First Draft IEC 61850-90-16 Requirements for System Management for IEC 61850

The first Draft on IEC 61850-90-16 (97 pages) has been published (57/2014/DC):

Requirements for System Management for IEC 61850

"The distribution grid is facing a massive roll out and refurbishment of automation equipment to
implement deeper monitoring and new smart grid applications. The new equipment to be deployed in order to solve today’s issues (MV voltage and reactive power regulation for example) will necessarily have to be adjustable and upgradeable in order to face challenges of tomorrow (for example massive electric vehicles fleets, low voltage automation, …) which will arrive long before the end of its 20 years’ service life. Furthermore, there is a necessity for the equipment to adapt to the evolving and growing cybersecurity threats.
The equipment will therefore need to be patched, updated and reconfigured, and this has to be done remotely due to the great number of equipment. This is a cornerstone of the System Management (SM), which refers to functionalities that are not directly linked to the operational role of the equipment but allow it to perform its operational functions in the best conditions possible. Smart Grid Devices Management also includes other functions such as asset management or supervision.
These functionalities need to be managed by the grid operator and address multiple devices from different vendors through independent Information Systems and thus the requirements and exchanges need to be standardized. As these are to be applied to IEC 61850 compliant equipment, these mechanisms need to be integrated in the standard. ..."

Comments are due by 2018-09-28

New Title of IEC TC 57 WG 17

The new title of IEC TC 57 WG 17 is:

“Power system intelligent electronic device communication and
associated data models
for microgrids,
distributed energy resources and
distribution automation”

Part 7-420 - Distributed energy resources and distribution automation logical nodes

After tremendous work on the revision and extension of the IEC 61850-7-420 Edition 1, IEC TC 57 just published the 366 page committee draft IEC 61850-7-420 ED2:

57/1997/CD

Communication networks and systems for power utility automation – Part 7-420: Basic communication structure – Distributed energy resources and distribution automation logical nodes

Commenting period closes 2018-08-17

Excerpt from the introduction:

"Increasing numbers of DER (distributed energy resources) systems are being interconnected to electric power systems throughout the world. As DER technology evolves and as the impact of dispersed generation on distribution power systems becomes a growing challenge – and opportunity – nations worldwide are recognizing the economic, social, and environmental benefits of integrating DER technology within their electric infrastructure.
The manufacturers of DER devices are facing the age-old issues of what communication standards and protocols to provide to their customers for monitoring and controlling DER devices, in particular when they are interconnected with the electric power system. In the past, DER manufacturers developed their own proprietary ...

This document addresses the IEC 61850 information modelling for DER, although some types and aspects of DER information models have been developed or are being developed separately through technical reports before they are added to this international standard DER model. These consist of the following:
• IEC 61850-90-6: Use of IEC 61850 for Distribution Automation Systems
• IEC 61850-90-8: Object model for electric mobility
• IEC 61850-90-9: Use of IEC 61850 for Electrical Storage Systems
• IEC 61850-90-15: DER Grid Integration using IEC 61850 "

This document is one of the crucial parts for the application of IEC 61850 in distributed power systems.

Draft TR IEC 61850-90-6 for Distribution Automation Published

IEC TC 57 WG 17 just published the 277 page (!) draft TR 57/1929/DTR:

IEC 61850-90-6: Use of IEC 61850 for Distribution Automation Systems

Commenting period and ballot closes 2017-12-01.

This technical report provides basic aspects that need to be considered when using IEC 61850 for information exchange between systems and components within MV network automation. In particular, the report:

• Defines use cases for typical DA applications that require information exchange between two or more components/systems
• Provides modelling of components commonly used in DA applications
• Proposes new logical nodes and the extensions to the existing logical nodes that can be used in typical DA applications.
• Provides guidelines for the communication architecture and services to be used in DA applications
• Provides configuration methods for IEDs to be used in DA systems.

