Chinese Strong and Smart Grid Roadmap available

The "State Grid Cooperation China" (SGCC) has published the 139 page "SGCC Framework and Roadmap for Strong and Smart Grid Standards". One of the key challenges is the standardization. Several IEC TC 57 and TC 88 standards are crucial for the Strong and Smart Grid. Among others the following standards are key: IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 (15+ times referenced), IEC 61968/61970 (30+), IEC 62351 (5+).

The first sentence of the three sentence summary states: "The release and implementation of SGCC Framework and Roadmap for Strong and Smart Grid Standards will greatly boost the standardization of smart grid technologies in all related areas, promote wide public involvement and facilitate technical innovation and industrial upgrading."

The preface reads: " ... Faced with new challenges in energy sector, State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) officially put forward the strategy of building a world-leading strong and smart grid with ultra high voltage grid as its backbone and subordinate grids coordinated at various voltage levels, featured as being IT-based, automated, interactive, based on independent innovation. Up to now, remarkable progress has been made in this regard. By 2020, a smart grid that is robust and reliable, economical and efficient, clean and environmental-friendly, transparent and open, user-friendly and interactive is to be established. Since August 2009, SGCC has started 228 demonstration projects of 21 categories in 26 provinces and municipalities. By now, the demonstration projects have been progressing smoothly. ... Based on SGCC smart grid research findings and standard framework, taking IEC smart grid standardization roadmap and international standardization gap into consideration, SGCC set priorities for international standards and prepared new working item proposals for IEC. ..."

Click HERE to download the 9 MB framework and roadmap.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), SGCC promoted power grid technology upgrading from the following ten aspects, and accelerate the progressing of model projects that applies IEC 61850 among ten new technologies: Substation Automation Conformed with IEC 61850.

Click HERE for details.

Bachmann M1 Automation System supports IEC 61850 Client

The Bachmann M1 Automation System runs also an IEC 61850 (MMS) Client. This allows the M1 to connect to any underlying IEC 61850 server, e.g., to connect to controllers for distributed power generation (wind power, PV, CHP, ...) or protection relays at the electrical connection point of the feeder.

Click HERE for the newsletter in English (doc).
Click HERE for the newsletter in German (doc).

Preview IEC 61400-25-6 FDIS

Please find the preview of the FDIS IEC 61500-25-6: Wind turbines –
Part 25-6: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants –
Logical node classes and data classes for condition monitoring

This part defines further information models for IEC 61850 respectively for IEC 61400-25.

Click HERE for the preview.

IEC Goes Twitter

IEC uses the latest communication channel: Twitter !!

Click HERE for visiting IEC on Twitter.

New Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse Web Portal open

A beta version of the Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse (SGIC) web portal has been posted by The Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute to invite comments and suggestions on usability from both consumers and the smart grid community. The full version of the site will be released this fall. The Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute (ARI) was awarded a $1.25 million five-year contract by the Department of Energy (DOE) in October 2009 to develop the portal with content assistance from the IEEE PES and the EnerNex Corporation.

There is hope to receive more input from the public ... "Anyone visiting the portal is invited to contact the SGIC with comments and suggestions by clicking on “Contact SGIC Team” in the Contact Us box located at the bottom middle of the home page."

Click HERE to visit the portal.

A very interesting paper provided by NEMA is posted on the portal - worth to read: Click HERE to open the paper.

The paper lists the Factors of Intelligence (see clause 4.2) The most crucial factor seems to be the following:
• Communications – the extent of interaction and exchange of data and control parameters between entities that can help in improving situational awareness, support for industry standard communication protocol.

Integration of Process and Power Control using IEC 61850

Petrobras (Brazil) has decided to apply IEC 61850 for the integration of power system control into the process control system. ABB has been chosen to automate the production process and interface with the power delivery system using IEC 61850. IEC 61850 is a major standard to lower life-cycle cost of production facilities:

"One of the main benefits delivered to REPAR was optimal life-cycle management and low life-cycle cost through the use of a future-proof system with IEC 61850 interoperability. The reuse of engineering data and the use of a standard language for programming highlighted the power of IEC 61850 for REPAR projects and the associated costs savings through less need for training and reduced staff requirements."

