IEC 61400-25-2 Edition -- Committee Draft for Vote available

IEC 61400-25-2 Edition 2 (88/461/CDV):
Wind turbines – Part 25-2: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants – Information models

The Committee Draft for Vote is out for comments until January 24, 2014. If you want to comment on the document, please contact your TC 88 National Committee: Membership 

The main improvements are related to the following aspects:

• Harmonization with Common Data Classes in Edition 2 of IEC 61850-7-3.
• Harmonization with Logical node classes in Edition 2 of IEC 61850-7-4.
• Harmonization with Information models in IEC 61850-7-410, and -420.
• Reduction of overlap between standards and simplification by increased referencing
• Extension of Data objects for operation of smart grids (in US and other areas)
• Extended and enhanced semantics for existing data objects
• Taking the tissues into account

A complete harmonization with IEC 61850 is underway. As a matter of fact you could implement all crucial aspects of IEC 61400-25 with current IEC 61850 implementations. The full harmonization of IEC 61400-24-2 with IEC 61850 Edition 2 of the core parts (7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 7-4, 8-1, …) is planned as a next step (edition 3 of IEC 61400-25-2).

IEC 61850 and IEC61400-25 are THE standard series for Power Systems.

Vulnerabilities in RuggedCom ROS-based Devices

RuggedCom switches and serial-to-Ethernet devices are used to connect devices that operate in harsh environments such as electric utility substations and traffic control cabinets.
Potential vulnerabilities in the web server’s authentication of the affected products might allow attackers to gain administrative access to the web interface over the network without authentication or unprivileged users to perform privilege escalation.

AFFECTED PRODUCTS
- RuggedCom devices with ROS version < ROS v3.12.2

RuggedCom and Siemens recommend upgrading to the current firmware version ROS v.3.12.2 which fixes the potential vulnerabilities.

Click HERE for more details.

BSI veröffentlicht ICS-Security-Kompendium für industrielle Automatisierungssysteme

Das Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) hat ein umfangreiches Kompendium zur Sicherheit in industriellen Automatisierungssystemen (ICS) veröffentlicht. Das Kompendium sollte jedem systemverantwortlichen Manager unbedingt als Weihnachtsgeschenk überreicht werden! Warum? Weil es einen Überblick über wichtige Notwendigkeiten und Lösungswege für mehr Sicherheit aufzeigt und das Bewusstsein für die zunehmenden “Angriffe” auf die kritischen Infrastrukturen unserer Gesellschaft schärfen will. Das Kompendium eignet sich sicher für den Einstieg in dieses wichtige Thema!

Es darf natürlich nicht beim Lesen bleiben – je nach Situation sollten zeitnahe Aktivitäten starten oder verstärkt werden.

HIER Klicken um das Kompendium herunterzuladen.

TQ System offers new IEC 61850 Demo Kit

TQ System offers new IEC 61850 Demo Kit for an ARM9 module with i.MX28 from Freescale.

Click HERE to see the details of the platform.

The Manual of the Development Kit gives you some hints on the usability for getting started:

IEC 61850 Server/Client Application Demo for TQ Systems

Reduced the Complexity of IEC 61850 to a Beautiful Simplicity

One of the crucial challenges using IEC 61850 is the complexity of IEC 61850 – maybe you have made this experience. There is a beautiful way to simplify. Interested to learn about this way? Read this post.

• IEC 61850 and IEC 60870-5-104 (DNP3) are well known and used standards for many application domains all over.
• IEC 60870-5-104 and DNP3 are the preferred solutions for Tele-Control and Tele-Monitoring. They provide simple exchange of status, measurements, counters, and control commands.
• These protocols are implemented in most control centers and SCADA systems.
• IEC 61850 is the preferred solution for information management for substation protection, monitoring, and automation.
• The need for collecting more condition monitoring information from process equipment like transformers, switch gears, cable, … is preferably implemented by IEC 61850.
• One crucial challenge is: How can the huge amount of IEC 61850 based information easily be carried by IEC 60870-5-104 (DNP3)?
• A set of slides shows the beauty of a very simple and powerful gateway.