Basic function for which models will be selected or defined cover:

• Fault Passage Indication and report
• FLISR (Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration)
• VVC (Voltage and Var Control)
• Anti-Islanding Protection Based on Communications
• Automatic Switch Transfer
• Monitoring Energy Flow
• Environment Situation Awareness

A Distribution Automation System (DAS) can have up to tens of thousands of IEDs spreading
over a wide area distribution network.

Multiple new Logical Node Classes and extensions for existing LNs are proposed:



This draft is very detailed and easy to read.

What is a Function in IEC 61850?

The term "Function" is used in a variety of flavors throughout the standard series IEC 61850. If you ask five experts, you may get six answers.
IEC TC 57 has proposed (57/1863/DC) to develop a new Technical report IEC 61850-6-100: "SCL Function Modelling for Substation Automation"
A "function" is more or less a synonym for operation or action ... as described in Wikipedia:
"A function model or functional model in systems engineering and software engineering is a structured representation of the functions (activities, actions, processes, operations) within the modeled system or subject area."
In my seminars I compare IEC 61850 with Logistics:



IEC 61850 defines simple and more and more complex functions. A schedule according to IEC 61850-90-10 defines a set of quite complex (or comprehensive) functions. In most cases the functions defined by IEC 61850 are just functional components that are used as bricks to build a comprehensive application function.
The brick-concept of IEEE 1550 (UCA 2.0) indicated the use of the standard models: the Bricks (which are now the Logical Nodes in IEC 61850).
IEC 61850-7-2 Services define functions (called services) that provide information logistics, e.g., for accessing the device information model, allow exchange of any value made available by a device based on events for real-time and non-real-time applications, or services for controlling a controllable item like a circuit breaker or a fan.
Functions may be composed using the standard IEC 61499 (Function blocks) as described in the following papers:
V. Vyatkin, G. Zhabelova, N. Higgins, K. Schwarz, and N.-K. C. Nair, Towards intelligent smart grid devices with IEC 61850 interoperability and IEC 61499 open control architecture, IEEE Conference on Transmission and Distribution, New Orleans, April, 2010
 N. Higgins, V. Vyatkin, N. Nair and K. Schwarz, “Intelligent Decentralised Power Distribution Automation with IEC 61850, IEC 61499 and Holonic Control“,IEEE Transactions on Systems, Machine and Cybernetics, Part C, 40(3), 2010,
J. Xu, C.-W.Yang, V. Vyatkin, S. Berber, Towards Implementation of IEC61850 GOOSE Messaging in IEC61499 Environment, IEEE Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN’13), Bochum, July 29-31, 2013
Click HERE for more papers.
More to come ... stay tuned to this blog!

CIM for Distribution Network Operations

IEC TC 57 has published the FDIS (57/1810/FDIS; 160 pages) of the future standard IEC 61968-3 Ed2:
Application integration at electric utilities - System interfaces for distribution management -
Part 3: Interface for network operations
Voting closes 2017-02-03

IEC 61968 provides utilities the means to supervise main substation topology (breaker
and switch state) and control equipment status. It also provides the means for handling
network connectivity and loading conditions. Finally, it makes it possible for utilities to locate
customer telephone complaints and supervise the location of field crews.
IEC 61968-3 specifies the information content of a set of message payloads that can be used
to support many of the business functions related to network operations. Typical uses of the
message payloads defined in IEC 61968-3 include data acquisition by external systems, fault
isolation, fault restoration, trouble management, maintenance of plant, and the commissioning
of plant.

This part is closely related to the Common Information Model (CIM).

IEC 61850-90-6: Use of IEC 61850 for Distribution Automation Systems

IEC TC 57 has published a very interesting 140 page document describing the use of IEC 61850 for distribution automation:

Draft IEC TR 61850-90-6 (57/1615/DC):
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation
Part 90-6: Use of IEC 61850 for Distribution Automation Systems

Distribution Automation and Feeder Automation Distribution Automation (DA) as a concept emerged in the 1970s to promote the application of computer and communications technologies for improving of distribution system operating performance. It is in general used as an umbrella term to describe the deployment of automation technologies for protection, control, monitoring, and operation of distribution systems.

