IEC 61850: Communication Interfaces for Mobile Battery Energy Storage Applications

A. Bonetti ... NO, NOT Andrea Bonetti, but his son Alessandro wrote a very remarkable Master Thesis at KTH, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) (Stockholm, Sweden):

Communication Interfaces for Mobile Battery Energy Storage Applications

Alessandro, Congratulation! Excellent!

You wrote: "Then, I give my sincere appreciation to Karlheinz Schwarz for answering my questions regarding modeling, and maintaining an open blog with comments and thoughts regarding power system automation."

You are welcome!

Excerpt from the Abstract:

"This thesis project, carried out at Northvolt Systems, aims to analyze the existing and readily used communication interfaces for a specific set of mobileBESS applications. The analysis is performed by a literature review of typical mobile BESS applications with the identified corresponding communication interfaces. Among the identified interfaces is the IEC 61850 standard, which shows suitability in smart grid applications, enabling interoperability,vendor-independence, and standardization. To provide a real-life analysis of the IEC 61850 benefits and applicability to mobile BESS, an integration of the standard to a Northvolt mobile BESS was performed."

Click HERE to access the abstract and the download link.

Click HERE to watch a nice video from Andrea Bonetti about IEC 61850 for power systems.

Andrea, You could be proud of your son Alessandro!

Power Outage In Frankfurt Area (Germany) - And People That Need A Breathing Ventilator

I just read that in the western part of the city Frankfurt (Main, Germany) the electric power was down for more than 10,000 customers. A current transformer (CT, for measuring the current) blow up ... and produced a lot of smoke. The power went off from 17:15 on Tuesday 2021-10-26. The restoration took some eight hours!

The Hessenschau (de) reported that nine (9!) people that depend on breathing ventilators had been hospitalized. This critical situation tells us, that the ventilators did likely not have battery backup power - either in the devices or external. The devices we use for my wife have both two internal batteries which give (rated!) power for 16 hours for each device.

This brings two questions up in my mind:

1. Why is it not required by law that all breathing ventilators have battery power for at least 24 hours?
2. Why don't we have to have external batteries and inverters that would give power for several days?

Instead of bringing patients with the ambulances to the hospital, it would be much easier (faster and cheaper) to bring an emergency power supply package (batterie plus inverter) to the patients! Or?

There seems to be a wide area of improving the quality of life.

By the way, why did the CT (current transformer) crash? Was it too old or not ... or? I hope that my friend Andrea Bonetti (one of the most experienced protection engineers on this planet) will comment on the importance of CTs!

Any comment?

Add on (2021-10-30): 

First: The utility has told that more than 100 workers are involved in fixing the problem ... the current fix is provisionary only! 100+ workers means: It must be a big problem that needs so many people to fix. 

Second: It was reported that in an elderly care home the nurses had to use their mobile phone's flash light to look for the elderly people ... no emergency light! Hmm ... strange. A few 12V batteries and some 12V LEDs would have done a good job! Cheap and useful ... lifesaving! ... if somebody would care for their maintenance. The management has obviously decided to purchase a hand lamp per floor ... 👍 something is better than nothing. Note: A battery leak (AA or AAA batteries) may damage a flash light that is not used often ... or only in case of emergency. Non leaking batteries are available: Lithium Batteries are the right choice for emergency devices. I have replaced the typical AA and AAA batteries with Lithium batteries for all flashlights and outdoor devices like thermometer ... they withstand cold weather and do not leak ... life time likely 10+ years ...

Click HERE for the extended Hessenschau (de) report.

IEC Draft TR 61850-90-9 - "IEC 61850 for Electrical Energy Storage Systems" Published

IEC TC 57 just published the 138 page IEC Draft TR 61850-90-9

IEC 61850 for Electrical Energy Storage Systems

57/2128/DTR
Voting closes 2019-09-27

This is one of the next crucial extensions for DER-Models of IEC 61850-7-420. This TR will be merged into the 7-420 later on.