Want to see a live demo? Visit us at the SPS/IPC/Drives Fair in Nuremberg (Germany) on November 28-29, 2013, hall 9 / booth 341.

Click HERE for a free ticket. I look forward to meeting you there.
Click HERE for the complete slide set on the Beautiful Simplicity [68 pages, pdf, 3.9 MB].

The solution is based on the Beck IPC@CHIP solution:

The core component is a WEB-PLC that is used to graphically program your Gateway based on Input and Output signals:

(almost) all you need to do is to connect graphically Inputs and Outputs with each other or other logic (AND, OR, …):

Use the WEB-PLC for binary inputs and outputs or for reporting of measured values:

com.tom Energy Flyer [English]
com.tom Energy Flyer [Deutsch]

Any question? Contact us.

Do we need Blackouts to Expose Flaws in the Grid?

From the viewpoint of a engineers: No! There are many engineers or other technicians that are aware of the condition of the whole system – including the aging work force. From the viewpoint of many people in charge to make decisions to invest or not to invest: Yes!

The New York Times published yesterday an article about the biggest power outage in the history of Northern America: the 2003 blackout. Since then a lot has improved – enough to keep the power flowing at mid November 2013. Is it enough for the years to come? We will see if the improvements payoff or not.

The article states: “The improvements were ideas that engineers had always liked, but had trouble persuading utility executives and public service commissions to pay for.”

Click HERE to read the article.

I hope that the voice of the engineers will convince more decision-makers to allocate sufficient resources for keeping the aging power infrastructure running, the power flowing, the grass green, and the sky blue.

Some 10 years after the first substation automation systems have been equipped with IEC 61850 based devices, a lot of smart engineers see the need to invest into defining a second layer on top of the standards and the many options they provide. This second layer could be named: Interoperability Profile Specifications. The standards comprise several hundred of options (in models, services, and extensions) that lead to a proliferation of implementations. A growing number of engineers is struggling to let two or more devices from multiple vendors understand each other.

I look forward to seeing more decision-makers from all stake-holders to provide the needed resources for the development of Interoperability Profile Specifications.

I always say in my courses that IEC 61850 is very scalable – BUT YOU have to SCALE each and every device! Scaling needs to be done in a way that for a given application ALL devices apply THE VERY SAME SCALE!! The scales have to be negotiated and applied by all participants of a system.

When does the users community want to get there? If the answer is: as soon as possible – you should invite experienced people to help you.

Is Security really a big Issue in the Power Industry?

It all depends on to whom you listen. I have discussed the security issue quite often. Hope that some people have listened to me. ;-)

These days you can see a lot of intensified discussions related to the use of DNP3 and especially the application at the control center (or master) side of the communication channel. One IED talks usually to one master station – but: One master station may talk to many many IEDs. DNP3 master stations are centralized components in SCADA systems used in many industries: power, gas, oil, water, waste water, … in general automation.

One of the crucial issues is that it seems quite easy to send a specific message from a control center (master) to the substation to put the slave (RTU) into a infinite loop condition (blocking further information sharing) or a spontaneous message from a substation to the control center to put the master into infinite a loop condition (blocking further information sharing). In both cases the devices must be shut down and restarted.

Click HERE to read one of the latest discussions.

I experienced recently the following: an IEC 61850 Server sent a report message with a value derived from a DataSet member of type FCDA to a client (in a gateway for a big control system, DCS). The client (client application) stopped working properly … just did not react anymore. As a result the client did not only “refuse” to work with this server – it also stopped communicating with other servers it was connected to.

Hm, by reporting just a value from a FCDA member (LN XX FC=ST DO=Pos DA=stVal) instead from a FCD member (LN XX FC=ST DO=Pos  with three DA components: stVal, q and t) the client (client application) gives up to work … what a surprise. I was really surprised!

One solution to overcome this situation could be to require more conformance tests of clients (and servers!). That would help a lot.