The current document mainly describes the following functions of Distribution/Feeder Automation Systems:

• DSCADA (Distribution-Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) This function allows the operator to monitor and control the distribution networks remotely. It is a basic function of DASs.
• FLISR (Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration) It includes the FLISR using auto reclosers and auto-sectionalizers, the FLISR based on the centralized control of the master station and the FLISR based on the distributed control scheme in which field IEDs exchange fault and control information through a peer to peer communication network. These are main typical implementation/architecture for supporting the FLISR. The reality may be the mix all these three modes.
• VVC (Voltage and Var control) The objective of VVC is to minimize the power losses in the network, improve the voltage profile, or both, using the settings of LTC substation transformers, bus/feeder voltage regulators and switching shunt capacitors. More advanced VVC applications may also use the active and reactive power injection by the DER units as well as distribution FACTS devices such as D-STATCOM and D-SVC. The auto-recloser function has to be blocked. Only the basic VVC scenario which only involves the control of voltage regulators and switching shunt capacitors is considered in this report.
• Anti-Islanding Protection Based on Communications In case of the feeder circuit breaker opens, an unintentional islanding may have been created. The involved DER in the island has to been forced to stop energizing the feeder for workers safety, system security and power quality reasons. While the islanding detection methods using local measurements at intertie may have none-detection zone, the anti-islanding protection can be improved through detecting the tripping of substation breakers and transmitting this information down to the feeder

A DA system may comprise up to tens of thousands of IEDs spreading over a wide area distribution network. From time to time, the new IEDs may be introduced, and the configuration of existing IEDs may need to be modified. The current configuration method for substation automation systems may need extended configuration methods. Therefore, a use case for installing new IEDs and updating the configuration of existing IEDs will also be described in this section.

In order to precise the various use-cases, the document contains sequence diagrams, e.g., for Fault Location:

The standard series IEC 61850 is THE standard for power systems.

An Approach to Developing Power Grid Control Systems with IEC 61850 and IEC 61499 and Holonic Control

An interesting paper discusses the combined use of IEC 61850 and IEC 61499:

An Approach to Developing Power Grid Control Systems with IEC
61850, IEC 61499 and Holonic Control

by Valentin Vlad, Corneliu Buzduga, and Calin Ciufudean (University of Suceava, Romania)

WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on SYSTEMS, Volume 13, 2014

This paper presents some models and concepts for developing smart power grid control systems based on holonic concepts and the open standards IEC 61850, IEC 61499. Along with the proposed holonic models for different levels of control, we present a simple fault protection application illustrating how the IEC 61499 artifacts can be used for modeling and implementation of IEC 61850 compliant applications.

Click HERE for the above paper.

Additional information of using IEC 61850 and IEC 61499 in Distributed Power Systems:

Distributed Power System Automation With IEC 61850, IEC 61499, and Intelligent Control (Neil Higgins, Member, IEEE, Valeriy Vyatkin, Senior Member, IEEE, Nirmal-Kumar C. Nair, Senior Member, IEEE, and Karlheinz Schwarz, Member, IEEE; IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SYSTEMS, MAN, AND CYBERNETICS, 2010)

Multi-agent Smart Grid Automation Architecture based on IEC 61850/61499 Intelligent Logical Nodes (G. Zhabelova, V. Vyatkin, Senior Member IEEE; IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 2011)

More to come.

The Canadian Smart Grid Standards Roadmap and IEC 61850

“The Canadian Smart Grid Standards Roadmap” is a remarkable document that focuses on the real needs for the future of Smart Grid Technologies and standards.

It is no surprise that IEC 61850 is a key standard in this roadmap. The roadmap comes with a list of 17 recommendations on what to do in the future. Two of the six recommendations for Transmission and Distribution (T&D) systems refer to IEC 61850:

Recommendation T&D3:
To support Smart Grid interoperability requirements, the CNC/IEC should encourage the
adoption and application of IEC 61850 for the purpose of communications between
substations, between substations and control centre, and for transferring synchrophasor data.

