A REFRESHER ON THE “STANDARDS CONTINUUM”

Erich Gunther, Aaron Snyder and Grant Gilchrist, EnerNex have published an interesting article in the SGIP Newsletter, Volume 6, June 2014 Issue:

A REFRESHER ON THE “STANDARDS CONTINUUM”

Their Conclusion is right:

“Often misapplied, the term “standard” is truly only applicable in certain situations. The author of this piece advocates reserving the use of “standard” for de jure standards, especially when employed without the "de jure" modifier. There may appear to be little harm in referring to de facto "standards" simply as “standards,” but this actually dilutes and confuses the definition in the manner that the term "engineer" is often misapplied to functions requiring no engineering education or certification. For example, in these cases, it is preferable to use the applicable term of "specification," "requirements" and "requirements specification" instead of "standard."”

Click HERE for the full article.

So far so good. There are other languages that differentiate between “Standard” and “Norm”, like in German. German “DIN Standards” are specifications that are reflecting a document that has been published with lower hurdles than a “Norm”. The “DIN Norm” compares to the de-jure Standard.

The reality is more complex than just to differentiate between de-jure Standards and other documents. The (de-jure) Standards have to be extended in many cases by non-de-jure Standards: e.g., Implementation agreements that can be written by a Two-party (two vendors, one vendor and one user, one vendor and one testlab, …), an Alliance, Users Group, or standardization bodies.

The future power delivery systems will need many combinations of de-jure (Base) Standards and non-de-jure Documents (Implementation agreements, Profiles, … and even Green-Tissues-List as in case of IEC 61850, IEC 61400-25 – these are documents that are refer to de-jure Standards).

In the end of the day, we want to get interoperable devices to build multi-vendor automation systems for the future power delivery system! Or?

In case of IEC 61850 I see a lot of pressure to come up with more “official” Implementation agreements or Profiles that are agreed by more than two parties, two companies, or two experts.

One good example is the VHPReady Industrieforum.
Click HERE for the current Specification 3.0 in English.

This is a good starting point – it’s not yet the final result … to expected early 2015.

IEC 62351 added to SGIP Catalog of Standards

Thirteen new standards have been added to the SGIP’s Catalog of Standards (CoS) , bringing the total number of standards currently in the CoS to 56.  The newly added standards include also IEC 62351:

IEC 62351 Parts 1 – 7
The scope of the IEC 62351 series is information security for power system control operations. The primary objective is to undertake the development of standards for security of the communication protocols defined by IEC TC 57, specifically the IEC 60870-5 series, the IEC 60870-6 series, the IEC 61850 series, the IEC 61970 series, and the IEC 61968 series.  Another objective is to undertake the development of standards and/or technical reports on end-to-end security issues.

• IEC 62351-1:  Communication network and system security – Introduction to security issues
• IEC 62351-2:  Glossary of terms
• IEC 62351-3:  Communication network and system security – Profiles including TCP/IP
• IEC 62351-4:  Profiles including MMS
• IEC 62351-5:  Security for IEC 60870-5 and derivatives
• IEC 62351-6:  Security for IEC 61850
• IEC 62351-7:  Network and system management (NSM) data object models

Note also this paper on TLS security issues (published the other day).

The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol aims to provide confidentiality and integrity of data in transit across untrusted networks. TLS has become the de facto secure protocol of choice for Internet and mobile applications. DTLS is a variant of TLS that is growing in importance.

That is why security experts should read the paper.

NEW Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP)

The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) started the next phase that is based on a private/public partnership funded by industry stakeholders in cooperation with the U.S. federal government.

SGIP’s mission is to provide a framework for coordinating all Smart Grid stakeholders in an effort to accelerate standards harmonization and advance the Interoperability of Smart Grid devices and systems.

The new website of SGIP has just opened.

For those that are looking for the role IEC 61850 and other IEC TC 57 standards are playing in the SGIP, please check the following page:

IEC 61850 in the List of Standards.

Four additional IEC TC 57 Standards recommended for inclusion into the SGIP Catalog of Standards

Four additional IEC TC 57 Standards have been recommended for inclusion into the SGIP Catalog of Standards:

1. IEC 60870-6-503: Telecontrol protocols compatible with ISO standards and ITU-T recommendations - TASE.2 Services and protocol

2. IEC 60870-6-702: Telecontrol protocols compatible with ISO standards and ITU-T recommendations - Functional profile for providing the TASE.2 application service in end systems

3. IEC 60870-6-802: Telecontrol equipment and systems - Part 6-802: Telecontrol protocols compatible with ISO standards and ITU-T recommendations - TASE.2 Object models

4. IEC/TR 61850-90-5: Communication networks and systems for power utility automation - Part 90-5: Use of IEC 61850 to transmit synchrophasor information according to IEEE C37.118

The IEC 60870-6 TASE.2 Series is also know as ICCP (Inter Control-center Communication Protocol). It could be understood (to some extent) as the predecessor of IEC 61850. According to the experts in SGIP “This standard likely represents the greatest standards success story in the industry.” Why? Because it is the first IEC TC 57 standard that is applied all over in the communication between control centers of the electrical power delivery system as well as in many other domains like the gas delivery system.

