Another draft standard that “copies” IEC 61850 Logical Nodes

ISO/TC 205/WG 3 (Building Automation and Control System (BACS) Design) has published recently a new work proposal on power system information models [ISO/TC 205 / SC N 410].

Title: Facility Smart Grid Information Model

Purpose and justification of the proposal:
”The purpose of this standard is to define an abstract, object-oriented information model to enable appliances and control systems in homes, buildings, and industrial facilities to manage electrical loads and generation sources in response to communication with a “smart” electrical grid and to communicate information about those electrical loads to utility and other electrical service providers.

This proposed standard will define an information model intended to provide a basis for revision or creation of technology- specific communication protocol standards that enable products and services to control the operation of electrical energy generating and consuming devices found in homes, commercial buildings, institutional buildings, and in manufacturing and industrial facilities, in cooperation with energy providers in a "smart grid" environment.”

The new work item proposal states that “This proposal builds upon work done by IEC/TC 57 Power Systems Management and Associated Information Exchange … There is no known conflict with an existing IEC or ISO standard or project.”

There may be no conflict … the proposal (same as Draft standard BSR/ASHRAE 201P) “copies” Logical Nodes from IEC 61850 and modifies the Data Object names. For example:

Excerpt from Draft standard BSR/ASHRAE 201P:

5.7.3.3.1.5. DEROperationalModeControls

Operating mode at the ECP.
Control of the operational modes of the DER – constant watts, constant vars, …More than one mode can be set simultaneously for certain logical combinations (61850
Logical Node = DOPM).
Parent Class(es): CommonLN
UML element location: Model Elements from External Sources.IEC61850.61850-7-420. DEROperationalModeControls.

Table 5.193 - Class Attributes

Data Object	Description	CDC
OperationalModeConstantW	Mode of operation - constant watts.	SPC
OperationModeConstantPowerFactor	Mode of operation - constant power factor.	SPC
OperationModeConstantV	Mode of operation - constant voltage.	SPG

Excerpt from Standard IEC 61850-7-420 (LN DOPM):

Data Object	Description	CDC
OpModConW	Mode of operation – constant watts	SPC
OpModConPF	Mode of operation – constant power factor	SPC
OpModConV	Mode of operation – constant voltage	SPC

So, changing the names from abbreviated names to full text names makes it another standard information model … why? If other groups “copy” the Logical Nodes and Data Objects they should keep the names … Or?

I guess the main reason for this is:

Genesis 11:9 “Therefore, it is named Babel, because there the LORD mixed up the language of all the earth.” … languages spoken by humans and by computers!

IEC 61850 for “Facility Smart Grid Information Model”

The Draft BSR/ASHRAE/NEMA Standard 201P “Facility Smart Grid Information Model” has been published for Public Review in July 2012.

The draft standard uses a good part from IEC 61850 models (IEC 61850-7-3, –7-3 and -7-420). The paper document has been derived from a UML document.

The purpose of this standard is to define an abstract, object-oriented information model to enable appliances and control systems in homes, buildings, and industrial facilities to manage electrical loads and generation sources in response to communication with a “smart” electrical grid and to communicate information about those electrical loads to utility and other electrical service providers.

The IEC 61850 community should have a look at this draft in order to make sure that the models used form IEC 61850 are referenced - the maintenance of the models in IEC TC 57 should automatically adopted by the standard 201P in the future. This would allow to get a consistent set of models.

Download the Draft BSR/ASHRAE/NEMA Standard 201P “Facility Smart Grid Information Model”[pdf; 3 MB; 600+ pages]

SGIP calls for Comments on Draft NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 2.0

The NIST SGIP (Smart Grid Interoperability Panel) has published the

Draft NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 2.0

for public comments via Federal Register Notice on October 25, 2011

Click HERE for the NIST Framework and Comments page.
Click HERE for the Draft Release 2.0 [PDF, 5.3 MB].

What is new in the Release 2.0 (Draft)?