Click HERE to access the interesting paper.

IEC 61400-25-6 FDIS Ballot

The last step towards another International Standard for Information models (Logical Nodes; these LNs can be implemented using IEC 61850 compliant stacks) will start August 13, 2010:

IEC 61400-25-6 Ed.1
Wind Turbines - Part 25-6: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants - Logical node classes and data classes for condition monitoring
(88/377/FDIS)

The ballot is open from August 13 to October 15, 2010.

This part of the IEC 61400-25 series specifies the information models related to condition monitoring for wind power plants and the information exchange of data values related to these models.

Condition monitoring is mainly based on the following kinds of information:

• Time waveform records (samples) of a specific time interval to be exchanged in real-time or by files for analysis (e.g. acceleration, position detection, speed, stress detection).
• Status information and measurements (synchronized with the waveform records) representing the Turbine Operation Conditions.
• Results of Time waveform record analysis of vibration data (scalar values, array values, statistical values, historical (statistical) values, counters and status information).
• Results of analysis for example oil debris.

Contact your national IEC TC 88 committee to receive a copy.
Click HERE to visit the TC 88 website with links to national committees.

IEC 61850 Data Acquisition Options - An Overview

IEC 61850 provides several options to access the values of modeled information in sever devices. The following slide lists all options of IEC 61850-7-2 (ACSI - Abstract Communication Service Interface):

Depending on your needs you may use one or the the other option. Reporting is the most elaborated service. The behavior of reporting depends on the configuration of so-called Report Control Blocks. Reporting with Integrity Period set, e.g., to 1 second is more efficient than polling a list of data objects every second! Because polling needs two messages: request with then object references of all data to be polled and response with all values. Reporting with Integrity Period requires a single report with all values every second only. You save 50 per cent of the messages and a lot of processing resources. You can combine integrity period (e.g., 1 minute) with immediate transmissions of changes (events). This would save even more (in case there are events very seldom).

Before you can configure an optimized traffic (messages going back and forth in a Network in real-time or relaxed in seconds) you need to understand your needs - the arrival rate of values and the needs of the applications that access these values. And of course you need to understand the standard and what vendors have implemented. Some applications require information from other devices in the range of a few microseconds - this requires usually GOOSE. The various options serve different requirements with regard to the timeliness. It is easy to fill up the bandwidth of 10 GBit/s with wrong configurations. Monitoring for deadband changes (delta changes) of 0.001 per cent could cause a lot of messages ... ;-)

Smart Grids require smart systems and smart devices - all need smart people!

IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 Hands-On Training

A 3 day general IEC 61850/IEC61400-25 Seminar/Hands-on Training by Karlheinz Schwarz from NettedAutomation GmbH will be conducted in Frankfurt/M (Germany) from 22.-24. September 2010. He has trained more than 2,000 experts from more than 400 companies and more than 50 countries. You can tap a huge experience ...

For the hands-on training we will use the Beck IPC IEC61850@CHIP Development Kits, Client and Server DLL and several other demo software and free software.

There are still seats available.

Click HERE for the detailed program.
Click HERE for the registration information.

IEC 61850 Workshop at Hydro Quebec, Montreal, Canada

The IEC TC 57 WG 17 (DER) will meet in Montreal, Canada, on September 27-29, 2010. Experts from WG 17 invite interested experts from the power utility domain for a one day workshop on IEC 61850. 

Date and Time: September 30, 2010, (Thursday); 8:30 -15:00 h
Venue: Hydro Quebec, Montreal, Canada

A couple of WG 17 members have suggested to organize an extra day for information dissemination of the results reached by WG 17 and the ongoing work. Another objective is to discuss common modeling issues with experts from other domains like hydro, wind, PV, ... one issue for discussion is the remote monitoring and control of power generation (example of IEC 61400-25-2).

On Thursday (September 30) there will be an open presentation of crucial aspects of the standard IEC 61850 and especially of IEC 61850-7-420 and a demonstration of the latest development of the “IEC61850@CHIP” and first experiences with the small platform especially for PV systems.