The Introduction states: " ...This technical report is primarily based on the recommendation 5.7.4. “interface, control and standard data elements”, of the IEC white paper ”Electrical Energy Storage” published in December 2011 by the MSB. The recommendation proposes the necessity of a standardization of interfaces between storage and other grid elements, protocols for data exchange and control rules, and data elements for input, output and control information supplied by or to storage systems. ..."

Click HERE for the mentioned IEC White Paper.

"This technical report describes IEC 61850 information model for electrical energy storage systems (EESS). Therefore the report only focuses on storage functionality in the purpose of grid integration of such systems at the DER unit level. Higher level Interactions are already covered in IEC 61850-7-420. ... "

The draft defines more than 150 new Data Objects. Excerpt of the first 15 Data Objects:



The blue marked text refers to the Logical Node from which this Data Object is inherited.

This document refers to the standards IEC 61850-7-x and defines additional very crucial information for the configuration, control, monitoring of a battery system.
It is very crucial for the success of the DER models to get implementation and application experience with these very comprehensive and complex models.
Taking into account that the mentioned White Paper was already published in 2011, we learn a crucial lesson: It took a lot of time to get where we are today. And it will take years to get these definitions implemented and used in the power delivery systems. In the mean time you need to tap the experience of engineers that understand the possible use-cases that can harvest the benefits of applying these standards.

IEC 61850-90-9 - Use of IEC 61850 for Electrical Energy Storage Systems

IEC TC 57 has just published a 114 page new draft technical report:

57/1998/DC

Draft IEC TR 61850-90-9, Communication networks and systems for power utility automation – Part 90-9: Use of IEC 61850 for electrical energy storage systems

Comments are welcome until 2018-08-17

"This technical report provides necessary information within 61850 based object model in order to model functions of a battery based electrical energy storage system as a DER unit. For intelligently operated and/or automated grids, storing energy for optimising the grid operation is a core function. Therefore shorter periods of storing energy with charging and discharging capability is also an indispensable function. Charging and discharging operations need to be modelled thoroughly and are in the focus of this technical report. ...
An Electrical Energy Storage system (EESS) is a system which is used for the purpose of intermediate storage of electrical energy. The type of storage, the amount of energy, charging and discharging rates as well as self-discharge rate and many other characteristics are technology dependent and therefore can be very different. However, the general meaning of the characteristics and parameters are identical.
The objective of this document is to define a standardized and general approach to information
modelling for operating an EESS regardless of any specific technique, which supports an efficient way of integrating an EESS into grid operation and other businesses.
Various types of EESS, such as battery, pumped hydro, superconducting magnetic energy storage, flywheels, etc., are defined in “IEC White Paper on Electrical Energy Storage.” According to the the white paper, EESS systems are classified by energy form, advantages/disadvantages to the specific usages or the purpose of the implementation. ... "

IEC 61850-90-9 Models for Electrical Energy Storage Systems

IEC 61850 Part 90-9: Use of IEC 61850 for Electrical Energy Storage Systems is progressing these days. The latest draft describes the basic functions of Electric Energy Storage System (EESS) and the information model of the interface to integrate EESS in intelligent grids and establish the necessary communication with standardised data objects. The next official draft is expected to be published soon.
This draft  is  connected  with  IEC 61850-7-420,  as  well  as  IEC 61850-7-4:2010, explaining how the control system and other functions in a battery based electric energy storage unit utilizes logical nodes and information  exchange services  within the IEC 61850 framework to specify the information exchanged between functions as well as information that individual functions need and generate. The first Edition of IEC 61850-7-420 provides an information model for batteries which was derived from the proposed data objects of part 7-4. Those data objects follow the requirements of batteries that are supposed to be used in substations as an auxiliary power system and as backup power supplies. For this purpose it was sufficient to only model the discharge function. Therefore it is necessary to prepare new logical nodes to be applicable for grid connected electrical energy storage systems.
This draft provides necessary information within 61850 based object model in order to model functions of a battery based electrical energy storage system as a DER unit. For intelligently operated and/or automated grids, storing energy for optimising the grid operation is a core function. Therefore shorter periods of storing energy with charging and discharging capability is also an indispensable function. Charging and discharging operations need to be modelled thoroughly and are in the focus of this technical report.

