As you know, IEC 61850-7-x uses mainly a table notation for the many models. Using UML as an optional notation for the content of IEC 61850 and the harmonization of IEC 61850 and CIM has been discussed since the late nineties. ABB has recently provided a UML based model notation for IEC 61850.
The initial version of this model has been developed by ABB, Switzerland, Corporate Research for further discussion and maintenance in IEC TC 57 WG 10.
Click HERE to access the UML model.
Some 10 years ago when there was not so much to discuss in the electric power industry (the Smart grid was not yet invented) I attended a conference on Electric Power Systems. One of the crucial questions was: Do Wind Power Turbines change our Climate? These questions are still asked - all over and by many experts.
The other day I read in the IEEE Power & Energy Magazine some interesting answers on this question. In the May/June 2010 issue you can read on page 6 (share your thoughts) an answer from NREL: "... it should be kept in mind that our energy mix will never be comprised solely of wind energy, so at even at large but reasonable levels of wind penetration the global impact would not be measurable. These results should not be surprising because fundamentally wind turbines just increase the friction or drag at the bottom of the atmospheric boundary layer much like trees or any other obstruction to the flow. My conclusion is that levels of wind energy amounting to 20–50% of our electricity should not cause any measurable change in global climate."
There is another question: Can you proof that the leaves of a tree are moved by the wind? Or are they generating the wind? Wind turbines may be used to generate wind - once we have too much electric power ... ok, I am kidding.
Click HERE to read the full text in May/June 2010 issue.
Namhafte deutsche Verbände und Firmen haben während des ersten "Sino-EU Smart Grid Technology and Standardization Forums" Ende Mai 2010 in Peking die Bedeutung von Normen für Smart Grids diskutiert.
Der chinesische Energiemarkt ist für deutsche Firmen sehr wichtig - ""Allerdings nur, wenn wir uns frühzeitig mit China bezüglich der Architektur und Standardisierung von Smart Grid abstimmen können", betont Dipl.-Ing. Roland Bent, Geschäftsführer Marketing und Entwicklung bei PHOENIX CONTACT. Eine frühzeitige Berücksichtigung von Normungsaspekten im Forschungsprozess und bei der Umsetzung schafft Wettbewerbsvorteile für Deutschland. "Was wir brauchen sind einheitliche internationale Standards, die den Informationsaustausch für Grid Automation, Industry Automation und Home Automation beschreiben", fordert auch Dr.-Ing. Bernhard Thies, Sprecher der Geschäftsführung von VDE|DKE."
Diese Forderungen nach einheitlichen internationalen Standards können nur unterstrichen werden - einheitlich für China, für Europa und für Deutschland! Wenn es "einheitliche" internationale Standards gibt, dann gibt es auch mindestens einen "un-einheitlichen" internationalen Standard! Oder? In der Tat den gibt es tatsächlich: IEC 61158. Mit IEC 61850 gibt es glücklicherweise EINE wirklich einheitliche Norm für Smart Grids, Industrie-Automation und Gebäudeautomation.
Click HIER für die Pressemitteilung des VDE.
Have you heard of SISCO in conjunction with IEC 61850? Which S/C-isco? I mean the "C"-Cisco. May be you did not expect Cisco getting involved in the Power market!
But "In electric substations there are so many sensors, meters and other control elements," said Inbar Lasser-Raab, a senior director of network systems at Cisco. "Tens of millions of elements will be connected to the network through these routers and switches," she said.
If each element provides some 100 signals, we will have to manage billions of signals! What is the right approach to manage these signals? Signal lists? Signal lists provided by field busses? There is only one international standard that has the answer to that challenge: IEC 61850 - The standard for (process) information management! Or?
Click HERE for more information.
STRI (Ludvika/Sweden and NettedAutomnation (Karlsruhe/Germany) offer two comprehensive SAS Seminars and Training opportunities in Paris/France the week before the Cigré Conference (18-20 August 2010) and in Stockholm/Sweden (02-05 November 2010).
General seminars will be conducted by NettedAutomation in Frankfurt/Germany (22-24 September 2010) and in Dallas/Texas (19-20 October 2010)
Click HERE for the updated schedule.
New approach in Japan with regard to Smart(er) Grids:
Don't discuss what could be done - just do it!
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced the other day that it will invest
a total of 7 billion yen by March 2012 in a project to build facilities within the company’s production sites in Japan for experiments designed to establish advanced smart grid technologies. The project will contribute to the company’s efforts to support the adoption of sustainable power supplies worldwide.
Mitsubishi Electric’s smart grid business will be carried out as a company-wide project spanning the company’s five business segments. In April 2010, Mitsubishi Electric established two project teams to promote development in smart grid technology. The Power Grid Project in the Transmission & Distribution Systems Center will be responsible for smart grid electric systems and equipment. The Next Generation Energy Communication Project in the Communication Networks Center will be responsible for the smart grid communication network.
Click HERE for the full press release.
You may think: A copy machine has nothing to do with security - you may be right with the old machines manufactured some 10 years ago. But what's about the digital copiers?
What happens with the copy of your passport the hotel staff makes? It may be communicated all over ... thanks to the digital images taken and stored.
