Automation Standard (IEC 61499) meets Power Standard (IEC 61850)

"The first Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies", sponsored by the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), was held January 19-21, 2010 in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA. The Conference was a forum to discuss the state-of-the-art innovations in smart grid technologies.

The paper "Towards the Energy Web via Standards-enabled Smart Grid" presented by Prof. Mihaela Ulieru was a big Blast.

Authors of the paper:
Valeriy Vyatkin, Senior Member, IEEE,
Gulnara Zhabelova, non-member,
Neil Higgins, Member, IEEE,
Mihaela Ulieru, Senior Member, IEEE
Karlheinz Schwarz, Member, IEEE and
Nirmal-Kumar C Nair, Member, IEEE

Abstract -- "In this paper we propose an information and control architecture for Smart Grid based on the combination of upcoming industrial standards and intelligent control methods. We make the case that an incremental approach is required for the transition to the Smart Grid and propose a way of doing that through bringing intelligence down to the level of substation automation devices. The architecture employs two strong international standards, IEC 61850 and IEC 61499, to enrich the applications that can be created using interoperable Smart Grid devices. Interoperability and open configurability - key enablers for efficient application of the revolutionary EnergyWeb ideas – are evident in this architecture.
The utility network is modeled as IEC 61850-compliant logical nodes, embedded in an IEC 61499 distributed automation framework. The system is simulated in an IEC 61499 execution environment combined with Matlab, and is proven to achieve simple fault location and power restoration goals through collaborative behavior."

Some 200 engineers - a forward looking crowd, extremely supportive and especially extremely receptive - were in fact quite enthusiastic of the ideas. The presentation was 'Stellar'! "What a genial idea to merge an automation standard with a power standard" has been the Motto everywhere after the talk.

Click HERE for the presentation.

The topic will also be presented and discussed during the IEEE PES T&D Conference in New Orleans, April 19-22, 2010.