The draft lists several use-cases found in the real world:

UC1 Retrieve current status and capabilities of EESS
UC2 Set charging power to EESS
UC3 Set discharging power to EESS
UC4 Set Operating mode/ schedule  to EESS
UC5 EESS Alarm / Asset Monitoring

UC1 current capability /status information as an example:

1-2-1 EESS Generic Status Reporting
•  ES-DER on or off
•  Storage available or not available
•  Inverter/converter active power output
•  Inverter/converter reactive output
•  Storage remaining capacity (% and/or kW）
•  Storage Free capacity (% and/or kW）

1-2-2 EESS inverter /converter status
•  Current connect mode:  connected or disconnected at its ECP
•  Inverter on, off, and/or in stand-by status: inverter is switched on (operating), off
(not able to operate), or in stand-by
•  mode, e.g. capable of operating but currently not operating
•  DC current level available for operation:　there is sufficient current to operate
•  Value of the output power setpoint
•  Value of the output reactive power setpoint
•  Value of the power factor setpoint as angle (optional)
•  Value of the frequency setpoint (optional)

1-2-3 EESS (battery) internal status
 •  Amp-hour capacity rating
•  Nominal voltage of battery
•  Maximum battery discharge current
•  Maximum battery charge voltage
•  High and　Low battery voltage alarm level
•  Rate of output battery voltage change
•  Internal battery voltage
•  Internal battery current
•  State of charge (energy % of maximum charge level)
•  Reserve (Minimum energy charge level allowed, % of maximum charge level)
•  Available Energy (State of charge – Reserve)
•  Type of battery

1-2-4 Power measurements
•  Total Active Power (Total P): Value, High and Low Limits
•  Total Reactive Power (Total Q): Value, High and Low Limits
•  Average Power factor (Total PF): Value, High and Low Limits, and averaging time
•  Phase to ground voltages (VL1ER, …): Value, High and Low Limits

More to come ...

IEC is about to prepare the "Use of IEC 61850 for electrical energy storage systems"

IEC TC 57 has just sent a 75+ pages draft document for comments by the national committees:

Draft IEC TR 61850-90-9 – Communication networks and systems for power utility automation – Part 90-9: Use of IEC 61850 for electrical energy storage systems

See: 57/1715/DC

The document is a very comprehensive document that provides a list of use-cases and solutions on how to use and extend the IEC 61850 models for electrical energy storage systems.

The



It is recommended for the various stakeholders to get more deeply involved into the further steps to get a standard information model for electrical storage systems!!

Sample use-case:



This document fits well into the set of drafts that are needed for power distribution systems.

More to come!

Could a Power Outage of an Airplane happen in the Air?

Yes, a power outage of an modern airplane could be caused by a simple software problem – related likely to a wrong assumption. What does this mean for the future power systems?

The following official report from the U.S. Government FAA, dated May 01, 2015 says that a

“Boeing Model 787 airplane that has been powered continuously for 248 days can lose all alternating current (AC) electrical power due to the generator control units (GCUs) simultaneously going into failsafe mode. This condition is caused by a software counter internal to the GCUs that will overflow after 248 days of continuous power. …

The software counter internal to the generator control units (GCUs) will overflow after 248 days of continuous power, causing that GCU to go into failsafe mode. If the four main GCUs (associated with the engine mounted generators) were powered up at the same time, after 248 days of continuous power, all four GCUs will go into failsafe mode at the same time, resulting in a loss of all AC electrical power regardless of flight phase.”

Click HERE for the full report.

What is the lesson we can learn from this situation? I guess simply this: If you have to program something you need to know precisely under which assumptions the “something” should work. Usually you have to make firm assumption under which the “something” will work. If you would assume (for example) that an airplane of model 787 would never be powered continuously longer than 90 days, then the counter would not overflow under normal conditions.

But: If this assumption is wrong, then the counter could overflow.

I guess that we quite often design systems under assumptions that may be valid at time of the design – but that may show later that they were quite wrong! Some 40-50 years ago it was not assumed that the traffic in 2015 would be as is is now. Or?