Recommendation T&D4:
The CNC/IEC should encourage the development of guidelines and standards for utilities to
migrate from existing, commonly used technologies, to the architecture described in IEC
61850. At the same time, the CNC/IEC should recognize that the large, existing investment
by utilities in the older technologies will require gateway solutions and protocol converters
during the initial transition period.
• In addition, the CNC/IEC should encourage extending this standard to distribution
automation equipment and distributed energy resources.

Other IEC TC 57 Standards are listed as well: IEC 62357, IEC 61970 and 61968 (CIM), IEC 62351 (Security), as well as IEEE 1815 (DNP3).

Click HERE for the full Roadmap [pdf, 0.9 MB].

ENEL pushes for IEC 61850 MMS and GOOSE in Smart Grids

Several times I have reported about the use of IEC 61850 in DER Management projects in the distribution networks of ENEL in Italy.

Several Pilot projects have shown the benefit of using a standardized solution: IEC 61850 MMS (client/server) and GOOSE messaging.

A brief report can be found in the pacworld magazine issue September 2013. The key applications are: voltage control and

Voltage control

The massive introduction of distributed generators changes the constraints in hosting capacity calculation. In fact the hosting capacity of a MV network, with a high presence of DG, is not usually limited by conductors capability but by voltage increase caused by the distributed generators.
Historically and up to now, the voltage control was done by modulating the On Load Tap Changers (OLTC) of each HV/MV transformer by means of a method called “current compound.” The goal was assuring a good voltage level at both ends of the feeders. This method works until the voltage profile is monotone decreasing, but with the introduction of DG a different approach is required.

Fast Fault Selection

According to the Italian standards regulating the connection of customers to MV networks, (CEI 0-16), in case of a short circuit along a feeder, the circuit breaker at the line departure is opened after a time delay of 170- 250ms.
The scope of this delay is protection coordination between the distributor MV line breakers and also the customer fault-clearing devices.
Taking advantage of this time delay and of the short latency of message exchange of modern telecommunication networks, a new automatic fault clearing system can be implemented.

Conclusions

After the experimentation phase and pilot projects, it is very likely that Enel MV networks will be equipped with the new devices and the new functionalities will become operative.
Also the user power plants will be equipped with the devices and in particular with a control system implementing IRE functions. In fact all the customer devices should not be provided by the distributor but they should become unified interfaces built-in all commercial power plant control and protection systems.

Click HERE for the 3 page report.

Click HERE for a 118 page report from SMA on a communication needs and solutions – including IEC 60870-5-104, DNP3, and IEC 61850 [PDF, German, 17 MB].

Benefits of integrating real-time automation functions into IEC 61850-based SCADA platforms

What are the benefits of using IEC 61850 for real-time automation functions?

The results of an Australian project shows the capabilities of an IEC 61850 based SCADA solution that supports the integration of real-time automation functions into their platform based on the use of IEC 61131 logic programming and IEC 61850 as a means of communication for distributed automation functions.

The performance of simple Centralised Remedial Action Scheme (CRAS) implemented on a SCADA system has been evaluated and compared to the legacy methods to determine if the performance, security, reliability, scalability/flexibility and cost are justified considering the additional complexity of an integrated system. Experimental results show that the system delivers significant benefits including improved system reliability through reduced device count, improved safety with configurable operator interfaces, mobility services and remote diagnostic capabilities, and reduced engineering costs by providing a unified engineering environment that allows simple and seamless configuration based on the use of open standards.

Gaining an understanding of the capabilities of today’s real-time automation products and IEC 61850, along with new distributed automation and control functions will provide decision makers with the confidence to adopt more capable digital platforms and implement a smarter grid.
The additional complexity introduced with those highly integrated systems is justified. However, digital technology products will require organisations to develop specialised skills-sets, work processes and procedures to ensure a successful transition to new solutions and architectures.