BUT at the end of the day you may run into similar issues even if the client has been successfully conformance tested and certified: The clients and servers implementing IEC 61850 will support a subset of the features the standard defines. Independent of a certificate it would be more important to get a document that lists all the restrictions and specialties of a client or a server. If you know that a client crashes when you report a value from a FCDA member of a DataSet, then you could (at least) work around that problem by just configuring FCD members!

Figuring out that the use of a FCDA member causes a gateway to crash may take days of analysis and discussions … and is produces a lot of frustration before, during and after such a process.

Lesson learned: Clients, Server, Publisher and Subscriber have to come not only with a certificate but also with comprehensive documentation.

Dear Utility user: ask for sufficient documentation! We could help you to analyze the documentation to figure out …

IEC Smart Grid Tool now online

The IEC Central Office has published a comprehensive tool to facilitate identification and access to relevant standards for use cases and implementation of Smart Grid. This tool includes links to IEC standards as well as relevant standards from other organizations. The smart grid tool available at http://smartgridstandardsmap.com/ will be useful for all other IEC groups engaged in systems level work.

You will find IEC 61850 all over on that “map” – no surprise.

Open positions in the US related to IEC 61850

It seems that there is a growing interest in applying IEC 61850 in the United States. At least there are tenth of open positions that require knowledge and experience in IEC 61850.

One states for example: “Experience with IEC 61850 compliant substation automation applications including IED configuration utilizing MMS and GOOSE protocols and network architectures.”

Click HERE for an updated list of open positions related to IEC 61850.

More to come.

Security Measures in Power Grids – often ignored

Vulnerabilities in the automation of power grids are more often on the radar screen of information and control system experts. It seems that some people are using the situation of aging infrastructures to make money with finger-pointing to the vulnerabilities of implementations of protocols like DNP3 or others. Or is it just fun to discover “holes” in the often low level secured information and communication systems?

Click HERE for a report (Electrical Grid Is Called Vulnerable to Power Shutdown) in The New York Times.

There are – in my view – two crucial issues (among other) when it comes to security measures for information exchange systems in power systems:

1. Lack in Expertise
2. Lack in Resources

There are a lot of discussions regarding aging infrastructures these days. I hope the discussions will have a real impact of securing our infrastructures, especially the electrical power system delivery systems!

Open standard protocols allow remote access to a lot of critical systems like substations or power generation sites. ENEL (Italian Power Company) operates some 400.000 Substations worldwide – some 100.000 are remotely monitored. So, 300.000 substations cannot be reached by protocols. Hundreds of protocols may be in use in the power industry. This makes it quite hard to easily break into most of the substations worldwide. With the application of standards like IEC 60870-5-104, DNP3, Modbus IP, or IEC 61850 this will change soon.

The most secure protocol is the protocol that has never implemented or used! With the acceptance of a few open protocols it is quite obvious that security measures HAVE to be put in place to secure the information exchange to some reasonable degree!

Stakeholders of power utilities have to become MORE aware of the situation of the vulnerabilities in the automation of power grids! A aging bridge may be closed – and you have to detour a bit … but a blackout of a part of the electrical power delivery system due to a lack in security may end in a crucial disaster, leaving us out of power for hours and even days.

It is worth to spend more time and resources in securing all our infrastructures – first of all the electric power delivery system. Without power: no telecommunications, no transportation, no …

The well known IEC 61850 platform “BECK IPC Chip” used in many applications provides secure communication as integrated part of the real-time operating system!

It is not sufficient to know that IEDs are available that provide a reasonable level of security: YOU MUST understand and USE such solutions!!

The architecture of the chip includes security measures:

Click HERE to request more information on the security measures implemented in the RTOS and applicable for IEC 6870-5-104 and IEC 61850.

There is no need to wait for secure IEC 61850 communication! It is here.

