Smart Grid Communication Challenges With IXXAT SG Gateways

Smart Grid communication challenges can easily be solved with IXXAT SG-gateways

New IIoT gateways from HMS allow industrial 
equipment to communicate with smart grids.

IXXAT SG-gateways...

• Enable easy remote control and management of electrical systems
• Support IEC 61850 client/server, GOOSE, proxy gateway, IEC 60870-5-104 client/server and VHPready
• Provide Modbus-TCP client/server and Modbus-RTU master/slave interfaces
• Enable SNMP, SNTP, and cloud connectivity
• Provide I/O, M-Bus, PROFIBUS, PROFINET and EtherNet/IP interfaces
• Are safe – firewall, OpenVPN & password protection
• Support IEC 60870-5-104 redundancy acc. edition 2 (Norwegian Convention)

Click HERE to enter the world of IEC protocols for power delivery systems

[EN, DE, FR, CN].
Hier klicken ... für ein Kurzvideo und weitere Informationen ... von Martin Matt, Produktmanager Energy Communication bei HMS Networks, über intelligente Smart-Grid-Gateways.

HMS Updated their Web Pages for IEC 61850, IEC 60870-5-104, ... Anybus SG-gateways

The Anybus® SG-gateway™ family is designed to specifically target Demand Response (networking of industrial electric loads) and Virtual Power Plants (networking of energy resources like biogas plants or combined heat and power units) applications.

Remote Terminal Unit
The SG-gateways support the communication protocols used in the energy sector, e.g. IEC 60870-5-104, DNP3 and IEC 61850; as well as protocols supported by the electric equipment in the field, e.g. Modbus or M-Bus. In addition, thanks to the built-in Anybus CompactCom interface, they can also communicate with fieldbus or industrial Ethernet networks such as Profibus, Profinet, EtherNet/IP or any other industrial network.

The new Web pages provide all information needed to build a information infrastructure for Smart Grid for a smarter power network for the future.

Click HERE to visit the Anybus Web site.
Click HERE for a great news post at the Anybus Web site.

HMS will demonstrate VHPready products during the E-World Exhibition.
Click HERE for more information.

Proxy and Gateway Approach of IEC 61850

A Proxy Server in the sense of IEC 61850 exposes the very same information models of many IEDs through a Server that uses the same Logical Device/Logical Node names (references) as in the IEDs that are “mirrored” or “proxied”.

There is no difference in the meaning and syntax between the models in the various IED Servers and the Proxy Server.

The general gateway approach is quite different. I a gateway we are free to manage information like:

1. Translate data from legacy protocols such as IEC 60870-5-103, IEC 60870-5-104, IEEE 1815 (DNP3), IEC 61158-6 (Modbus), etc. into IEC 61850 data model
2. Add data local to the IED hosting the Proxy/Gateway
3. Rename logical devices coming from IED level into logical device server
4. Rearrange/Rename logical nodes coming from IED level into logical device of the Proxy/Gateway server
5. Merge of two or more information objects coming from two or more different logical nodes at IED level into one logical node of the Proxy/Gateway server
6. Split of information objects coming from one logical node at IED level into two or more logical nodes of the Proxy/Gateway server where each logical node contains a subset of the information objects of the original logical node
7. Transform a generic information object (e.g. GGIO, GAPC, etc.) at IED level into a semantically defined information object of the Proxy/Gateway server
8. Convert a specific information object (e.g. MMTN) at IED level into another semantically defined information object (e.g. MMXU) of the Proxy/Gateway server
9. Adapt the scale, information encoding and dead band configuration between the IED data object and the data object in the Proxy/Gateway server
10. Logical (e.g. and, or, if/else, grouping of indications, etc.) and arithmetic (e.g. multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, etc.) transformations between one or more data objects at IED level and one or more data objects of the Proxy/Gateway server

Real IEDs may have gateway and proxy functions.