Click HERE to download the complete report [580 KB, pdf]

Multiagent Automation based on IEC 61850 and IEC 61499

G. Zhabelova and V. Vyatkin know for their interest in combining IEC 61850 with IEC 61499 have published an interesting paper on

"Multiagent Smart Grid Automation Architecture Based on IEC 61850/61499 Intelligent Logical Nodes"

in Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 59, pp. 2351-2362, 2012.

Abstract— Universal, intelligent and multifunctional devices controlling power distribution and measurement will become the enabling technology of the Smart Grid ICT. In this paper we report on a novel automation architecture which supports distributed multi-agent intelligence, interoperability and configurability, and enables efficient simulation of distributed automation systems. The solution is based on the combination of IEC 61850 object-based modeling and interoperable communication with IEC 61499 function blocks executable specification. Using the developed simulation environment we demonstrate the possibility of multi-agent control to achieve self-healing grid through collaborative fault location and power restoration.

Click HERE to download the complete paper.

Telecommunication and IEC 61850 for power distribution systems

More often distribution utilities are looking into the future information and communication infrastructure. One example is the Flexible Plug and Play (FPP) project in Great Britain:

“The challenge

Distribution Network Operators in Great Britain face the challenge of accommodating high concentrations of renewable generation connections on to the network.  Where there is high demand of connection requests, the connection can be costly and time consuming.  Flexible Plug and Play will address this. …

At the heart of Flexible Plug and Play will be a new Telecommunications Platform.  This platform, which is formed of a high-speed communications  and radio frequency mesh network (similar to wi-fi), will enable the integration of Flexible Plug and Play smart technologies and systems. It will facilitate the data exchange and control capability to implement the technical and commercial solutions which will manage the network constraints to enable an increase in the renewable generation connections and the renewable generator developers to export on to the distribution network.

The smart technologies will communicate with each other using open standard data protocol defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The protocol is commonly called the IEC 61850 and is an international standard for data communications between smart devices and information systems for electricity networks.  …”

Click HERE to get an overview about the project.

Click HERE for downloading a nice and comprehensive presentation on the history and the plans for the future … including the use of IEC 61850 for use in power distribution systems. [pdf, 87 pages, 10 MB]

High speed wireless support for IEC 61850 GOOSE

Full Spectrum Inc. (Palo Alto, California) announced yesterday a new version of its wireless communications software which supports the utility industry’s IEC 61850 Generic Object Oriented Substation Event protocol (also known as “GOOSE”). The protocol is designed to reduce the scope and impact of power outages by implementing instantaneous and intelligent switching decisions without human intervention. It is a critical element in the implementation of the self-healing smart grid. To date IEC 61850 has been deployed primarily at electric utility substations over high capacity fiber connections. The challenge, until now, has been to operate the high capacity, low latency protocol over wireless infrastructure. Full Spectrum’s IEC 61850 wireless support includes custom compression and quality of service algorithms to address this challenge.
Full Spectrum’s new software release allows the IEC 61850 protocol to be pushed deep into the distribution electric grid where wired infrastructure is not cost effective to install and maintain. With IEC 61850 intelligent devices along the distribution grid, sensors can isolate faults and reroute power almost instantaneously. The implementation of IEC 61850 greatly reduces the number of customers impacted by outages. This is especially important for industrial and commercial power users where even brief power outages can be costly and dangerous.

Click HERE to download the press release on GOOSE.

IEC 61850 for Fault Protection, Isolation and Restoration (FPIR) equipment

Brisbane, Qld, Australia – Electrical switchgear engineers NOJA Power today announces its support for the adoption of IEC 61850 for Fault Protection, Isolation and Restoration (FPIR) equipment. NOJA Power says the use of IEC 61850 would significantly enhance coordination between Automatic Circuit Reclosers (ACR)––pole- or ground-mounted electricity distribution network protection devices––allowing such equipment to form an essential element of smart grids.

“ACRs will form a critical part of smart grids and IEC 61850 is rapidly gaining unstoppable momentum as the preferred communication and control standard for the smart infrastructure of the future,” said Neil O’Sullivan, CEO, NOJA Power.