Interoperable standards and protocols for the Smart(er) Grids are the focus of NIST. To reach these objectives NIST developed a three-phase plan:

1. To accelerate the identification of an initial set of standards;
2. To establish a robust Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) to sustain the development of the many additional standards that will be needed; and
3. To set up a conformity testing and certification infrastructure.

The results of Release 1 (2009-11) have been improved in the draft Release 2. The most crucial result so far (in my view) is the fact that the relevant standards listed in Release 1 has been accepted – one way or the other – by the stake holders in the Smart(er) Grid community! There are some additional standards listed – but the list from 2009 is still representing the core standards.

The most crucial result of all these activities in the power utility domain is that we have prevented a situation found in the industrial automation market with more than 100 Fieldbus standards – with some 50+ in a single standard (IEC 61158)!

Draft Release 2 identifies 20 Smart Grid-relevant standards, 15 other requirement and guideline documents, 9 cyber security documents; and another list of some 60 specifications/requirements that are listed for further review. The 20 standards are:

	Standards
1	BACnet	Building Automation
2	ANSI C12	Metering
3	LON	Various applications
4	IEEE 1815 (DNP3)	Substation and feeder automation
5	ICCP (IEC 60870-6 TASE.2)	Inter-control center communication
6	IEC 61850	Power utility automation (Transmission, Distribution, Generation, …) at field level
7	IEC 61968/61970	CIM; communication between control center systems
8	IEEE C37.118/IEC 61850-90-5	Phasor measurements
9	IEEE 1547	Physical and electrical interconnections between utilities and distributed generation (DG) and storage.
10	IEEE 1588/IEC61588	Time synchronization
11	IETF RFC 6272	Internet Protocols
12	IEEE 1901	Broadband Power Line
13	Multispeak	Application software integration within the utility operations domain
14	NEMA SG AMI I	Smart meters
15	SB WEQ19, REQ18	Energy Usage Information
16	NISTIR 7761	NIST Guidelines for Assessing Wireless Standards for Smart Grid Applications
17	OpenADR	Open Automated Demand Response
18	OPC-UA	Exposes complex data and metadata defined by other information model specifications (e.g. IEC 61850, BACnet, OpenADR).
19	GML	Open Geospatial Consortium, Geography Markup Language
20	Zigbee Smart Energy Profile 2.0	Home Area Network (HAN) Device Communications and Information Model
	Requirements and Guidelines
21	OpenHAN	Home area network (HAN)
22	AEIC Guidelines	Testing criteria for standards-based AMI
23	SAE J1772	SAE Electric Vehicle and Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Conductive Charge Coupler
24	SAE J2836/1	Use Cases for Communication Between Plug-in Vehicles and the Utility Grid
25	IPRM	SGTCC Interoperability Process Reference Manual (SGIP‘s Smart Grid Testing and Certification Committee)
26	--
	Cyber Security
27	Security Profile for Advanced Metering Infrastructure, v 1.0
28	Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Cyber Security	Recommendations
29	DHS Cyber Security Procurement Language for Control Systems	Guidance to procuring Cyber security technologies for control systems products and services
30	IEC 62351 Parts 1-8	This family of standards defines information security for power system control operations.
31	IEEE 1686	Intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) to accommodate critical infrastructure protection
32	CIP 002-009	NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection
33	NIST Special Publication (SP) 800	Cyber security standards and guidelines for federal information systems, including those for the bulk power system.
34	IEC 61851	Charging electric road vehicles
35	NISTIR 7628	Introduction to NISTIR 7628 Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security

The second list comprises standards for review like GPS, IEC 61400-25 (IEC 61850 for wind turbines), IEEE P1901 (Broadband powerline), ISO/IEC 8824 ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation), IEEE 802, 3GPP, 2G, 3G, 4G, ISA SP 100 (Wireless), IEC 61000, ISA SP 99, ISO 27000, WS-Security, …

The second list contains standards that do (to my interpretation) NOT contain any competing solutions for IEC 61968/70, IEC 61850, IEEE 1815 DNP3, … they cover other crucial aspects. And there is very little overlap between the 35 standards listed above.