The chip provides the complete IEC 61850 (IEC 61400-25) MMS, GOOSE and Sampled Value communication stacks. The stacks and the device data models are configurable by a standard SCL File (IEC 61850-6) uploaded to the chip. The stack provides a simple API for IEC 61850. Applications can be developed in C/C++ and IEC 61131-3. The focus shifts from communication (especially MMS) programming to your applications and system and device configuration.
The chip supports SSL and other security standards.

The development of affordable standards-conformant interfaces for distributed energy resources can now be shortened to days or weeks - from months and years. The range of all crucial Beck IPC products (IPC@CHIP®s, modules, Development kits, …SCL Designer, Application programming using the simple stack API) will be presented and discussed during the workshop. This extra workshop will be conducted by Karlheinz Schwarz.

The workshop is open to everyone interested in the presentation and demonstration free of charge. Breakfast and lunch breaks are on the attendees; drinks will provided.

You may attend and invite other experts that may be interested to attend.
Please let Karlheinz Schwarz (schwarz@scc-online.de) know who will attend in order that we can confirm a seat. The number of seats is limited to 20 seats.

Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) meets in September 2010

The next face-to-face meeting of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) will be held in St. Louis (MO) on September 14-16, 2010.

Click HERE for the program and venue.

IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 will be an issue in PAP 16 (Wind Power) and several other PAPs. A joint meeting of PAPs that deal with these standards is planned. There are several areas in which the various application domains need consistent information models for real-time information exchange. E.g., for the interface between power generation and control center. There is a first standard available: IEC 61400-25-2 that defines two logical nodes - one for active power control and one for reactive power control.

These could be used as a basis for further work in other domains. I guess there is a need for a common core model that may have special data for the various resources like wind, hydro, CHP, PV, ...

Karlheinz Schwarz (Editor of IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25) will be in St. Louis on September 15 and 16.

The IEC TC 57 WG 17 (DER) will meet in Montreal, Canada, on September 27-29, 2010. Experts from WG 19 invite interested experts for a one day workshop on IEC 61850. 

Click HERE for details on the Workshop.

Security: Hackers to take control of Power System Automation?

Security is one of most crucial aspects in Power System Automation - in order to keep to power flowing. Hackers have started to take over control of critical infrastructures like power plants using Windows operating systems.

According to AP "The latest computer worm, dubbed Stuxnet, was an even more alarming progression. Now hackers are creating codes to actually take over the critical systems."

Click HERE to read more details.

It is highly recommended that intelligent devices that will be used to make the Power Systems smarter use the needed security measures. One of the key issues is that people deciding on how much money should be spend to ruggedize the systems are willing to develop the measures; and people that purchase devices only when they are secure.

The many Abstract and Concrete Layers in IEC 61850 (61400-25)

A new Comprehensive Overview of the many different layers in the definition of IEC 61850 has been provided by Karlheinz Schwarz. The various levels of models, the services, the mappings to MMS services and protocols, mapping of MMS messages to ASN.1, ASN.1. BER, ... are confusing - if you don't understand them. This presentation provides a lot of details and examples. 15 Slides bring light to the - often not understood - IEC 61850 layering:

1. Abbreviations
2. Hierarchy of definitions, protocols, …
3. Model (Standard)
4. Model (SCL)
5. Model (IED)
6. Services (ACSI)
7. Model and Service Mapping
8. Services and Protocols (MMS)
9. ASN.1 BER (Basic Encoding Rule)
10. Encoded MMS Message

Slide #1 of 15:

Click HERE to browse all 15 slides.

All these details are hidden in the implementation of IEC 61850 (IEC 61400-25) provided by SystemCorp (Perth, WA, Australia) and by the Smart Grid "Beck-Bone". The IEC 61850 API just needs 8 services:

IEC61850_Create	API to create a client or server object with call-backs for reading, writing and updating data objects
IEC61850_LoadSCLFile	API to read the SCL XML file to get the configuration of server or client
IEC61850_Start	API to start the server or client
IEC61850_Stop	API to stop the server or client
IEC61850_Free	API to delete a client or server object created
IEC61850_Read	Read the value of a specified data attribute
IEC61850_Write	Write the value to a specified data attribute
IEC61850_Update	Update the value of a specified data attribute

The three last API services are the crucial services an Application programmer has to deal with. The Beck Development Kit DK61 and the DLL demos provide application examples (in C/C++ source code).