The power utilities assumed some 15 years ago that PV-Power (mainly installed on roofs) should just be understood and treated as negative power connected to the grid – so that there was no need to invest in power management and automation systems. I remember such discussions in the German national standardization (DKE). Within a short time period they had to learn that the assumption was wrong! Now we have almost 40 GW of installed PV systems.

The next wrong assumption could likely be the number of Batteries connected to the power grid. The needed investment in the future power system will highly depend on the assumption on how fast the installation of batteries will happen! I have talked recently to utility experts that they fear a fast growth of network connected batteries. The batteries behave different compared to Wind Turbines and PV systems – batteries can import and export energy. They can change their behavior within very short time. A sudden huge power flow change of millions of battery systems could cause power outages.

So, MUST we assume that this could easily happens or not? Depending on our answer, we have do spent more or less Euros or Dollars … Experts that don’t want to invest a lot more will argue, that it is unlikely to happen.

The (wrong) assumptions of today could likely be the reasons of power outages in the near future. The bad side of the assumption that the installation of battery systems will grow fast is: It will require a lot of more efforts to keep the power system reliable.

I guess we will see increasing numbers of batteries being installed after yesterdays announcement (May 01, 2015) of the new Partnership for Global Energy Transformation: LichtBlick (Germany) integrates Tesla Battery Storage (US) into Energy Markets.

A crucial key component in the future power systems is related to information management and standardized information exchange with IEC 60870-5-104 and IEC 61850. VHPready is an important step to support LichtBlick and many other companies.

Monitoring the Battery of the Boeing Dreamliner 787 would have helped to prevent damages

I guess you remember the trouble Boeing was faced with when the huge battery packs in the Dreamliner 787 some two years ago. The Auxiliary Power Unit Battery Fire was likely caused by several severe “cell internal short circuiting and the potential for thermal runaway of one or more battery cells, fire, explosion, and flammable electrolyte release”.

More precise Condition Monitoring would have helped to prevent such incidents – and would have shown very early that the design of the battery system was quite fragile.

One of the findings (page 91 of the released incident report) is:

“More accurate cell temperature measurements and enhanced temperature and voltage monitoring and recording could help ensure that excessive cell temperatures resulting from localized or other sources of heating could be detected and addressed in a timely manner to minimize cell damage.”

Click HERE for the complete official NTSB report.

Monitoring batteries is very crucial the more our life depends on these systems – in airplanes, in substations, power stations, mobile systems, communication infrastructure … It is not sufficient to have a battery – the batteries must be maintained, tested from time to time, and monitored continuously.

Two groups (I am aware of) have defined Battery Monitoring information models:

1. IEC 61850-90-9 (Use of IEC 61850 for Electrical Storage Systems)

Excerpt of the battery system (without further discussion):

2. IETF EMAN (Energy Management)

Definition of Managed Objects for Battery Monitoring / draft-ietf-eman-battery-mib-13

Click HERE for the EMAN draft for Battery Monitoring.

Battery monitoring could safe life!

Peak Load Shaving with Batteries – Isn’t that smart?

What does a power system make smart? Smart meters? Hm, … there are many possibilities to make the energy delivery smarter.

One interesting approach is to shave peak load with batteries. I guess this is known for decades! Isn’t it? More and more people are digging into the possibilities to do it in large scales.

A team of researchers has published an interesting paper with the title: “Using Batteries to Reduce the Power Costs of Internet-scale Distributed Networks”. They came to the conclusion that batteries could save up to a third of power costs … you don’t believe it? Read the paper:

Download paper “Using Batteries to Reduce the Power Costs of Internet-scale Distributed Networks”.

IEC 61850 based monitoring and control systems could help to get the job done! The basic tools (embedded controllers with IEC 61850 servers and clients) are available. Let’s use them. Battery models are already defined (and under development) in IEC 61850-7-420. The following is a proposal for battery management for IEC 61850-90-9:

More battery related models are underway.

