SEL has enhanced the support for IEC 61850 in 2008

SEL is now supporting IEC 61850 as Significant Substation and RTU Standard ... SEL as one of the world leading supplier of protection IEDs is providing a wide range of IEC 61850 compliant devices and tools.

A new brochure provides many links to a wide range of applications of IEC 61850 with various SEL products:

"Combine IEC 61850 technology, Ethernet networking, and SEL high reliability to perform station computing and protection, automation, and control for distance, current differential, distribution, transformer, bus, motor, and bay control applications."

Job Opportunities - IEC 61850 knowledge required

Experience with the International Standard IEC 61850 and other advanced IEC standards is a prerequisite for many open Job Opportunities! The application of IEC 61850 compliant IEDs and Tools is growing very fast all over - also in North America. Join a booming technology.

Here are a few Job Opportunities that require IEC 61850 experience:

• 3G Malaysia ("... Excellent experience in IEC 61850/60870 protocol")
• Virelec ("...Systems Integration (SI) Specialist IEC 60870-5-101/103/104, IEC 61850, TCP/IP ")
• MR Control Systems ("...IEC 60870-5-101, IEC 60870-5-103, IEC 61850, ...")
• SEL ("...Research Engineer – Communications Emphasis ... Experience with various SCADA protocols: IEC 61850, DNP, Modbus, IEC60870")
• Think Energy Group ("...and substation automation protocols such as IEC 61850 and DNP 3.0.")
• The Select Group ("...Understanding of the advantages of modern Substation Automation communication standards and protocols (e.g. IEC 61850, DNP 3.0)")
• ABB ("... Comprehends the benefits of modern Substation Automation communication standards and protocols (e.g. IEC 61850, DNP 3.0)")
• GE ("... Experience in substation automation and IEC 61850")
• Siemens India ("... Experience on IEC 61850 protocol devices")
• SCADA ("... Familiar with typical utility protocols such as IEC 61850, DNP, and Modbus")
• Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) ("... Knowledge in the related area of substation automation and in particular, the application of IEC 61850, would be highly regarded. ")
• 3G Labs India ("... Looking for IEC professionals (61850/60870) ...Looking for IEC professionals (61850/60870)")
• ...

If you need help from the real experts on IEC 61850 ... to become an expert in the advanced Standards and to get a better job ... check the following training opportunities on IEC 61850 and other Standards. We help you to get the skills required - You’ll get first-hand, comprehensive, up-to-date, vendor neutral knowledge, experience, and guidance:

Training Overview
Training opportunities on IEC 61850
Training Modules on IEC 60870-5, DNP3, ICCP, TASE-2, CIM, ...

IEC 61850 Hands-on Training at STRI was a success

35 power engineers from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, UK, Holland and New Zealand have been trained on how to use real multivendor IEDs for protection and control of substations. IEDs from ABB, Areva and Siemens as well as test sets from Omicron and Doble have been used to run the training. A second group has run hands-on training in the use of configuration tools.

The next public hands-on training by NettedAutomation and STRI will be held in Frankfurt (Germany) on March 03-06, 2009. Details on next course in Frankfurt

The first Interoperability test at the STRI Independent Interoperability Laboratory for IEC 61850 was performed in the end of November. Customer was Helinks LLC of Switzerland. The test verified the ability of the manufacturer independent Helinks STS configuration tool to act as an independent system configurator tool according to IEC 61850-6.

Various applications of IEC 61850 explained

An explanation of several applications of IEC 61850 can be found in a nice 48 page brochure published by Siemens (in English and Deutsch):

• 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

IEC 61850 and IEC 61499 for Distributed Power System Automation

Distributed Power Systems need Distributed Power System Automation to reach a high level of an intelligent or smart grid. The standard series IEC 61850 and IEC 61499 (Function Blocks) could benefit from each other and provide the smart framework for distributed automation systems.