Congratulation to all people involved in the work of SGIP!

It would be very helpful to provide your comments to the draft – in order to reach a global consensus.

Sensors in Smart(er) Grids Not Only For Electrical Measurement

Smart Grid (condition monitoring) Sensors may detect faulting fuses, insulators, conductors, transformers, as well as fires, ice, water level, floods, oil spills & air pollution conditions and and …

Myriads of sensors will be installed in the context of Smart(er) Grids the years to come.

Click HERE for a 10 minute video on various use cases.
Click HERE for a roll-out of sensors in a distribution network. 
Click HERE on a discussion “How many protocol interfaces can we afford?"
Click HERE for a project where IEC 61850 is used for exchanging sensor data.

With IEC 61850 – one ne or the other – it is possible to let all sensors speak a SINGLE LANGUAGE. Intelligent sensors may speak IEC 61850 integrated in the sensor itself, or the sensors may communicate to an aggregation device (like an RTU) that provides IEC 61850 connectivity to the next level of monitoring and so on.

Click HERE for the IEC 61850-7-4 Ed2 Logical Node STMP (Temperature Supervision).

IEC 61850 for Substations Only?

The title and scope of IEC 61850 was for many years very restricted:

2001 – 2009: Communication networks and systems in substations

2010 – … : Communication networks and systems for power utility automation

The new title and scope is still too restrictive! The working group wanted to change to “… for automation”. This was not accepted by the IEC Central Office. IEC deals with electro-technical matters. The term “automation” was understood as to broad.

From a content point of view IEC 61850 could be used all over where measurements and status information needs to be communicated – in any application domain. Even if you are just monitoring a process or system (no control need) you can use IEC 61850 models, messages and configuration tools.

The Model “STMP” (temperature supervision logical node) can be used wherever a temperature measurement is taken: Temperature of a transformer, of a room, ambient temperature or your body temperature. When the “STMP.Tmp.mag” value reached the configured limit (Alarm limit or Trip limit) an report or a GOOSE message may be issued.

By the way, IEC 61850 has rules how to define extended logical nodes and data objects. All values can be communicated the Ethernet and TCP/IP based information exchange methods.

Experts pointing to the scope “substations” are not up-to-date. Those arguing that IEC 61850 is for “power utility automation” only may not like to accept that IEC 61850 is very generic or common – applicable in a wide range of applications.

The title and scope are just “toner on paper”.

IEC TC 57 to take action in Smart Grids

The IEC TC 57 has proposed a new work with the title "System interfaces and communication protocol profiles relevant for systems connected to the Smart Grid".

The ballot closes on May 09, 2011.

Click HERE for the proposal.

The proposal states: "In order to achieve interoperable interfacing between the components, the consistent, cost efficient and unambiguous integration of the new domains into the IEC TC57 methods of energy management, architecture, data models and protocols is crucial."

The most prominent IEC TC 57 Data Models and Protocols are those defined in IEC 61850! New Domains are, e.g., Industry, Home and Building Energy Control Systems. My guess is that the various components in these domains have to communicate directly (interoperable) with IEDs in power systems. The Client/Server communication in IEC 61850 seems to be the most useful communication model applicable in the communication between power system IEDs and IEDs in the new domains. The application profile according to IEC 61850-8-1 requires just native TCP/IP !!

Since IP networks are (to be) installed everywhere, it is easy to apply IEC 61850-8-1 without any change in most applications. Many existing IEDs like the COM.TOMs from Beck IPC and others could be used right away! They can be used as IEDs for monitoring and control in the new domains or they can be used as gateways between IEC 61850 and protocols in the new domains like Backnet, Profibus, Interbus, EtherCAT, CAN, Modbus, ...

This will accelerate the application of IEC 61850! ... in order to make systems more energy efficient and smarter by seamless:

• System configuration (IEC 61850-6),
• Information (IEC 61850-7-4xx, IEC 61400-25-2), and
• Information exchange (IEC 61850-7-2)
• Communication protocol (IEC 61850-8-1).