Megger Offers a Wide Range of IEC 61850 GOOSE Test Tools and Experiences

Megger (Sweden) offers a wide range of test tools and experiences for testing and commissioning of systems based on IEC 61850 GOOSE.

They just published a brochure that shares some light on IEC 61850 interoperability problems and solutions for the horizontal communication (GOOSE):

IEC 61850 - GOOSE Interoperability

Click HERE for the brochure.

This document (written by one of the most experienced senior protection engineers) is really worth to download and to read! Andrea Bonetti will give you a deep inside look into the use of GOOSE messaging and how to reach interoperability.

"Interoperability is one of the most misunderstood of all business terms. It is, however, one of the most important of all predictors of success or failure. In short, interoperability is the ability of diverse systems to work together effectively and efficiently. Interoperability is a property of a product or system, whose interfaces are completely understood, to work with other products or systems, present or future, without any restricted access or implementation.

There is absolutely no doubt that Interoperability facilitates valuable business connections—across
processes, between people and information and among companies. Interoperability yields improved
collaboration and ultimately increased productivity. Providing interoperability helps customers decrease complexity and better manage heterogeneous environments—while enhancing choice and innovation in the market. Importantly, the interoperability requirement of the IEC 61850 standard has beneficially increased the “interoperability among different engineers” working for companies that are formally in competition. This increased communication among different vendors has contributed to the fact that GOOSE messaging can today be considered a working technology, even if problems still arise, like in any other technology.

With more than six years of field experience with IEC 61850 GOOSE communication in protection and control applications, it is possible today to list the main reasons for interoperability problems for multi- and single-vendor systems; however, the list of causes of interoperability failures would be longer than what indicated in this document, especially if considering the cases found during the beginning of the use of GOOSE messages.

In order to commission substations with the new IEC 61850 technology, there is need to use some new tools and methods. The key for these tools and methods is, paradoxically, implicitly available in the IEC 61850 standard itself."

Enjoy!