Neil Higgins, Valeriy Vyatkin, Nirmal-Kumar C Nair, and Karlheinz Schwarz have written one of the first papers presenting and discussing the use of IEC 61850 AND IEC 61499:

Concept for Intelligent Distributed Power System Automation with IEC 61850 and IEC 61499

Abstract.
This paper presents new approach to power system automation, based on distributed intelligence rather than traditional centralised control. The paper investigates the interplay between two international standards, IEC 61850 and IEC 61499, and proposes away of combining of the application functions of IEC61850-compliant devices with IEC 61499-compliant “gluelogic,” using the communication services of IEC 61850-7-2. The resulting ability to customise control and automation logic will greatly enhance the flexibility and adaptability of automation systems, speeding progress toward the realisation of the Smart Grid concept.

Keywords: Power system automation, IEC 61850, IEC61499, Smart Grid.

pdf of the paper

Website of Valeriy Vyatkin with background information on IEC 61499 etc.

Stellenausschreibung-RWE-Innogy-IEC61850

Falls Sie Kenntnisse in IEC 61850, IEC 61400-25 ... OPC und DNP haben ... und sich für SCADA-Anwendungen interessieren und ..., dann könnten Sie sich bei RWE-Innogy bewerben: Details

IEEE 1588 for process bus time synchronization

The IEEE 1588 Standard Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is a new solution for very precise time synchronization on Ethernet networks. The days of "non-deterministic" Ethernet seem to be over ...

IEEE 1588 is about to have a crucial impact on the process bus applications of IEC 61850. IEC 61850-9-2 requires highly synchronized sampling processes for current and voltage sensors (CTs and VTs) in a substation. Today the synchronization is implemented using a separate fibre link.

A good soure of technical background can be found at the following site: http://www.ieee1588.com

First products are already announced, e.g., by Tekron (New Zealand).

More to come ...

Siemens says - Goodbye GGIO!

Siemens says Goodbye to GGIO - Generic I/O Logical Node (see Siprotec newsletter 4/2008):

"The scope of standardized data object classes is often limited forcing users to use GGIO generic logical nodes (Generic Input / Output Data) instead. This will be a thing of the past. In the future all mandatory and optional data object classes and all logical nodes of IEC 61850 will be supported. The interoperability is thus greatly enhanced. All data objects can thus be transmitted so that the information semantics can be concluded directly from the object name. We thus obtain comfortable and transparent engineering, commissioning, test, diagnosis and service."

Siemens is very supportive of IEC 61850!!

Good news!!

Newsletter in Deutsch.

IEC 61850 UTC time stamp next leap second this month

Dear All,

The IEC 61850 time stamp uses the UTC time. The next leap second will be added on December 31, 2008:

2008 December 31, 23h 59m 59s
2008 December 31, 23h 59m 60s
2009 January 1, 0h 0m 0s

That means Dec 31, 2008 is one second longer than any other day in 2008!

As a consequence my birthday is (one second) longer than yours!! Yes, my birthday is Dec. 31 ...

I hope your SCADA and EMS systems take care of my birthday and adjust their glocks by inserting one "Karlheinz" second on Dec 31, 2008.

TAI, Temps Atomique International, is the international atomic time scale based on a continuous counting of the SI second. TAI is currently ahead of UTC by 33 seconds ... soon 34 seconds.

IEC 61850 and SCADA systems

Many of today's substation devices like protection relays are IEC 61850 compatible - one way or the other. From a SCADA point-of-view these and other devices can easily interface with such devices using the client/server communication services:

• Get a value of single data object (GetDataValues – Client driven)
• Get a list of values of data objects (GetDataValues with list sent in each request – Client driven)
• Get the complete list values of data objects using a dataset object (GetDataSetValues – Client driven)
• Get the complete list of values of data objects (of a dataset) using reporting (reporting, General Interrogation – Client driven)
• Get the complete list of values of data objects (of a dataset) using reporting (reporting, Integrity period – Server driven)
• Get one (BufTm=0) or more (BufTm>0) value(s) of data objects (of a dataset) using reporting on data and quality change and data update – Server driven)
• GOOSE and Sampled Values … exchanges complete list of values of data objects of a dataset (events: application specific – Server driven
• Get sequence of value(s) of data objects (of a dataset) using logging (on data and quality change and data update – Client driven)

These IEC 61850 services (except for GOOSE and SV) are mapped to the MMS protocol.