Click HERE for very simple and easy to use proxies and/or gateways for IEC 61850, IEC 60870-5-104, Modbus, Profibus, Profinet, … offered by HMS. These can be understood as Micro-RTU …

Substation to Control Center Communication: IEC 61850-90-2 TR Approved

The draft Technical Report for Substation to Control Center Communication has been approved by 100 %:

IEC 61850-90-2 TR:
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation - Part 90-2: Using IEC 61850 for the communication between substations and control centres

The final Technical Report will be published in December 2015. It provides a comprehensive overview of the different aspects that need to be considered while using IEC 61850 for information exchange between substations and control or maintenance centres or other system level applications. In particular, this technical report:

• defines use cases and communication requirements that require an information exchange between substations and control or maintenance centres
• describes the usage of the configuration language of IEC 61850‑6
• gives guidelines for the selection of communication services and architectures compatible with IEC 61850
• describes the engineering workflow
• introduces the use of a Proxy/Gateway concept
• describes the links regarding the Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM)

The wait for the application of IEC 61850 for information exchange between substations and control centers is over – starting in 2016, there is no excuse any more.

The scope of the TR is quite limited: Substation (only!) to control centers. The future energy delivery system (in which power is one aspect only) will build a hierarchy of aggregated information systems. There will be several layers of information management systems. This is required because of the use of IEC 61850 from power distribution all the way up to the transmission system operator. Information needs to be aggregated because of the sheer unlimited amount of information generated and consumed in the system.

It is likely that the TR 90-2 will be used for other vertical information flows between aggregation points and higher level systems. A subset of the TR 90-2 may be used for information exchange between a control center and a wind power plant.

The restricted scope in the TR 61850-90-2 is just toner on paper – like in almost all IEC 61850 parts. A server in the sense of IEC 61850 can expose any data from any application. IEC 61850 relies on ISO 9506 (MMS – Manufacturing Message Specification). As the name says: MMS (and IEC 61850) can be used for manufacturing and many other domains.

The main scope of IEC 61850 is constrained by the title: “… for power utility automation”. From a technical point of view we could leave only “… automation”:

“Communication networks and systems for automation” – BUT this would never be accepted by the IEC officials. Automation as such is not the scope of IEC TC 57.

MMS is not restricted to “Manufacturing” and IEC 61850 is not restricted to “power utility automation”.

Draft IEC 61850-90-2 for Substation to Control Center Communication published

The substation (or power plant or …) to control center communication is historically based on hundreds of protocols. Among those you will find also protocols like IEC 60870-5-101, IEC 60870-5-104 or DNP3. The original scope of IEC 61850 was (politically) restricted to substations. From a technical point of view it was expected from the very beginning of the work on IEC 61850 that it could be used also for this and many other use-cases.

After several years of work on the official document it is now available for final vote:

57/1578/DTR (164 pages):
IEC 61850-90-2 TR Ed.1
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –
Part 90-2: Using IEC 61850 for the communication between substations and control centres

The voting ends on 2015-07-24

This document is very important for the communication with control centers. It covers crucial aspects:

1. Information modeling (proxy/gateway),
2. Information models (use of existing models and extensions)
3. Configuration language and engineering,
4. Information exchange services (redundancy, …)
5. Security aspects

for the following use-cases:

1. Telecontrol
2. Synchrophasor
3. Disturbance
4. Counting
5. Power Quality
6. Asset
7. Parameter configuration

The document contains many examples that help to understand the different use-cases.

This document closes one crucial gap in the information exchange of many different systems, e.g., substations, power plants, hierarchical control centers, with control centers.

The most crucial aspect is the application and extension of SCL (System Configuration Language – IEC 61850-6).