The "Beck-Bone" for Smart Grids Demonstrated at IEEE PES GM in Minneapolis

BECK IPC (Pohlheim, Germany), SystemCorp (Perth, Australia) and NettedAutomation (Karlsruhe, Germany) successfully demonstrated the "Beck-Bone" for Smart Grids at the IEEE PES GA in Minneapolis (MN, USA):
The IEC61850@CHIP.

More than 2,500 experts attended the IEEE Power & Energy Societies General Meeting in Minneapolis (MN, USA) form 26 to 29 July 2010. One of the highlights of the Power System Communications Committee's Event was the demonstration of a breakthrough implementation of IEC 61850 (IEC 61400-25) on a Chip. Detlef Raddatz (SystemCorp) runs a last test prior to the big show:

 

Detlef demonstrates the benefits of the IEC 61850 software running on different HW platforms (all using the same Chip): Development Kit DK61 (middle of photo), ruggetized I/O modules (left), COM.TOM module (right):

The Development Kit DK61 comes with IEC 61850 (61400-25) stack software, an easy to use API with 13 functions only, with C/C++ and IEC 61131-3 programming languages, FTP, Telnet, TCP/IP, IPSec, sample C code and sample exe files that run immediately, and comprehensive documentation.

Click HERE for more details of the DK61.
Click HERE to download the order form to get the special fair offer of US$ 1.250.

The stack software and sample code (source and exe) have been introduced in Minneapolis as DLL demos (client, server, publisher, and subscriber). The DLLs run for 6 months fully functional for up to 50 signals/points. The demo also contains the fully functional SCL designer to model up to 50 signals/points. The server runs the same model as provided with the DK61. You may use the DLLs for any other application you build around them. The given sample code runs on one PC (local host) and two PCs. The DLLs run under Windows - while the Beck Chip runs a very powerful real-time operation system (RTOS) for real-time applications.

Click HERE to download the DLLs to run under Windows (available end of August 2010; the availability will be announced in a new blog posting as soon as it is available).

During the many technical discussions experts had questions about the platform and functions. People had been quite surprised when they understood the performance of such a simple and small platform.

 

The Buffet offered a variety of food and beverages ... including Beck's Beer and Beck "Chips". The German brewery Beck and Beck IPC (the chip manufacturer) are not linked.

Professor Dr. John Newbury (The Open University, Manchester, GB) was quite happy to see the results of 15 years of standardization work in IEC TC 57 (WG 10, WG17, WG 18) and TC 88 PT 25 (IEC 61400-25, Wind Power) on such a small but powerful platform:

What are the steps towards a the "Beck-Bone" for Smart Grids and many other applications?

1. Many experts start with the Development Kit DK61 to do hands-on exercises using the provided software examples to get a good understanding of the IEC 61850 models and services. One of the big vendors of controllers reported the other day that they we able to implement their network interconnection for connecting PV systems to the power grid within 2 weeks !! The grid connection is completely modeled in IEC 61850.
   This is the easiest way to get your data communicated with IEC 61850 (IEC 61400-25). Another approach could be to start with DLLs on a PC and then use the DK61 for real-time requirements.
2. In case of implementing interfaces, e.g., for pilot projects, it is convenient to use one of the many ready to go COM.TOM modules:
   
3. After successful pilot projects it is recommended to use one or the other Chip in your specific hardware:
   
4. Other components hardened for higher EMC requirements are offered by SystemCorp: RTUs, Gateways, Protocol converter, ...
   

All these and other components implement IEC 61850 on the Beck Chip. The IEC 61850 stack software (developed by SystemCorp) runs on many other platforms:

Click HERE to visit the SystemCorp website (Perth, WA, Australia).