What has all this to do with IEC 61850? May be a lot: Think of someone that wants to check his SCL file against the standard. There was (may be still is) a syntax checker available on the Internet. You just need to upload your complete SCL file to the tool and let it check your file. Somebody may have taken a copy of that file ... and now knows a lot of access information of that substation or other plant.
Click HERE for a nice report on the issue - quite interesting, isn't it?
It was just a question of time to see IEC 61850 running on Wireless communication systems. Here it is: Siemens and RuggedCom announced the other day that SIPROTEC will use WiMAX 802.16e to communicate IEC 61850 GOOSE messages for various (distributed!) functions in Distribution Automation Systems.
We have always said that one of the crucial benefits of IEC 61850 is that it can use advances in the domain of high speed communication solutions developed for the IEEE 802 suit.
It may take a few more years to see the distributed functions specified by the standard IEC 61499 (Function Blocks). The benefits of distributed functions (versus centralized control systems) is that "the faulted segment is
quickly isolated by the relay(s) and where possible, segments at the end of a feeder have service restored through the tie-point switch. The relays are “self-aware” and operate based on real-time information they have about the network, so no master is required."
Click HERE for the press release.
Click HERE for some discussion on IEC 61499 and IEC 61850 based distribution automation.
IEC has published the IEC 61850-7-2 Edition 2 of "Communication networks and systems for power utility automation – Part 7-2: Basic information and communication structure – Abstract communication service interface (ACSI)" for final approval.
Ballot on the FDIS (IEC TC57 document 1065) closes on July 02, 2010.
The second edition improves as follows:
For a copy of the FDIS contact your national IEC TC 57 committee.
The Model of IEC 61850-7-2 and its relation to other parts is shown in the following figure (modified slightly: added additional 7-x):
A two-day special seminar and training on key standards for Smart Grids (IEC 61850, IEC 61400-25 and DNP3) will be conducted by Karlheinz Schwarz during the
Remote 2010 Conference & Expo
October 19-20, 2010
Dallas, Texas
Useful information and interoperable information exchange are among the most crucial needs for Smart(er) Grids. The “NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Roadmap” recommends several standards for the interoperable exchange of information at the process level. Crucial standards like IEC 61850 and DNP3 are marked as high priority solutions. These standards are used in various application domains in medium and high voltage power systems. While most transmission systems are well monitored and automated there is almost no monitoring and automation in distribution networks. One of the crucial application domains for IEC 61850 is power (gas, oil and water) distribution.
This course is designed for utility IT and engineering staff who are tasked with
specifying, organizing, managing and verifying open standards-based projects
aimed at sustainable interoperability. The application of the standards is not restricted to power system automation - its use is underway in many automation application domains like factory or process control automation. The roots of the standard IEC 61850 are - among others - the factory and process automation domains in the eighties.
Click HERE for more information on the event.
The 70+ page Roadmap of the German E-Energy Projects and German Standardization organizations has been published the other day.
The Roadmap contains many recommendations on how to use existing standards and how to improve or extend those standards. According to the German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology "it is the task now to ascertain the extend to which these approaches can be implemented". He wishes the Roadmap many readers and users.
The Roadmap refers some 50 times to IEC 61850 - IEC 61850 is one of the very crucial standards for Smart Grids. IEC 61850 is likely THE standard that will be used in many domains outside the electrical world. The new edition of the information models (IEC 61850-7-4) contain many new Logical Nodes like STMP (Supervisory of temperatures) that can be used wherever a temperature is to be monitored for limit violation (alarm and trip): in a factory, building, power plant, ship, ...
IEC 61850 is a single standard for many application domains. More to come. Stay tuned.
Click HERE to download the German Smart Grid Roadmap in English [pdf, 2,9 MB]
Click HERE to download the German Version [pdf, 1.3 MB]
The Beck IPC IEC 61850 @ CHIP Development Kit (Starter Kit) is now available for order: Special price until 2010-05-21!
This is one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to get started with IEC 61850!
The IPC@CHIP DK61 Development Kit is the complete development system for the IPC@CHIP SC123/SC143 Embedded Controller. It contains all the hardware and software components required for the fast development of customer applications.
The fair package also includes:
The first day of the Hanover Fair (Hannover Messe 2010) - Monday April 19, 2010 - was a big success for IEC 61850 on the Beck IPC@Chip.
Many experts came by and stopped at the Beck booth E51 in hall 27 to see the IEC 61850 @ Chip in action. Even the German Chancellor, Mrs. Angela Merkel (in the center of the photo), came by and enjoyed seeing the many new products. The Beck booth has one of the crucial products of interest for Smart Grids: IEC 61850 @ Chip!
The booth has been "tagged" with an additional banner at the end of the first day ... as an eye catcher for people coming by on Tuesday and the other days:
We hope that You will stop for a demonstration and some discussion on the benefit of the standard @ Chip:
See you at booth E51 in hall 27 !! Once you are in hall 27 you will not miss the booth!
Cooper Power Systems announced on April 12, 2010, that it is working with Manitoba Hydro and its system integrator, Virelec, to develop fully IEC 61850 compliant substations. The project is intended to modernize, automate and integrate over 100 substations, following the IEC 61850 standard.