Several useful extensions are defined, e.g., the link between a proxy/gateway model and the original model. To support end to end testing through the Proxy/Gateway functional links between the data objects in the Proxy/Gateway server and the original source of information in a substation IED can be expressed as the following example shows:

<LN lnClass="MMXU" lnType="MMXU" inst="1">
   <Private type="eTr-IEC61850-90-2">
      <eTr-IEC61850-90-2:ProxyOf externalScl="Substation" iedName="IED2" ldInst="MEAS"
      lnClass="MMXU" lnInst="1"/>
   </Private>
</LN>

Links can be created on each level of the data model using the element:

eTr-IEC61850-90-2:ProxyOf

This new part contributes to the vision of a SINGLE seamless information exchange solution for the whole domain of power delivery (generation, transmission, distribution, use).

HMS: Bridging Fieldbus Communication to Power Automation

HMS (one of the most crucial supporter of field busses for industrial and process Automation) brings the huge installed base of field instrumentation closer to the power automation and vice versa. With the new approach customers can tap and exchange crucial process information with the most successful power communication standards like IEC 60870-5-104 or DNP3 and others.

HMS provides a new family of products for smart grid applications using IEC 60870-5-104, IEC 61850, Modbus, Profibus, Profinet, HART, …: The LABLINE SG gateway family targets Demand Response (networking of industrial electric loads) and Virtual Power Plants (networking of energy resources like biogas plants or combined heat and power units) applications.

NettedAutomation’s Motto since 2000 is: The NET is The Automation. Networking is really crucial – and also to understand what this all means! Do you know how to bridge the gaps between signals communicated with Profibus DP and IEC 60870-5-104? HMS has the solution to bridge almost all gaps between factory and process instrumentation field busses and the power world.

Remote Terminal Unit
The LABLINE SG devices support the communication protocols used in the energy sector, e.g. IEC60870-5-104, DNP3 and IEC61850; as well as protocols supported by the electric equipment in the field, e.g. Modbus or M-Bus. The LABLINE SG gateways can also communicate with industrial fieldbus or industrial Ethernet networks such as Profibus, Profinet or any other industrial network thanks to their Anybus technology.

Smart Gateway 
The application logic can be programmed on the device either using a graphical web editor or for more complex applications through the embedded soft-PLC from CODESYS compliant to IEC61131-3 standard.

Click HERE for more details of the new family of products.

More to come.

Progress in publishing IEC 61850-90-2 Substation to Control Center Communication

The IEC TC 57 WG 19 is working on the final draft Technical Report for the communication between Control Centers and underlying systems like Substations, Power Plants, and other applications:

IEC Draft TR 61850-90-2:

COMMUNICATION NETWORK AND SYSTEM FOR POWER UTILITY AUTOMATION –
Part 90-2: USING IEC 61850 FOR THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SUBSTATIONS AND CONTROL CENTRES

Big utilities are waiting for the publication of this part. They are looking for a seamless communication at various levels.

This technical report provides a comprehensive overview of the different aspects that need to be considered while using IEC 61850 for information exchange between substations and control or maintenance centres or other system level applications. In particular, this technical report:

• Defines use cases and communication requirements that require an information exchange between substations and control or maintenance centres
• Describes the usage of the configuration language of IEC 61850‑6
• Gives guidelines for the selection of communication services and architectures compatible with IEC 61850
• Describes the engineering workflow
• Describes the links regarding the Specific Communication Service Mapping (SCSM)

The utility industry is waiting for the final version. Today, an expert of a big utility stated the following: “From my view, having the alternative to IEC 60870-5-104 and IEC 61850-90-2 for the communication between the substation and the control center my recommendation will be in favour of the 90-2 which allows you to use all 61850 services available comparing with 104 which is more restricted.”

I fully agree with that statement.

By the way, an easy to implement com.tom WEB-PLC based gateway from IEC 61850 (for the down-ling from a gateway) to IEC 61850 (for the up-link to a control center) will be shown during the Hannover Messe next week (07-11 April, hall 13 booth C35/7):

The gateway/proxy server provides all crucial features of IEC 61850.

I look forward to showing you the gateway – meet you there.