DOE spends US$ 615 Million for the Smart Grid Demonstration Program

The first presentation of the Session on "Interoperability for a Smart Grid" during the IEEE PES GA in Minneapolis yesterday (2010-07-26) was titled: "Interoperability and the Federal Role" (by Dan Ton; Chris Irwin and Steve Widergren).

Chris Irwin (a member of the Department of Energy team administering the Smart Grid
Investment Grants, and is responsible for standards and interoperability activities, including participation in the NIST-led Smart Grid Interoperability Framework) pointed out that INTEROPERABILITY of devices and systems is key for building a smarter grid: "... given the importance of a smart electric system to meet national economic, societal, and environmental
objectives, a federal role is taking shape in the United States to improve the integration of automation elements and thus make smart grid a reality."

He reported that the federal government will spend "US$ 615 million for the Smart Grid
Demonstration Programs. ... To ensure that these investments have a lasting, positive effect to the nation, great attention is being given to address the interoperability".

The standards IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 are crucial standards in this context - also in North America. I talked yesterday to many conference attendees. Most of them are convinced that these standards will have a big impact on the devices and systems - in order to make them interoperable. Interoperability has first to be understood by smart people. Peopleware is key to the success of interoperability and smart(er) grids.

Click HERE to read the abstract of the paper.

Beck Chip with IEC 61850 in EV Charging Station

An electric vehicle charging station, designed by Rittal GmbH & Co (Herborn, Germany) and Beck IPC GmbH (Pohlheim, Germany) with IEC 61850 inside, is installed outside of the IBM Industry Solutions Lab in Ruschlikon, Switzerland.

This charging station is part of the EDISON project.

Click HERE for photo of the charging station at IBM.
Click HERE for more information on EDISON.

3 Days until the Demo of Beck Chips implementing IEC 61850/61400-25 at IEEE PES GA in Minneapolis

In just 3 days Beck (Pohlheim, Germany - IEC 61850 Chip), SystemCorp (Perth, Australia - IEC 61850 software) and NettedAutomation (Karlsruhe, Germany - peopleware) will present the Beck Chip for IEC 61850 and provide free Beck's Beer.

The presentation and demonstration of a break-through implementation of the standards 61850 and IEC 61400-25 on a small footprint programmable microcontroller chip for simple to complex applications will show that these standards can be used right away ... the API can be used immediately by your C/C++ or IEC 61131-3 programs. Application examples come with the Development Kit (DK61). And the solutions are affordable!

SystemCorp will demonstrate a free of charge Evaluation DLL providing fully functional Client/Subscriber and Server/Publisher. The DLL supports 50 points that can be modeled with the ICD Designer. The demo DLL licence runs for 6 months - long enough to test IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25. You will get a USB memory stick with the DLL.

Where and when:
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 18:00-21:00
Minneapolis Convention Center, Room 209B

Come in and learn the latest IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 technologies. You have also the chance to drop your business card and win one of the two DK61.

Karlheinz Schwarz (NettedAutomation) will be available for a meeting with you during the PES GA. Please contact me by posting a comment on this blog entry (at the end of this posting) and I will contact you. May be you will bump into me anyway on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

A photo of me may help you to find me:

Click HERE for my profile including a photo of myself
Click HERE for more details.
Click HERE for the Floor plan of Level 2 of the MCC.

How to Spend $45 Billion for Smart Grids by 2015?

Estimated spending for Smart(er) Grids during the next five (5) years will be more than $45 Billion (45.000.000.000) - according to a forecast.

Some 40.000.000.000 "will be invested globally in the electrical Transmission and Distribution infrastructure through 2015, compared to $4.8 billion for the purchase and installation of smart meters. This infrastructure spending will focus on grid automation and control, distribution automation, distributed generation and demand response programs.”

If only five (5) per cent would go into smart(er) communication based on IEC 61850 then this would sum up to $ 2.000.000.000 ($2 Billion) !! ... $ 400.000.000 per year.

Any question? ;-)

Hope there are enough smart engineers ...

Click HERE to read the news release from ABI.