DRAFT Release 3.0 of the “NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards” out for comments

The next release of the famous framework and roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards has been drafted and published for comments on April 15, 2014.

The entire 255 pages draft version of the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 3.0 (Draft), is available online here.

"We worked closely with the European Union to harmonize the NIST conceptual model with the one the EU is developing," says NIST's Paul Boynton. "We want both models to reflect each other, which is important so that manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic will be able to sell devices overseas."

NIST seeks comments on the draft NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 3.0.  In particular, comments on technical, editorial, or general issues.

Comments must be received on or before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on May 30, 2014.

Click HERE for further information on the process … how to comment …

One of the core contents deals with standards that support the vendors to build interoperable devices that could be applied in North America, Europe, and all over (!) is Table 4-1 (Identified Standards). The list grew from 34 to 74 standards from Release 2. The list refers to the following standards of primary interest in the context of this blog:

#12 IEC 60870-6-503 TASE.2 Services and protocol
#13 IEC 60870-6-702 Functional profile for providing the TASE.2
#14 IEC 60870-6-802 TASE.2 Object Models
#15 IEC 61850-1
#16 IEC61850-2
#17 IEC61850-3
#18 IEC61850-4
#19 IEC61850-5
#20 IEC61850-6
#21 IEC61850-7-1
#22 IEC61850-7-2
#23 IEC61850-7-3
#24 IEC61850-7-410
#25 IEC61850-7-420
#26 IEC61850-8-1
#27 IEC61850-9-2
#28 IEC61850-10
#29 IEC61850-90-5
#30 IEC 61968/61970 Suites
#31 IEEE 1815 (DNP3)
#64 IEC 62351-1
#65 IEC 62351-2
#66 IEC 62351-3
#67 IEC 62351-4
#68 IEC 62351-5
#69 IEC 62351-6
#70 IEC 62351-7
#?? IEC 61850-7-4 is missing – commented on it already.

15 out of 74 entries are referring to IEC 61850 standards! IEC 61850 conformant products and based systems are playing already a major role in the North American market – in the public utility world and in the power distribution in factories and production plants.

All in a sudden (as it seems to me!) managers in production facilities have figured out that electric power is very crucial for them – to save money or to increase profits.

Very simple explanation of the Heartbleed bug

One of the most serious bug in computer and communication technologies: Heartbleed.

Click HERE for an easy description to explain it to your … whoever.

Brief Report from the Hannover Messe (after second day)

This is the fifth Hannover Fair for Beck IPC demonstrating IEC 61850 solutions. In 2010 Beck presented the first “IEC 61850 @ Chip”. Now – four years later – the market is looking for easy to use and reasonable priced IEC 60870-5-104, DNP3, IEC 61850, IEC 61400-25, … solutions!

The booth at the Hannover Messe in 2014 is quite small – but visited by many experts from experts users and manufacturers of many application domains from all over: Power transmission, distribution, renewable power, virtual power systems, building automation, asset management, …

… Beck IPC is partner of the Smart Grid Forum:

… the booth was visited by almost 100 experts during the first two days:

The key products are the com.tom devices that could be used to collect the process data, process them and communicate the results through IEC 60870-5-104, IEC 61850, IEC 61400-25, cloud portal, … Gateways between these protocols.

In case you want to see the most simple IEC 60870-5-104, IEC 61850, … in action, please visit the above booth C35/7 in Hall 13.

I look forward to meeting you at the above booth.

Skyrocketing growth: Beck IPC offers New Free of Charge Workshops end of May 2014 in German and in English

The interest in applying IEC 60870-5-104, DNP3, IEC 61850, IEC 61400-25 … using products of Beck IPC is growing skyrocketing!

The third free of charge Workshop in German is scheduled for:

Datum: 27. Mai 2014
Ort: Wetzlar, etwa 70 km nördlich von Frankfurt
Zeit: 10:00 Uhr - 17:00 Uhr
Programm (Deutsch).

the second free of charge Workshop in English for:

Date: 28. May 2014
Location: Wetzlar (Germany), some 70 km north of Frankfurt
Time: 10:00 h - 17:00 h
Program (English).

Registration information for both events can be found under the above links.

Progress in publishing IEC 61850-90-2 Substation to Control Center Communication

The IEC TC 57 WG 19 is working on the final draft Technical Report for the communication between Control Centers and underlying systems like Substations, Power Plants, and other applications:

IEC Draft TR 61850-90-2:

COMMUNICATION NETWORK AND SYSTEM FOR POWER UTILITY AUTOMATION –
Part 90-2: USING IEC 61850 FOR THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SUBSTATIONS AND CONTROL CENTRES

Big utilities are waiting for the publication of this part. They are looking for a seamless communication at various levels.

This technical report provides a comprehensive overview of the different aspects that need to be considered while using IEC 61850 for information exchange between substations and control or maintenance centres or other system level applications. In particular, this technical report:

• Defines use cases and communication requirements that require an information exchange between substations and control or maintenance centres
• Describes the usage of the configuration language of IEC 61850‑6
• Gives guidelines for the selection of communication services and architectures compatible with IEC 61850
• Describes the engineering workflow
• Describes the links regarding the Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM)

The utility industry is waiting for the final version. Today, an expert of a big utility stated the following: “From my view, having the alternative to IEC 60870-5-104 and IEC 61850-90-2 for the communication between the substation and the control center my recommendation will be in favour of the 90-2 which allows you to use all 61850 services available comparing with 104 which is more restricted.”

I fully agree with that statement.

By the way, an easy to implement com.tom WEB-PLC based gateway from IEC 61850 (for the down-ling from a gateway) to IEC 61850 (for the up-link to a control center) will be shown during the Hannover Messe next week (07-11 April, hall 13 booth C35/7):

The gateway/proxy server provides all crucial features of IEC 61850.

I look forward to showing you the gateway – meet you there.