Electro Mobility, Substation Automation and IEC 61850

The basics for the infrastructure needed for the Electro Mobility have already been standardized – the electrical power delivery system: generation – transmission – distribution of electric A.C. power. The standardization of the electrical system has a long tradition. The monitoring, protection and control of electric power is automated in many higher voltage levels. There are mainly five international standards used all over: IEC 60870-5-10x for telecontrol, IEC 60870-6 TASE.2 for inter-control center communication, IEC 61850 for substation automation and protection, DER, Hydro power plant monitoring and control, IEC 61400-25 for monitoring and control of wind turbines, and IEC 61131-3 for a open PLC programming language.

These standards cover most of the needs for information modeling, information, system configuration, information exchange, and function programming for substations and power generation.

Mr Roland Bent (CEO of Phoenix Contact) stated the other day in the Open Automation magazine that EV charging stations are small low voltage substations. He is absolutely right! It is crucial to understand that the above mentioned standards are applicable in all voltage levels. What is the difference of a three phase Y-system for 400.000 V and 400 V? The multiplier of factor 10**3. There is no need to re-event the wheel again.

Here is an excerpt of Mr Bent’s statement in German:

“Ein noch wesentlich größeres, neues Marktfeld findet sich in der Infrastruktur für Elektromobilität. Ladestationen für Elektrofahrzeuge sind kleine Niederspannungsschaltanlagen mit all den Komponenten und Steuerungskonzepten aus diesem Bereich. Sie müssen auch informationstechnisch in die intelligenten Netzstrukturen integriert werden und stellen neue Anforderungen an IKT-Strukturen, zum Beispiel im Bereich der Abrechungssysteme. Auch hier werden wieder Kompetenzen und
Know-how aus der Industrieautomation benötigt.”

Click HERE to read the complete statement from Mr Bent.