC 61850 comes from the US - from Portland General Electric (PGE) ... according to ISA's InTech news report 2008-10.

"... PGE received a grant from GridApp to take GenOnSys applications to the next version, GenOnSys 2.0. “In order to be able to go into that world, we wanted a standard [IEC 61850-7-420] we and other utilities could use to allow everyone to do things the same way,”

"GenOnSys is able to provide a distributed realtime monitoring, live video cameras, and alarming system based on the IEC 61850-7-420 object standard for all sites."

More on IEC 61850-7-420 for DER ...

Approved: IEC 61400-25-6 CDV

The Committee Draft IEC 61400-25-6 Ed.1:

Wind turbines -
Part 25-6: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants
- Logical node classes and data classes for condition monitoring

has been approved on Friday, October 03, 2008.

Voting Report.

The next step will be to prepare the FDIS. The Project Team PT 25-6 will meet in Copenhagen (Denmark) next week Oct 08-10) to prepare the next version.