Click HERE for the Cooper press release.
Manitoba Hydro, a utility headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada), was looking to replace their current Substation Automation System (SAS) which is a discrete RTU and PLC-based control and metering architecture with an integrated IEC 61850-based architecture. This initiative follows a trend that is observed throughout the world, as the benefits of technologically advanced IEDs and IEC 61850 get more interest from utilities.
A comprehensive 4-day training in 2008 for some 25 of their best engineers helped the Manitoba Hydro "IEC 61850 Team" to write the system specification in a way so that the potential vendors and system integrators got a very detailed and comprehensive specification taking IEC 61850 into account. The responsible engineers wanted to write a document that covers all crucial requirements with regard to the standard. This is contrary to many specifications today that spend one sentence: "Communication: according to IEC 61850."
Click HERE for the White paper from Manitoba Hydro and Cooper.
IEC 61850 is one of the crucial standards that needs to be understood by young aspiring automation and electrical engineers. ABB has opened a hands-on training lab including their substation automation system at the University of Sydney. This will allow young people to get first experience with the power of the standard.
The Beck IPC Development Kit (DK61) for IEC 61850 / IEC 61400-25 to be presented at the Hannover Messe 2010 (Hanover Fair) at booth E51 in hall 27 from 19-23 April 2010 is an excellent opportunity to get started with IEC 61850 - in real projects, in pilot projects, in university labs, ... any kind of lab or just at your office desk. The DK61 is a 16 Bit programmable micro controller (C/C++, IEC 61131-3 CoDeSys) that has the IEC 61850 stack integrated on the IPC@CHIP.
To my knowledge: This Kit provides the fastest and easiest way to get started with the use of IEC 61850 implementations - and very likely the most cost effective way!
Come and visit Beck IPC at the Hannover Messe Hall 27 Booth E51 - See you there (Plan of hall 27)
Click HERE if you want to get a free entry ticket for the fair.
Click HERE to for more information on the IPC@CHIP with IEC 61850 integrated.
Click HERE to contact BECK IPC for an Request for Quotation (RFQ) for the IEC 61850 Chip, Ready-to-Go modules, and Development Kit DK61.
If you ask different people you get various answers. Guess most experts agree that crucial benefits are: use of TCP/IP, Ethernet, Client/Server, and Layer 2 Publisher/Subscriber (GOOSE and Sampled Values), get rid of copper wires. What else? Information Models, System Configuration Language (SCL), retrieving the self-description of Information Models from IEDs, and ...
Another crucial benefit of IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 (IEC 61850 extensions for Wind Power Plants - defined in IEC TC 88) is that it is a GLOBALLY accepted STANDARD. Hmm, a standard is a standard! - So, what is special here?
If you implement client/server, GOOSE, and SV it is defined WHICH protocol you have to choose for each of the three: MMS, TCP/IP, ... for client/server, "GOOSE" for GOOSE, and "SV" for SV ... You don't have to choose between 40 or 50 solutions! See the international field bus standard IEC 61158: click HERE for a list of the 50+ field-bus-standards in a single standard.
You should ask (from time to time) this question: What would the situation in the domain of power utility protection, control and automation be WITHOUT IEC 61850? We would have a lot of very different vendor specific solutions, regional standards, utility standards, ... and may be a situation like in the field-bus domain!
"A technical standard is an established norm or requirement. It is usually a formal document that establishes UNIFORM engineering or technical criteria, methods, processes and practices." (according to Wikipedia). This is what IEC 61850 provides: UNIFORM definitions to a high degree. The field-bus standard has TOO MANY NON-UNIFORM definitions.
It's a big benefit that we have prevented really an intoxicating proliferation of protocols and other definitions. We have even prevented two standards for utility communication: In 1998 IEC TC 57 and IEEE agreed to merge UCA 2.0 and IEC 61850 into ONE standard - a great decision! From a global viewpoint we have one situation where we have two standards: IEC 610870-5-101/104 and DNP3 ... this is definitely better than having 10 or more under one number ;-)The second edition of IEC 61850-7-4 has been published as international standard:
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –
Part 7-4: Basic communication structure – Compatible logical node classes and data object classes
Click HERE to download the preview of part 7-4.
A list of all currently published Logical Nodes and Data Objects can be found HERE.
Beck IPC (Pohlheim, Germany), SystemCorp (Perth, Australia), and NettedAutomation (Karlsruhe, Germany) will present at the Hannover Messe 2010 (Hannover, Germany) in Hall 27 Booth E51 on 19.-23. April 2010 the IEC 61850 integrated on the IPC@CHIP®, compact modules and ruggedized IEDs for harsh environments based on IPC@CHIP®.
The IEC 61850 conformant products shown in Hannover are applicable for many domains of utility automation - to make the power delivery system smarter:
Due to the fact that IEC 61850 / IEC 61400-25 define many common aspects of standardized information and information exchange services it is obvious that standard conformant products can be applied in many domains outside the power industry: in gas and oil transmission and distribution networks, and in any other industrial automation domain.
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