New IEC 61850/UCAIUG Test Labs accredited

17 Aug 2013
Level A - IEC 61850 Server
Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI)
111, Hanggaul-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan-si,
Gyeonggi-do, 426-910, Republic of Korea

15 Oct 2013
Level A - IEC 61850 Client
Korea Testing Laboratory
87, Digital 26-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul, Korea

15 Oct 2013
Level A - IEC 61850 Conformance Testing for Edition 2 Server Products
KEMA Nederland B.V.
Utrechtseweg 310
6812 AR Arnhem

The number of tested and certified IEDs (2013-10-18):

  33 Clients (Ed1)
367 Server (Ed1)
   2 Server (Ed2)
  11 Merging Units (9-2LE)

World Standards Day 2013 – October 14

Did you know that there is a world standards day? I didn’t!

I searched a bit and found a nice web page:

http://www.worldstandardscooperation.org/wsd.html

The results of the World Standards Day 2013 poster competition encouraged me to discuss a bit time and power!

The first price was won by Frederica Scott Vollrath (Germany):

This is really describing what IEC 61850 does: let the power flow through a lot of interrelated gear wheels.

It is one of the most interesting, albeit most challenging aspects of the future power system development because there must be a guarantee that all aspects and tasks of the functions and information sharing services will mesh together like the teeth of gear wheels!!

Well done poster!!

I visited the other day a museum with several of our grand sons (Dynamikum). We saw the following set of 18 gear wheels:

The top wheel is driven by a motor with 250 rpm and 26.5 Watt:

The motor drives the first wheel (large), the first (small) drives the second (large), and so on.

The questions are:

How long does it take until the 18. (last) wheel turns one (1!!) time? How much energy is consumed by the motor during that time?

It takes 3 Million years!!

The motor would consume

26,5 W x 365 x 24 x 3,000,000 h =
7 x 10**2 GWh or
0.7 TWh
WOW

That would cost some 128 Million Euro at 0.2 Euro/kwh …

Without IEC standards it would be much more expensive! Or?

IEC 61850 and DC

IEEE invites all interested parties to contribute to the development of a plan "DC in the Home" to ensure that DC electricity can be safely and conveniently accessed in homes, eliminating the wasteful conversion of AC to DC, and in many cases, DC to AC, prior to entering the home.

This seems to be an interesting question. I guess people digging into this issue will – some time down the street – start discussing a DC communication standard. Is this required? I guess it is not needed.

IEC 61850 could already be applied as well for DC systems. IEC 61850 defines many models for, e.g., PV inverter, batteries, storage systems, DC protection, … DC measurements.

As an example see the logical node MMDC defined in IEC 61850-7-4 Ed2:

Utility cuts IT workforce, hires Indian outsourcers

Northeast Utilities (NU) in Connecticut (USA) confirmed plans to outsource IT work to India-based outsourcers; move will affect some 200 jobs

Northeast Utilities confirmed the other day that it plans to turn over part of its IT operations to two India-based outsourcing firms, despite a recent push by state lawmakers to keep it from doing so.

NU says it employs some 400 IT workers, and "will retain about half of those employees" after turning some operations over to outsourcers Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, two of India's largest IT firms.

Click HERE for more details.

Could this be a solution for automation, control, monitoring … ?

Here is another question somebody brought up discussing the NU approach:

“Would you outsource the autopilot to some inexpensive pilot on the ground in some foreign country with cheap labor? No? Then why is anyone even discussing such options for SCADA? And yet, they do!

The problem is education. Many utilities are putting poorly educated, poorly trained staff at the controls of our infrastructure, and then because it fails all the time, are seriously contemplating outsourcing the whole operation to another country.

Outsourcing to the cloud doesn't work. It's not about the technology. It's the people.”

I would add to state that another crucial problem is the education of people that make these decisions to outsource managing our infrastructure.

IntelliSub Europe 2013 conference

The IntelliSub Europe 2013 conference about next-generation smart substations, takes place 26-28 November 2013 in Frankfurt, Germany

Mövenpick Hotel Frankfurt City, Germany

Click HERE for details.