The Parts of IEC 61850 – Status 2011-06

The status (2011-07-15) of the various parts of IEC 61850 is as follows (blue means: Edition 2 of the corresponding document):

System Aspects

1 Introduction and Overview
2 Glossary
3 General Requirements (EMC, …)
4 System and Project Management
5 Comm. Requirements for Functions and Device Models (reaction time …)

Configuration

6 Configuration Language for electrical Substation IED’s (App., IEDs, System, …)

Abstract Communication Services

7-1 Principles and Models
7-2 Abstract Communication Services (ACSI)

Mapping to real Communication Networks (SCSM)

8-1 Mapping to MMS and ISO/IEC 8802-3
9-2 Sampled Values over ISO/IEC 8802-3

Testing

10 Conformance Testing
10-2 Interoperability test for hydro equipments based on IEC 61850

Data Models und usage of models

7-3 Common Data Classes
7-4 Compatible Logical Node and Data Classes
7-410 Hydroelectric power plants
7-420 Distributed energy resources (DER)
7-5 Usage of information models SAS
7-500 Use of LN to model functions (SAS)
7-510 Use of LN (hydro power plants)
7-520 Use of LN (DER)
7-10 Web-based access to the IEC 61850 models

Use-cases and network infrastructure

80-1 Guideline … CDC-based data model using IEC 60870-5-101 or IEC 60870-5-104

90-1 Using IEC 61850 for SS-SS communication
90-2 Using IEC 61850 for SS-CC communication
90-3 Using IEC 61850 for Condition Monitoring
90-4 Network Engineering Guidelines
90-5 Exchange of synchrophasor information
90-6 Use of IEC 61850 for Distribution Automation
90-7 Object Models for PV, Storage … inverters, …
90-8 Object Models for Electrical Transportation
90-9 Object Models for Batteries

The number of Information Models are:

7-3 Common Data Classes [40]
7-4 Compatible Logical Node / Data Classes [158 LN /982 DO]
7-410 Hydroelectric power plants [ 63/350]
7-420 Distributed energy resources (DER) [ 50/450]
90-3 Using IEC 61850 for Condition Monitoring [?]
90-5 Exchange of synchrophasor information [?]
90-6 Use of IEC 61850 for Distribution Automation [?]
90-7 Object Models for PV, Storage … (important!) [5/50]
90-8 Object Models for Electrical Transportation [?]
90-9 Object Models for Batteries [?]
61400-25-2 Wind Turbines [16/250]

Utility Grid Communication Network in Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure takes IEC 61850 into Account

The IEC TC 69 (Electric road vehicles and electric industrial trucks) has proposed a new project to define "Utility grid communication network in electric vehicle charging infrastructure" - 69/176/NP. The New work proposal refers to IEC 61850 as standard that should be considered as base standard. It could be assumed that IEC 61850 has already a lot of definitions that can be re-used by the experts that will define this standard. It is likely that IEC 61850-7-420 has already many information models defined for that application.

Voting is open between 2010-09-17 and 2010-12-17

Click HERE for a the official IEC announcement. Contact your national body to get a copy of the proposal.

Beck Chip with IEC 61850 in EV Charging Station

An electric vehicle charging station, designed by Rittal GmbH & Co (Herborn, Germany) and Beck IPC GmbH (Pohlheim, Germany) with IEC 61850 inside, is installed outside of the IBM Industry Solutions Lab in Ruschlikon, Switzerland.

This charging station is part of the EDISON project.

Click HERE for photo of the charging station at IBM.
Click HERE for more information on EDISON.

Batteries and Electric Vehicles - U.S. Government spends $2.4 Billion in Grants

According to the White House press release (2009-08-05) President Obama "announced 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects that will receive $2.4 billion in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These projects, selected through a highly competitive process by the Department of Energy, will accelerate the development of U.S. manufacturing capacity for batteries and electric drive components as well as the deployment of electric drive vehicles, helping to establish American leadership in creating the next generation of advanced vehicles."

The award winners will invest another $2.4 Billion.

One of the biggest deployment projects will be implemented by ETEC in cooperation with Nissan. According to ETEC: "The Project will install electric vehicle charging infrastructure and deploy up to 1,000 Nissan battery electric vehicles in strategic markets in five states: Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington. ... To support the Nissan EV, the Project will install approximately 12,500 Level 2 (220V) charging systems and 250 Level 3 (fast-charge) systems."

Click HERE for the full White House press release.

Click HERE for the ETEC press release.