Click HERE for the press release on IEC 61850 for DA application.

IEC 61850 in the Joint EURELECTRIC-EDSO Smart Grid Position Paper

The “Union of the Electricity Industry” (EURELECTRIC) and “European Distribution System Operator for Smart Grids” (EDSO) have assigned a very high priority to the application of IEC TC 57 standards, e.g., IEC 61850, CIM, IEC 60870-5/-6, IEC 62351, … in the paper “DSO PRIORITIES FOR SMART GRID STANDARDISATION”.

End of January 2013 they have published a comprehensive position paper on the standardization for smart grids:

Access the paper “DSO PRIORITIES FOR SMART GRID STANDARDISATION” [pdf, 590 KB]

A key clause puts IEC 61850 on a high priority (excerpt of one example):

3.3. Extended field data modelling standards (IEC 61850) to support demand response, DER and VPP

”While the IEC 61850 standard was originally addressing applications and communications within the substation, recent work is being undertaken for extending its applicability to distribution automation applications integrating field devices located outside the substation fence. With its object oriented structure, IEC 61850 can provide comprehensive and accurate information models for various components of distribution automation systems, as well as an efficient solution for this naturally multi-vendor environment.
Some typical applications include: Volt/Var Control (VVC), Fault Localisation, Isolation and Restoration (FLIR), Outage Management System (OMS), Distribution State Estimator, Distributed Generation and Demand response Management, Load Forecast and Modelling (LFM), and other.
IEC 61850 is the only international standard for substation automation which is open for future application. Currently IEC 61850 is extended for use outside substations. The use cases of the different distribution automation concepts need to be considered in the information data models. Therefore the IEC 61850 data models shall cover all distribution automation objects. IEC 61850 allows an open and flexible design and operation of communication networks. IEC 61850 not only provides a protocol for communication but is a whole new concept for naming and configuring substations and power grids.
The normative definition of logical nodes for DER is necessary for new smart grid appliances because process devices have to be described in such logical nodes for information exchange. Therefore it is important that current valid logical nodes in process protocols are not subject to change in the further standardisation process and to enable new devices to seamlessly comply with existing protocols without proprietary vendor solutions.”

Another key issue is the support of System interoperability operability testing!!

“A system interoperability testing method including conformance testing, "profiles" and "test use cases", should be provided by the end of 2013”

More to come – keep tuned to this blog.

IEC 61850 Extensions for Fault Passage Indications (FPI)

First Committee Draft (38/436A/CD) of IEC 62689-1 accepted by end of 2012: Current and Voltage sensors or detectors, to be used for fault passage indication purposes - Part 1: “General principles and requirements”.

This standard will introduce a dedicated (extended) IEC 61850 namespace (based on existing and new Logical Nodes and Data Objects) to support integration of FPIs into power utility automation. In addition, it defines different profiles of communication interfaces to support the different cases of usage of these FPIs. Some of these cases of usage relies on the “concept” of extended substation, which is intended as the communication among IEDs through IEC 61850 located both along MV feeders and in the main substation, for most sophisticated FPIs version (for smart grids applications, for instance). Then such profile may not be limited to FPI devices, but may embrace features needed to support extensions of these substations along the MV feeder connected to the main substation themselves.

The scope of this standard is to define the minimum requirements for Fault Passage Indicators (FPIs) which are devices able to detect faults, on networks from 1 kV up to 52 kV, providing indications about their localization (upstream or downstream the FPI’s location) or about the direction of fault current. The localization (upstream or downstream) or the direction of the fault current may be detected directly from the FPI and/or from a central system using information from more FPIs and/or considering the features of the feeder/network where the FPI is installed (for instance in case of over-currents in radial operated networks without GD or in case of phase to earth faults in solid earthed radial operated systems).

Part 2 of the standard series will contain the dedicated (extended) IEC 61850 namespace (based on existing and new Logical Nodes and Data Objects).