In IEC 61400-25-4 the IEC 61850 services are mapped to:

• IEC 61950-7-2 ACSI and Information Models (LD, LN, DATA, DA, …) defined as webservices (almost all service in IEC 61850 become a corresponding WS in 61400-25-4)
• (full) Mapping according to IEC 61850-8-1 MMS
• (subset) Mapping to OPC XML DA
• (small subset) Mapping to IEC 60870-5-104
• (small subset) Mapping to DNP3

In the current scenario what should a SCADA vendor support in order to interface with 61850-compatible devices?

In existing installations with DNP3 or IEC 60870-5-101/104 it is recommended to keep these solutions. It is not recommended to just replace one protocol by another! IEC 61850 should be considered if SCADA systems want to benefit from the 3000+ standard information models and the substation configuration language (SCL, IEC 61850-6) to simplify the configuration of Gateways, RTUs, Data Management Systems, and SCADA systems and to simulate easily the Gateways, RTUs, and Data Management Systems!! Direct access from SCADA systems to IEDs may be required. Some utilities get rid of HMIs in Substations and provide IP access directly from the control center to the IEDs (trough routers).

EMS and SCADA systems of the big vendors have already or will have soon direct access to IEC 61850 compliant devices or systems. More to come soon.

Redundancy - IEC 61850 to refer to IEC 62439?

IEC TC 57 WG 10 considers to use in IEC 61850 the results of the edition 2 of the following standard developed by IEC TC 65C:

IEC 62439: Industrial communication networks: high availability automation networks

The CDV has been published November 21, 2008 (Document 65C/519/CDV); the ballot closes 2009-04-24.

The redundancy is intended to be handled in the link layer ... so that the higher layers do not need to be doubled! Be aware, there are several redundancy concepts in IEC 62439 ... you need to know which concept you want to choose before implementing the redundancy software.

IEC 61850 is likely to reference to Part 3 (PRP).
The IEC 62439 (2nd edition CDV) comprises the following solutions:

• IEC 62439-1 Ed1.0, Industrial communication networks high availability automation networks -Part 1: general concepts and calculation methods (Including RSTP)
• IEC 62439-2 Ed1.0, Industrial communication networks high availability automation networks -Part 2: Media Redundancy Protocol (MRP)
• IEC 62439-3 Ed1.0, Industrial communication networks high availability automation networks -Part 3: Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) and High availability Seamless Ring (HSR)
• IEC 62439-4 Ed1.0, Industrial communication networks high availability automation networks -Part 4: Cross-network Redundancy Protocol (CRP)
• IEC 62439-5 Ed1.0, Industrial communication networks high availability automation networks -Part 5: Beacon Redundancy Protocol (BRP)
• IEC 62439-6 Ed1.0, Industrial communication networks high availability automation networks -Part 6: Distributed Redundancy Protocol (DRP)

Very good introduction to standard redundancy concepts, rationale, IEC 62439, etc. by Professor Hubert Kirrmann (ABB Switzerland) [PPT, 2 MB].

Schneider Electric offers IEC 61850 IEDs

Schneider Electric provides IEC 61850 connectivity for their Sepam protection relays:

Sepam units can be connected to an IEC 61850 station bus by one of the following:

ECI850 Sepam server for:

• Sepam series 20
• Sepam series 40
• Sepam series 80

ACE850 communication interface for:

• Sepam series 40
• Sepam series 80 only (available soon).

Sepam units with ECI850 and ACE850 are compliant with:

• IEC 61850-6
• IEC 61850-7-1
• IEC 61850-7-2
• IEC 61850-7-3
• IEC 61850-7-4
• IEC 61850-8-1

Products [pdf, 680 KB]

User’s manual for Sepam 20/40/80 (2008-06) [pdf, 3,8 MB]