IEC 61850 is a core component that will be discussed throughout the conference.

IEC 61400-25 and IEC 61850 for Semantic models in Integrated Operations for Oil & Gas and New Energy

In 2010 Billam Rajashekar Reddy (Norway) analyzed several semantic models for information exchange supporting operations and maintenance :

“Use of Semantic models in Integrated Operations for Oil & Gas and New Energy”

He looked into many solutions like:

• IEC 61400-25 Wind Turbine Communication
• RDS-PP Reference Designation System for Power Plant
• CRM Conceptual Reference Model
• WITSML Well site Information Transfer Standard Mark-up Language
• PRODML Production Markup Language
• RESQML Reservoir Characterization Markup Language
• RDS-PP Reference Designation System for Power Plants
• OPC OLE for process control

The conclusion drawn at the end of the Master’s Thesis says:

“Use of semantic models in integrated operations for oil and gas and new energy includes several methods. We come across all those methods. The IEC 61400-25 series of standards provides the means to get open and easy access to key O&M data. This data is a necessity for making the evaluations and analysis needed to improve operation and maintenance of the wind power plants. The paper has shown how the standard can be implemented and what benefits are associated with its use.
The standard does not restrict nor mandate specific customer-supplier roles, but provides a solution that supports the whole range of business cases where the different actors can cooperate. Both the customer and the supplier can benefit from IEC 61400-25 through decreased costs for data access and system integration. Time and money can instead be put on the development of applications, functions and methods that increase the performance of the wind turbines. ...”

I totally agree with the last sentence in the above quoted conclusion! The information modelling method, huge bunch of information models defined in IEC 61400-25 and IEC 61850, information exchange, communication protocols, system configuration language, … could be used immediately – if you choose a ready-to-go software solution with an easy API.

Spend your time and money in applying the standards! Build interoperable systems that keep the sky blue, the grass green, and the power flowing ;-)

Click HERE to access the master thesis.

VDE and DKE have published Compendium on Energiewende 180° in English

“The DKE has taken an active role in shaping the turnaround in energy policy. Standards open new markets and enable innovation. With the Energiewende 180° initiative, we offer companies and institutions a forum for their various innovations which focus on the energy transition.”

The DKE (German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies of DIN and VDE) is a modern, non-profit service organization for the secure and efficient production, distribution and use of electricity. By extension, it serves to benefit the general public. It is the competence centre for electro technical standardization in Germany.

The power of standardization reveals itself through activities that encourage dialogue, protect competency and strengthen commitment. This is why the DKE launched the Energiewende 180° initiative.

Click HERE to visit the website of the Initiative Energiewende 180°

Free download of the Compendium E-Book is available.

NettedAutomation is one of the supporters of the Energiewende 180 °: The turnaround in energy policy is achieved with IEC standards and good training

How do you know which IEC 61850 Information Models are published or underway for publication?

Information models in IEC 61850 are growing very fast. Many groups have understood that one of the benefits of IEC 61850 is this: Information Models for real world information (measurements, status, configuration, limits, control, …).

One crucial question is this: Where can you get an overview and introduction in the many models already published or those models underway? There are several groups extending the models for several applications inside and outside electrical substations.

The easiest way is to ask somebody that has a good overview and long-term experience with IEC 61850 …

One of the crucial extensions is defined in the draft IEC 61850-90-3. During a training course I was asked last week if IEC 61850 defines something for overhead line monitoring – he did not have a chance to easily figure out that there is one document under preparation … sure you usually don’t know it or don’t find some documentation.

The following figure gives a brief overview about the various aspects of line monitoring:

Want to learn more on the 300+ Logical Node classes defined so far? Please contact NettedAutomation … or attend the next training course in Frankfurt/Germany on 16-18 October 2013.

You have the chance to learn the basics AND the most crucial definitions of the standards and how they could be used. See you there.

The aging infrastructure and aging work force requires more sensors to make sure that the power is flowing reliably in the future! Almost every day you can read stories about breaking infrastructure.