Hydro-Québec’s Vision in their Distribution System Automation Roadmap from 2005 becomes True

Hydro-Québec published an interesting Vision in the “Distribution System Automation Roadmap – 2005–2020” already in 2005. Now, 2013 (some eight years later) we can say that their expectation was quite written.

For the period 2015 – 2020 they expected (in 2005!) that the “Equipment interoperability standards should be completed. The controlled island and energy exchange network possibilities will be better known following the developments from 2010 to 2015, and more specific projects will be started up.” The overall communication system they expected after 2015 is IEC 61850! See figure from the Report:

Their estimation is still valid and applicable to many other utilities, countries and regions. I wish more utilities in 2013 will develop their detailed Roadmap how to get prepared for the future energy systems control and automation – if they take IEC 61850 into account or not! Installing huge amounts of IEDs and collecting 100.000’s of data points is an issue that has to be considered carefully.

Hydro-Québec implemented a huge network to “manage the 450,000 data points generated from the first phase of the project, 5 regional control centers front end systems were setup to receive the information. … more than 2000 persons are involved with the project, directly or indirectly. The sheer quantity of data produced by the pole-top devices makes it attractive and useful to a wide range of groups. … We had planned the technology side in detail and very carefully, we also had planned the human factor (we thought). Today, looking back, we realize the technology aspects have been easy to handle and work with when required, but the sheer number of people involved has created an environment which is currently slow to react. …”

Download the Case Study “Utility Automated and Integrated Data & Control for 4000 Pole-Top Switches and Protection Relays” to read more about the project” [pdf, 68 KB]

As noted several times it is crucial to understand that IEC 61850 (when it’s applied in the near future more often in the distribution world) is a solution that is intended to provide long-term unification – and that will require a “sheer number of people” that need education in how to use IEC 61850 based systems.

Haste makes Waste!!

Download the complete Roadmap dated 2005 [pdf, 1.6 MB].

How Does IEC 61850-3 Apply for IEDs Outside Substations?

I have been contacted several times on the question: “What are the requirements in IEC 61850-3 (General requirements, EMC, EMI, …) that have to be applied in DER, SA, … Wind turbines, Hydro Power stations?”

In IEC 61850-3 these applications are partly excluded (57/1246/CDV) says under

6.7.1 Electromagnetic environment

“… In addition to the mentioned electrical plants, Electricity Utilities can install apparatus in

control centers, radio repeaters, or low voltage distribution points in industrial, commercial or residential areas. These locations are covered by other generic standards or product standards. …”

An IED for a Hydro power plant, PV inverter, other DER or DA application to become compliant with IEC 61850-3 requires some definition in IEC 61850-3 for these domains. Pointing to “other standards” is to fuzzy.

I would highly appreciate to get your opinion which most crucial standards for other areas than HV/MV substations are applicable. We could then summarize the result and publish some guidelines … hints.

Please contact me in case you have some useful hints on the applicability of IEC 61850-3 outside substations.

IEEE Award for Paper on Standards-based Smart Grid Automation

A paper co-written by Academic researchers and Power Industry experts has won the Andrew P. Sage Award for Best Paper in the IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part C: Applications and Reviews for 2012. The paper was nominated by Editor in Chief, Professor Vlad Marik.

“Distributed Power System Automation with IEC 61850, IEC 61499, and Intelligent Control” by Neil Higgins, Prof. Valeriy Vyatkin, Prof. Nirmal-Kumar C Nair and Karlheinz Schwarz fuses ideas from two distinct areas, Industrial Control and Power System Automation. It describes how synergies between two emerging Standards, IEC 61499 Function Blocks and IEC 61850 Communication Networks and Systems for Power Utility Automation, can be leveraged to create powerful and robust SmartGrid automation schemes.

IEC 61499 promotes portability, interoperability and configurability aspects of control systems, adding an object-oriented flavour to precursors like IEC 61131. The second edition of IEC 61499 due for release in late 2012 builds on experiences in the development and application of complying products and systems since publication of the Standard in 2005.

Read the full news release.

Read the paper awarded [1 MB].