A comprehensive Report introduces into TASE.2.

Comparison of IEC 60870-5-101/-103/-104, DNP3, and IEC 60870-6-TASE.2 with IEC 61850

The German Gas Association DVGW recommends TASE.2 in a requirement document published in February 2012. [pdf, German only]

SGIP will migrate to SGIP 2.0 in January 2013

The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) will transition from a public-private partnership to a self-financed, legal entity that retains a working partnership with government early 2013.

Since the formation of the SGIP in 2009, the activity of the SGIP by NIST personnel and member volunteers has been supported and enabled by the work of a Program Administrator that has been fully funded by NIST in the approximate amount of $5 to 7 million per year; a significant portion of those funds came from the ARRA program.

The SGIP 2.0 has five principal responsibilities:

1. To provide the technical guidance and coordination necessary to facilitate standards development for Smart Grid interoperability
2. To identify and specify the necessary testing and certification requirements, including providing the underlying rationale, to assess the achievement of interoperability using Smart Grid Standards
3. To oversee the performance of these activities to maintain momentum and achievement
4. To proactively inform and educate smart grid industry stakeholders on the definition of and the benefits attributable to interoperability
5. To conduct an outreach to similar organizations in other countries to help establish global interoperability alignment

Download the SGIP 2.0 Business Sustainment Plan - Roadmap to the Future of Smart Grid Interoperability

Interoperability requires subsets (or profiles) of the various standards. It would be great if the SGIP 2.0 would support the development of profiles for specific applications, e.g., for PV inverter with an IE 61850 interface. IEC 61850 provides many information models and services – just a few may be needed for very simple PV inverters. These profiles should have very few (or better no) optional definitions. If vendor A uses option 1 and B uses option 2 – then interoperability may be limited.

Somebody told me the other day: “If you accept a special feature of a vendor’s product, you may have to use this vendor’s products forever.” Don’t use any special function! If a profile has no options, then all products have to support the same information models and services … and protocols.

Denver (CO): Workshop on International Standards for Smart Grids and SCADA Application Domains

A two day Workshop on International Standards for Smart Grids and SCADA Application Domains will be conducted by two gurus of standards for power systems on

September 18 – 19, 2012 – Hyatt Regency Denver (CO) Tech Center

Topics are among others: NIST SGIP standards catalog, IEC 61850, IEC 62351 (security), DNP3, … security measures, solutions, and needs, as well as the global market penetration of standards in power systems, …

Details and registration information for the Smart Grid Standards Workshop can be found here.

If you want to have a specific topic presented and discussed during the workshop, please let me know.

IEC 61850 Approved for NIST SGIP Catalog of Standards

The SGIP (Smart Grid Interoperability Panel) membership voted to include the IEC 61850 Standard Series into the Catalog of Standards (CoS) with approval of some 100 per cent.

The IEC 61850 series of standards define object models, abstract services, and mappings to communications protocols for field devices and systems. The scope of IEC 61850 includes information exchanges within substations, for protective relaying, between substations, between substations and control centers, within hydro power plants, for distribution automation, for managing distributed energy resources (generation and storage), and for managing charging of electric vehicles.

See the complete list of approved standards for the NIST SGIP Catalog of Standards, including IEC 61850

This is a major step towards the application of IEC 61850 in North America and other regions. The use of IEC TC 57 information and information exchange standards is rapidly growing all over!

The interest in small boxes like the various COM.TOM’s (as gateways between IEC 60870-5-101/104, DNP3, Modbus … and also between these and IEC 61850, and for collecting measurements of the electrical system and equipment) is picking up all over. One big utility is about to install 40.000 of these boxes to monitor transformers in distribution substations! More to come.

Plug and Play for IEC 61850 – Supported by Siemens

Siemens pushes for a crucial extension of IEC 61850: to allow Plug and Play features for IEDs according to a future IEC 61850:

IEC 61850’s primary focus (in the late 90’s) was on Substation Automation – this is still the crucial application domain today and for a long time. The application of IEC 61850 in various power generation and distribution application domains is likely to require further features – not yet defined. Several projects (E-Energy in Germany, SGIP’ Priority Action Plan (PAP), and other) have investigated in finding gaps in the standard definitions. One result is the definition of a Plug&Play extension developed by Siemens. Siemens has registered their ideas at the ip.com website. What does that mean? “Defensive publishing is a low cost way to prevent competitors from obtaining patents and protect your freedom to practice.”

Click HERE for a description what “Defensive Publishing” means.

Excerpt:

“The Plug and Play reference architecture based on well-known protocols like UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) and DPWS (Devices Profiles for Web Services) is used. Several exchanges and additions, e.g. with respect to discovery mechanisms, are proposed enabling IEC 61850 to support Plug & Play for "Smart Distribution".”

Click HERE for more information.

The work on Web Services that has been proposed by a New Work Item Proposal will become a crucial work for future applications.